Luc Forsyth can’t decide which memories best illustrate the glorious hardship of his six seasons as a tree planter in Canada.

Maybe it was his first day, when his crew leader told him to “deal with it” after hours of work in new boots had shredded his feet. Maybe it was years later, when his hands were so stiff after seemingly endless days of cold rain that he urinated on them in a desperate attempt to defrost himself.

Or perhaps it was the many raucous nights in the nearest logging town, shooting pool and doing laundry with the rest of the planting crew, a group of strangers bonded by adversity. (Here are five ways people are using trees to save