The creator of the popular game, Fortnite, is buying thousands of acres of forest to stop it being cut down.
Tim Sweeney, known for his role in founding the video and 3-D software company Epic Games in the 1990s, and more recently, the game that took the world by storm - Fortnite. Epic Games has given us popular other video game
titles as well such as Unreal Tournament and Gears of War.
Despite his success in the technology and gaming sector, it is his work off-screen as a philanthropist that has been attracting attention from both gamers and non-gamers alike. The billionaire has stuck to his promise to protect undeveloped and bio-diverse land in the picturesque western Carolina mountains for future generations.
High Falls Waterfall
What has he done?
Since 2008, Sweeney has spent millions on conservation projects in his home state of North Carolina with the goal being to protect and preserve its forest land. Over the last decade, he has purchased nearly 40,000 acres, which makes him one of the largest private landowners in the state. It doesn't stop there though! Sweeney has also donated money to several conservation parcel projects, including a 1,500-acre expansion to Mount Mitchell State Park.
Furthermore, in November 2016, Sweeney donated $15 million towards a conservation easement to protect 7,000 acres of The Box a Creek Wilderness which had been targeted by a company that wanted to carve up the land, deforest it, and run power lines through it.
No less than a year later and he was already back at it again. Sweeney purchased 193 acres in Alamance County for $1.973 million from Sizemore Brothers LLC. Not long after there were rumors surrounding the acquisition of the land, Sweeney’s representative Joe Kelleher confirmed the purchase and guaranteed that the land would remain undeveloped.
As science continues to evolve, thankfully, philanthropists such as Sweeney help to protect it from being destroyed. Jack Ma, China's wealthiest man and founder of Alibaba has also taken note of the importance of conservation, and in 2015 he purchased 28,000 acres of land in the Adirondack mountains of upstate NY. His first action taken after purchasing the land was to halt logging operations.
This is great news for the environmentalists and the environment itself. Hopefully going forward into the future, there will be many others willing to help and protect the environment.
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