The tree planter (Argentina 1890)

Javier wasn’t a farmer, and he wasn’t a scientist. He was just a man who had watched too many trees disappear.

He lived in the Pampas, where landowners cut down forests to make way for cattle. Good for business, bad for the land. The soil, once rich, was turning to dust.

So Javier did what no one else did. He started planting.

He worked alone at first, digging holes, placing saplings, watering them when no rain came. People thought he was mad. "Trees don’t belong here," they said. But Javier kept planting.

A year passed. Then five. Then ten. By the time he was old, people walked through groves of trees where there had been only empty fields. Birds nested in branches. The soil held firm. And those who had laughed at him now sat in the shade of trees they never expected to see.

Javier never asked for thanks. He just kept planting.