00:00Patricia Arakat had spent 15 hours hugging this tree when disaster struck.
00:10A lightning strike and power cut ended her world record attempt.
00:16But the Ugandan activist didn't give up.
00:19In January 2024, Patricia hugged this tree for more than 16 hours straight
00:24and is now officially registered in the Guinness World Records.
00:29What looks like a fun stunt has a serious background though,
00:33and Patricia wants to draw attention to it.
00:40The problem of climate change is huge.
00:45And at least now the world is just waking up to it.
00:50It's about time that we pick up the pace and plant these trees
00:54because our natural forests are gone.
00:57We are using up the trees and not minding to replace them.
01:03A statement that is particularly true for Uganda,
01:06which has one of the worst deforestation rates in the world.
01:10According to the online tracking portal Global Forest Watch,
01:14the country lost more than one million hectares of tree cover between 2001 and 2022.
01:23For Patricia, this loss needs to be addressed and she wants to draw attention to it.
01:28She says trees are key to facing our climate challenges.
01:32Trees have very, very enormous advantages.
01:35At this very moment I'm breathing in the freshest oxygen,
01:39probably in the world because I'm getting it direct from a tree,
01:43and at the same time it's taking in my carbon dioxide.
01:48Just talking about trees is not enough for Patricia.
01:53She wants to do something about it.
01:55For example, with the help of wooden pencils filled with tree seeds.
01:59Patricia regularly visits communities, especially schools in eastern Uganda,
02:04with these plantable pencils in her luggage.
02:08Today, in this class, tree education is on the timetable.
02:14It's very important that they understand the journey they're about to take on,
02:19which is tree planting, and I want them to start the process from a seed.
02:23So this particular pencil, for it, it has seeds inside,
02:26and they're using it to study, but at the end of the day it's going to translate into a tree.
02:32The activist hopes she can help the students to value trees more.
02:37And when you talk of planting, don't just put there in the soil,
02:40In this school, Patricia's tree and planting education was well received.
02:45It has come at the right time, when our region and the country at large
02:52is in need of mitigating climate change.
02:57For we all know how much our communities are destroying,
03:04So it is really in good time.
03:07It takes decades until a seed has reached the size of these trees.
03:13All the more reason, says Patricia, to begin embracing them sooner rather than later.
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