Vin Diesel redirects ice bucket challenge: 'Plant a tree for Groot' (+video)

Does it a take an actor with a fossil fuel surname to save the planet?

Hollywood action star Vin Diesel - a human with hickory hard muscles - is channeling his inner tree. OK, so maybe he's just channeling his latest role, the character of "Groot" in the hit Marvel Comics movie "Guardians of the Galaxy."

Groot is a large, extraterrestrial tree being of immense strength but with limited vocabulary. According to Marvel comics lore, the Flora Colossi have a language that is almost impossible to understand due to the stiffness of their larynxes, causing their speech to sound like they are simply repeating the phrase "I am Groot." Indeed, with one exception, this is Diesel's only line in the "Guardians" film.

Like many celebrities and ordinary mortals, Diesel took the now ubiquitous "Ice Bucket Challenge" but used the attention to redirect to another worthy cause.

On YouTube, Diesel called out Guardians director James Gunn to "plant a tree for Groot." Diesel later posted a photo of himself planting a tree. Gunn accepted the challenge. And so have some of Diesel's Facebook and Twitter followers.

Diesel doesn't provide any horticultural guidance or rationale. But there's at least one reason to plant a tree in the city.

Much like Groot in "Guardians," urban trees may save human lives just not with as much fanfare.

A study of 10 US cities found that urban trees acted as filters, removing fine particulate pollution from the air.

More than 80 percent of Americans live in urban areas containing over 100 million acres of trees and forests, said Michael T. Rains, Director of the US National Forest Services Northern Research Station and Acting Director of the Forest Products Lab. This research clearly illustrates that Americas urban forests are critical capital investments helping produce clear air and water; reduce energy costs; and, making cities more livable. Simply put, our urban forests improve peoples lives.

The study, Modeled PM2.5 Removal by Trees in Ten U.S. Cities and Associated Health Effects, was published last June by the journal Environmental Pollution.

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Vin Diesel redirects ice bucket challenge: 'Plant a tree for Groot' (+video)