Interview

Based in California, Dave Greulich is the Founder of TreeWheel, a tree-planting App empowering users to get to carbon zero and beyond.
TreeWheel is dedicated to supporting the United Nations’ goal of global carbon neutrality by 2050 and plans to partner with American Forests, a non-profit organization leading the U.S. chapter of the World Economic Forum's 1 Trillion Tree Initiative.
A mature tree can sequester 48 lbs. of CO2 per year, meaning the average American would need to plant 763 mature trees to become carbon neutral.
We spoke to Dave as he is now in his fundraising phase to bring the App project to life.

1. Please can you explain to us what is TreeWheel and what motivated you to create it?

TreeWheel is a Public Benefit Corporation founded to involve people in climate change solutions. After incorporating in October of 2020, TreeWheel teamed up with MindSea (www.mindsea.com) to complete a tree-planting app prototype and website (www.treewheel.com). TreeWheel also has a blog (www.treewheel.com/blog) and Twitter account (www.twitter.com/treewheelapp). I have been interested in education and environmental issues for a long time. Prior to starting TreeWheel, I taught high school English for 25 years (1995-2020) and advised the Lodi High School Environmental Club for 14 years (2004-2018). In 2008 I co-created an environmental education board game (Leaves) which won two Dr. Toy awards (2009). TreeWheel is an opportunity to make a larger contribution to nature.

TreeWheel is an opportunity to make a larger contribution to nature

2. Why did you decide to focus on trees in particular? What do they represent for you? And when we spoke we discussed about how they can help people materialise the abstract concept of your own carbon footprint. Please can you expand on this.

People connect with trees. Lucy Larcom’s poem “Plant a Tree” gives verse for why it’s a good idea to plant trees. The TreeWheel app aims to give tech for the how. “Plant a Tree” He who plants a tree Plants a hope. Rootlets up through fibres blindly grope; Leaves unfold into horizons free. So man's life must climb From the clods of time Unto heavens sublime. Canst thou prophesy, thou little tree, What the glory of thy boughs shall be? He who plants a tree Plants a joy; Plants a comfort that will never cloy; Every day a fresh reality, Beautiful and strong, To whose shelter throng Creatures blithe wih song. If thou couldst but know, thou happy tree, Of the bliss that shall inhabit thee! He who plants a tree,-- He plants peace. Under its green curtains jargons cease. Leaf and zephyr murmur soothingly; Shadows soft with sleep Down tired eyelids creep, Balm of slumber deep. Never has thou dreamed, thou blessèd tree, Of the benediction thou shalt be. He who plants a tree,-- He plants youth; Vigor won for centuries in sooth; Life of time, that hints eternity! Boughs their strength uprear: New shoots, every year, On old growths appear; Thou shalt teach the ages, sturdy tree, Youth of soul is immortality. He who plants a tree,-- He plants love, Tents of coolness spreading out above Wayfarers he may not live to see. Gifts that grow are best; Hands that bless are blest; Plant! life does the rest! Heaven and earth help him who plants a tree, And his work its own reward shall be.

The average American’s carbon footprint is 16.6 metric tons (https://www.wri.org/insights/co2-emissions-climb-all-time-high-again-2019-6-takeaways-latest-climate-data), but most people have trouble relating to an invisible gas and such a large number. So, how can we make the gas and the number meaningful to people? Translate them into a currency that everyone can understand: trees. People get trees. People have depended on trees for basic necessities such as food and shelter since the dawn of human history. Trees were home to our pre-human ancestors. Trees have so many positive qualities and they inspire the imaginations of artists, storytellers, children, and everyday people. A mature tree can sequester 48 lbs. of CO2 per year (https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2015/03/17/power-one-tree-very-air-we-breathe), meaning the average American would need to plant 763 mature trees to become carbon neutral.

3. Can you tell us about your association with American Forests and what you will aim to do with them?

In May of 2019, I bought a pair of pants at the Eddie Bauer outlet store in Gilroy, California. At the cash register I noticed the option to donate money to American Forests (www.americanforest.org) to plant trees. What a great idea, I thought, and donated $5 to help plant five trees. Amazed by how simple and easy it was to make such a tangible and meaningful difference for our planet, I soon went to the American Forests website and started donating again and again to help plant more trees. I later signed up to donate $100 a month and had great fun keeping track of the growing number of trees donated using my desk calendar.

During the summer of 2019, I started to brainstorm how I could donate more money and realized that by switching car insurance, I could donate 415 more trees. Since those first 5 trees at the Eddie Bauer store, the total number has grown to 4,050 trees and counting (as of 1/25/22).

As a Sequoia Circle member of American Forests (someone who has donated 1,000 or more trees per calendar year), I wanted to find a way to plant many times more trees and realized this goal could be achieved by creating a mobile phone app to motivate large numbers of people to get excited about planting trees and tracking their progress to carbon zero and beyond in their own lives.

TreeWheel plans to partner with American Forests, a non-profit organization leading the U.S. chapter of the World Economic Forum’s 1 Trillion Tree Initiative (www.1t.org).

4. We spoke about the importance of ‘involving’ people rather than ‘tell and show’. For this purpose, you are creating an App. Can you tell us more about what the main features of the App will be and how it will help involve people?

The app will give people a fast, easy, convenient, and fun way to donate money to plant trees, keep track of their tree investment accounts, and monitor their progress to net carbon zero and beyond. Users will be able to use a personal carbon calculator and to create and/or join groups and work together to achieve larger goals.

i wanted to find a way to plant many times more trees

5. Who are you looking to partner with to invest in the App to bring the project to life and what would you say to potential partners to convince them of the importance of it?

I am looking to team up with social impact investors to code, launch, maintain, and continuously improve the TreeWheel tree-planting app. Another possibility is to start a crowdfunding campaign.

I would say the following to potential investors: solving climate change is a vital task of our time, and it is more doable than many people may realize, as Yuval Noah Harari states so well in the Time magazine article “The Surprisingly Low Price Tag on Preventing Climate Disaster" (https://time.com/6132395/two-percent-climate-solution/). However it will require the public’s engagement and support in order for government policies to change. Getting people personally involved in climate change solutions is a necessary step to building the grassroots support needed to move governments to take bold action. The TreeWheel app aims to be one way to build this personal and public involvement. This section of the TreeWheel website (www.treewheel.com/#goal) features a video clip from the National Geographic documentary Before the Flood which shows how fast government policy can change once a critical mass of the public is engaged. Will you help TreeWheel play a role in this transformation?

This is a little poem Dave wrote to express the goal of TreeWheel:

“Drive the Forest Wave”
May a mighty forest wave
Turn the scars of earth green
And clean the air clear
And clear the lungs clean.
Plant a tree beneath the stars.
Grow the tree ring by ring.
Grow the forest tree by tree.
Drive the forest wave.
Wheel rhymes with weal.
Weal means well-being.
May the TreeWheel help heal
Earth and human being.
Grow the tree forest green
Leaf by leaf turn it green
Be the wind
To drive the wave
Be the sun and be the moon
Driving the forest tide.

Meet Dave Greulich

“Drive the Forest Wave”

Author: Ingrid Lung | Interview with Dave Greulich, Founder at TreeWheel

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