PA's Zippo Lighter Company To Fight Global Deforestation With Tree Planting Initiative

On July 30, Bradford-based Zippo lighter company launched a new "Fight Fire With Fire" tree planting program to combat the effects of global deforestation.

As creator of one of the most famous flames of all time, Zippo is intimately aware of fire's usefulness. But this power, when wielded carelessly, can have devastating effects. 

Nowhere is this more evident than fire's impact on forests across the globe. Wildfires destroy 4 percent of the Earth's surface each year, with 84 percent as a result of human hand.

"Temperatures are at the highest level on record and wildfires are affecting almost every continent on Earth, but unlike most natural disasters, the majority of wildfires are caused by humans,” Lucas Johnson, Senior Brand Manager, Global Marketing at Zippo.  “In the US alone there are around 100,000 forest fires each year clearing up to 9 million acres of land. The Zippo windproof lighter gives people the power of portable fire but with this comes responsibility."

Zippo is working with WOODCHUCK USA to launch a global Fight Fire with Fire project that aims to help counter the effects of deforestation caused by wildfires. 

Zippo has pledged to plant a tree for each windproof lighter sold from the Fight Fire with Fire collection, to shine a light on the effects of wildfire, starting with Zippo's first planting sites in Madagascar. 

Globally renowned storyteller, National Geographic, has documented the efforts.

With unprecedented wildfires reported as far north as the Arctic Circle, and research citing humans as the main threat to the very existence of a third of all remaining animal species, there is a shared sense of urgency to protect our planet and biodiversity. 

Zippo believes every individual has the power to make a positive difference; humans are responsible for the majority of fires, so the solution also rests in our collective hands.

To help educate on the problem of wildfires and their causes, National Geographic has produced a video for Zippo and a photography series in Madagascar, the world's fourth largest island; a land mass that has had 90 percent of its original forests destroyed. 

The content produced by National Geographic, focuses on what people are doing to rectify the issue.

For more information, visit Zippo’s Fight Fire With Fire webpage.  And, plan a trip to the Zippo/Case Museum in Bradford, McKean County.