Giving Compass' Take:

• Mashable reports on our earth's increased greenery, both due to skyrocketing levels of carbon-dioxide which plants use to grow and also largely impacted by tree and crop planting in the last decades. 

• NASA reports that production of grains, vegetables, fruits and more have increased by 35 to 40 percent since 2000, how can we continue to see this number rise? Will this affect sustainability? 

• To read more about the risks and rewards of tree planting and forest restoration, click here. 

Two NASA satellites have watched Earth grow greener over the last 20 years — in large part because China is hellbent on planting millions of trees.

Earth's greening — meaning the increase in areas covered by green leaves — has made the greatest gains in China and India since the mid-1990s. "The effect comes mostly from ambitious tree-planting programs in China and intensive agriculture in both countries," NASA wrote on Tuesday as it released maps of the planet-wide changes.

China kickstarted its tree-planting mobilizations in the 1990s to combat erosion, climate change, and air pollution. This dedicated planting — sometimes done by soldiers — equated to over 40 percent of China's greening, so far.

Read the full article on the earth growing greener by Mark Kaufman at Mashable.