CAKE will celebrate Earth Day and Arbor Day 2021 with the launch of a groundbreaking reforestation campaign with One Tree Planted, a 501(c)(3) environmental nonprofit dedicated to global reforestation. The #CAKEforests initiative will help raise much-needed funds to plant trees, sustain healthy communities, and help to restore the environment in three U.S. regions devastated by last year’s wildfires.
PLANT A TREE IN THE CAKE FOREST
In 2020, the Western United States experienced a series of major wildfires across California, Oregon, and Washington, burning more than 10.2 million acres. The #CAKEforests campaign will take action to help restore these forests, habitats, and communities by working to plant trees and return the forests to their natural state. One Tree Planted has reserved 16,000 trees on behalf of CAKE to be planted in 2021 in each region. Every dollar donated will plant a tree in one of three reforestation projects, including California’s Slater Fire Restoration, Oregon’s Replanting Within Canyon Mountain Fire Complex and Rail Fire, and Washington’s Cougar Creek Wildfire Reforestation. All three projects are slated for completion by the end of December 2021. Donations made surpassing the 16,000 in each region will be used in an additional 2022 reforestation program.
“Humans evolved alongside trees,” says CAKE co-founder/singer John McCrea. “What we are has to do with them, and we eliminate them only at our peril.”
“Trees are beautiful and majestic!” adds CAKE co-founder/multi-instrumentalist Vincent DiFiore. “Their regal stature undoubtedly gives them a monument-like quality. CAKE is pleased to be associated with the continuous efforts to help restore forests, communities, and the work to support urban green spaces that disperse heat and filter pollution.”
“When you plant a tree, you are planting hope while also mitigating the effects of global climate change,” says CAKE lead guitarist Xan McCurdy. "Replenishing existing forests and woodlands depleted by deforestation, clearcutting and wildfires is vital.”
“Artists can have an incredible positive impact for the planet, and we're honored to have the support of CAKE, and their community of fans, contributing to reforestation efforts for forest fire recovery,” says Canopy Director of One Tree Planted, Diana Chaplin.
Along with their committed activism, CAKE is currently at work on the much-anticipated full-length follow-up to 2011’s acclaimed sixth studio album, SHOWROOM OF COMPASSION. Hailed by The New Yorker for its “deadpan brilliance,” the self-produced, independently-released collection proved a milestone for the Sacramento, CA-based band, debuting at #1 on Billboard’s “Top Alternative Albums,” “Independent Albums,” and “Rock Albums” charts as well as the SoundScan/Billboard 200 – CAKE’s first ever #1 on the overall chart.
2018 saw the premiere of CAKE’s first new original song in seven years, “Sinking Ship,” available for streaming and download; all proceeds from the track benefit “Doctors Without Borders.” The extraordinary protest anthem dropped alongside a stop motion companion video streaming now at YouTube Both the track and video were met by immediate acclaim from the likes of Rolling Stone, which wrote, “The alt-rockers churn up a signature groove built on grimy electric guitar, funky bass, carnivalesque organ and sighing trumpet, as frontman John McCrea observes a society crumbling in real-time,” further praising its “stunning claymation video full of war scenes and deception, seemingly satirizing the public’s thirst for conflict and tragedy.”
ABOUT ONE TREE PLANTED:
One Tree Planted is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit on a mission to make it simple for anyone to help the environment by planting trees. Their projects span the globe and are done in partnership with local communities and knowledgeable experts to create an impact for nature, people, and wildlife. Reforestation helps to rebuild forests after fires and floods, provide jobs for social impact, and restore biodiversity. Many projects have overlapping objectives, creating a combination of benefits that contribute to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
