Join local zoo keepers for a night of trivia and fundraising to support the Trees for You and Me program. Trees for You and Me is a tree planting conservation program that was created in 2009 through a partnership between the American Association of Zoo Keepers (AAZK) and Polar Bears International (PBI). 

Both AAZK and PBI recognize a mutual passion for combating climate change and reaching to communities to aid in sustainability initiatives. Funds raised by local AAZK chapters are used in an annual granting program to provide funding for tree planting in areas of the world that have been devastated by deforestation. Since 2009 AAZK chapters have raised close to $160,000 and planted over 150,000 trees.

Polar bears are just one of the species that are being affected by climate change. The increasing amount of greenhouse gases such as carbon in the atmosphere is causing the Earth's temperature to rise at an alarming rate. Melting sea ice from these warming conditions is a direct threat to polar bears that depend on the ice to hunt. Polar bears are an umbrella species; without this top predator the entire Arctic food web would be in disarray. Because polar bears serve as a gauge to measure effects of climate change, they are the Trees for You and Me ambassador. But climate change is not only affecting the survival of polar bears and other arctic species, but will eventually affect the survival of humans as well.

Conservation actions that reduce the production of greenhouse gases are the most impactful efforts to mitigate climate change and save polar bears. Planting trees is one of the few tools we have to sequester carbon. Trees soak up carbon dioxide from the air and store it in their roots, trunks, stems and leaves while they grow and in wood products after they're harvested. Large forests create what are called "carbon sinks"- an area that absorbs more carbon than it releases.