USC Sol Price School of Public Policy alumnus Tomio Daumit began his nonprofit Rapid Reforest in January with an ambitious goal: planting one billion trees by 2030. The technological idea behind this objective? Creating drones capable of planting trees — and lots of them.
Six months into the pandemic, Daumit reassessed what he wanted to put his time and effort into. He decided he wouldn’t get back into corporate America, and instead wanted to “do something for the planet.” Inspired by soil’s carbon capture potential, which he learned about from the Woody Harrelson documentary, “Kiss the Ground” (2020), Daumit began toying with the idea of using the efficient technology of drones to reforest land.
“I thought [the documentary] was really cool, and there were some things in there about composting and all these other things and my brain started twirling,” said Daumit, who, after pursuing an undergraduate degree in graphic design, worked toward a masters in urban planning at USC, but hasn’t yet finished his degree. “I wanted to get into climate change and get something going.”