79 Refreshing Facts about Nature’s Boon to Earth – Forests

The Vatican purchased enough carbon offsets for the entire Papal city in 2007. To this day, the promised planting of a "Vatican Forest" has not happened.

27. China has planted the biggest artificial forest in the world to stop the spread of the Gobi desert and plans to expand it to 2,800 miles by 2074

28. In 2011 3-D mapping revealed an ancient Mayan city under a Guatemalan rain forest

29. An autistic man was lost in the Utah forest for over 3 weeks, surviving by rolling in and out of a river during the day/night. He was found by a sheriff who had just happened to finish a class on missing autistic people.

30. There is a "green" cemetery in Pennsylvania that doubles as a national forest where people can hike and picnic. No caskets, no formaldehyde, just dirt, and trees.

Judge Cicconetti of Ohio dispenses what he calls creative justice. He has sentenced a man who stole from the Salvation Army to spend 24 hours homeless, a woman who abandoned 35 kittens in a forest to spend a night in the woods, & noisy neighbors to listen to classical music instead of rock

32. During the filming of 'Cabin Fever,' Rider Strong decided to explore the forest alone after a shoot, still in his gruesome makeup. He came across a group of schoolgirls on a field trip, who were horrified, but then recognized him from 'Boy Meets The World,' and he had to escape from the fangirls.

33. On Earth, there was a time when forests didn't decompose; no life had evolved to eat trees yet.

34. Cocaine Bear also known as Pablo Escobar died in a National Forest in Kentucky in 1985 after ingesting a portion of 75lbs of coke ($15 million value) that had been dropped by a drug-smuggling, corrupt, fugitive lawyer who had been parachuting with it before falling to his death.

35. There exists an underwater forest in Lake Kaindy, Kazakhstan that was created after an earthquake in 1911 triggered a large landslide blocking the gorge and forming a natural dam

We can drink alcohol because of a gene which most likely helped human ancestors make the most out of rotting, fermented fruit that fell onto the forest floor.

37. A man planted 7,000 trees to make a guitar shaped forest as tribute to his late wife.

38. Alaska has a rainforest and its the largest one in the United States.

39. Louis XIV's minister of finance had the huge Forest of Troncais created in 1670 to provide the future French Navy with a supply of oak masts. When the forest reached maturity 250 years later, the navy was busy switching to steam ships.

40. In Germany there exists the Waldkindergarten: preschools held entirely outdoors in a forest, regardless of weather conditions

It is estimated that old-growth redwood forest once covered close to 2,000,000 acres (8,100 km2) of coastal northern California. 96% of all old-growth redwoods have been logged.

42. The loneliest man in the world is the sole survivor of his tribe and lives completely alone in the Amazon forest.

43. The 1964 Alaska Megathrust quake (magnitude 9.2) was so violent it drove land vertically upwards by 30 feet and liquefied the soil, creating vast forests of dead trees still standing today.

44. After the explosion of faulty engine LOT Polish Airlines pilots fought for control of burning aircraft for 30 minutes. They almost made it back to the airport. About 2 minutes from the runway the aircraft crashed into a forest. Last recorded crew message was "Good night! Goodbye! Bye, we're dying!"

45. The ZIKA virus was discovered in the Zika forest of Uganda in 1947 but only became a world health concern in 2007

The Crooked Forest, a grove of trees in Poland that grows with a 90-degree bend at the base of their trunks. No one knows why they grow like this.

47. In 1987, Mr. T angered the residents of Lake Forest, by cutting down more than a hundred oak trees on his estate. The incident was called The Lake Forest Chain Saw Massacre

48. Polish prostitutes hang out in the forests surrounding Warsaw and because they are not taxed, those who cite prostitution as a profession are required to provide photos and client testimonials to tax authorities

49. The president of Gabon vowed to protect the country's forests by setting up a system of parks after watching the National Geographic Television film "Africa Extreme". Gabon is 75 percent jungle

50. In 1946, 50 beavers were introduced to Tierra del Fuego, the island at the southernmost tip of South America, in hopes of fostering a fur trade. No such fur trade developed, but the Beavers now number over 100,000 and are causing irreparable damage to Patagonia's forests