Marathoner sets world record by planting more than 23,000 saplings in 24 hours

There are constant discussions on climate change and the steps to be taken to save the environment. One such is the ongoing global leaders meeting at the COP27 summit in Egypt where they are discussing limiting global warming in our fight against climate change. Meanwhile, there's Antoine Moses who believes in doing his bit to reverse the effect of climate change rather than just talking about it.

Moses, a 23-year-old Canadian marathoner and environmentalist, went viral on social media for setting a new world record by planting 23,060 saplings in less than 24 hours. A video shared by former Norwegian diplomat Erik Solheim on Twitter shows Moses continuously bending to dig holes and plant saplings in a jiffy. According to WION, the video is from July last year and now has more than 1.7M views. It reportedly shows Moses setting the world record for "most trees planted by an individual in 24 hours."

Before Moses, the record was held by another Canadian, Kenny Chaplin, in 2001. He had planted 15,170 trees. The Guinness World Record website now states: "The most trees planted by an individual in 24 hours is 23,060 and was achieved by Antoine Moses (Canada) in La Crete, Alberta, Canada, on 17 July 2021. Antoine has been planting trees for six years."

The now-viral video received praise from many on the Internet. A user commented, "So happy to see such people.. at least 1 tree if we all plant for a week, all our climate issues will be solved." Another wrote,  "A dedicated individual, who is concerned about the environment. Wish people become like him to some extent for the coming generation. Thanks."

However, Moses reacted to the praises by stating that he was supported by a crew of six people in this endeavor. But he does claim to have planted more than 1.3 million plants across Canada over the years. He shared a picture of the Guinness World Record on Instagram and wrote, "I'm proud to say that I'm Officially Amazing. Last year, I broke the Tree Planting World Record and it has finally been approved by Guinness World Record. Thanks again to my amazing team that helped me go through this challenge!" 

Moses told Global News that he can plant on average 16 trees per minute, which is about one tree every 3.75 seconds. "As soon as I passed that original record I cheered up and hugged all the crew around me. I was stoked and happy but not even 10 seconds after I just kept going,” Moses said. "I was like, 'All right, what's the next number I can hit, 19K, 20K, 21K, and finally 23 thousand,'" he added.

Moses explained that he approaches tree planting like a sport. "You have to keep your health up. It's almost like everybody who plants trees is an athlete," he said. "You just have to put everything on your side and make sure your fit enough to plant more." He thinks that it is time for his record to be broken and is ready to even offer aid to the next overachieving tree planter. "I love the thrill of helping people. If someone wants to beat it I will help them I'll give them my tips. I'm not scared,” Moses said.