A tree fell in the forest, and these change-makers heard it

The desire to bring about real change can happen suddenly. It can also build slowly over decades. Either way, the results can be dramatic. Just ask change-makers Terry Asker, Madison Vorva and Rhiannon Tomtishen, who are working tirelessly to reverse the worrisome trend of deforestation.

Under particular threat is the California Floristic Province—a region of about 294,000 square kilometers that stretches from Southern Oregon through California and Nevada. The habitat of stately redwood, elegant ponderosa and ancient sequoia forests is a rich palette of teal, turquoise and taupe, resplendent with 8,000 plant species.Terry Asker has watched the planet suffer throughout his 25 years as a nature and corporate photographer traveling to 76 countries. Close to home, he’s witnessed California’s natural world come under severe stress, earning it a dubious distinction as one of the four most degraded states in the U.S.

Yet about 90% of its original ecosystem has been despoiled, says Asker—a tragic side effect of urban and agricultural enterprise. Species such as the giant kangaroo rat and the desert slender salamander are now at risk, as are the few remaining California condors.

Watching this happen everywhere became too much for Asker. In 2012, using personal resources, he founded Fragmented Forests, an ambitious project designed to educate schoolchildren and others on forest issues through multimedia programs, presentations, lectures and informational resources.

“Forests play an enormous role in mitigating climate change,” Asker says. “Through Fragmented Forests, we’ll get that message across to one billion students within five years. We’ve got the technology, the capability and the curriculum to make it happen. The momentum is building—and I believe education is the first step to real change.”

For Madison Vorva and Rhiannon Tomtishen, the drive to make a change came in a flash. In 2007, as 11-year-old Michigan Girl Scouts, they discovered that the cookies they sold door-to-door contained a controversial ingredient: palm oil.

They were horrified. They knew that palm oil harvesters had wiped out millions of hectares of pristine forest in Indonesia, endangering orangutans and other species. Estimates indicate that half of Sumatra’s forest cover disappeared between 1985 and 2008.

“I burst into tears when I realized that Girl Scouts were part of the problem,” recalls Vorva, who, along with Tomtishen, received the first-ever Forest Heroes award from the U.N. in 2012. “Rhiannon and I decided we had to stand up for the orangutans.”

They launched a petition demanding that the Girl Scouts remove unsustainable palm oil from their cookies—a battle that continues to this day. The leadership promises the cookies will be palm oil-free by next year, but the two campaigners have their doubts. “We won’t stop until they’re completely deforestation-free,” says Tomtishen.

The duo, now in university, recently presented a petition with 115,000 names to Kellogg, which uses palm oil in its products. “We asked Kellogg’s to convince Wilmar, a major Singaporean supplier that trades 45% of the world’s palm oil, to adopt a deforestation-free policy,” explains Vorva. “In December, Wilmar agreed.”