Unreasonable Impact | Reforesting a Future with Drones: Q&A with BioCarbon Engineering

by Aubrey Sanders
May 26, 2017 9:10 AM ET
Campaign: Entrepreneurs

Originally posted on Unreasonable Impact, created with Barclays

Forests cover over thirty percent of the planet’s land surface, provide sustenance and medicine for 1.6 billion people, cool and infuse our air with oxygen and moisture, and shelter 80 percent of the world’s biodiversity. Yet every year, 15 billion trees are destroyed by subsistence farming practices, commercial logging, development, and a host of natural stressors.

Deforestation not only endangers endemic ecosystems and communities, but it also dramatically increases greenhouse gas emissions by releasing carbon dioxide stored in timber into the atmosphere. Despite enormous planting efforts, the planet still experiences a net loss of six billion trees annually.

Lauren Fletcher, CEO and Founder of U.K.-based startup BioCarbon Engineering, leaned on over 11 years of experience as an engineer at NASA to develop a faster, more efficient method of reforestation. His solution? Use drones to replenish our forests, one billion trees at a time.

Unreasonable sat down with Lauren to discuss working with astronauts, rebuilding Earth’s ecosystems, and refusing to take “no” for an answer.

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