Getting Down To The Roots of Climate Change

Brazilians will have to plant trees to get married, get divorced or buy cars!

Brazil is taking the We Are What We Grow idea to its logical conclusion with a new law that will mean, if passed, that all Brazilians must plant trees when they get married or divorced, buy a car or construct a new house.

The law, which is currently going through parliament, proposes that every Brazilian plant ten trees to get married and 25 to get divorced. If it is approved, just the purchase of cars would mean the planting of 60 million trees a year with a 'tax' of 20 trees for a light vehicle rising to 60 for a heavy one.

The construction industry would be likewise taxed with the law demanding 10 trees for every residential unit and 20 for a commercial one. This would mean another 65 thousand trees a year.

The law, which is proposed by the Democratic Labour Party also suggests that a tree should be planted for every baby born in the country.

Here's hoping that the law gets through parliament and that countries world-wide start adopting similar sensible approaches to dealing with the earth's deforestation problem.