An Auburn University graduate student has become an international sensation after establishing a new Guinness World Record for hugging the most trees in an hour.

Abubakar Tahiru is a native of Tepa, Ghana, according to Guinness. He’s working on a master’s degree in forestry at Auburn. In late March, with the support of a team of more than a dozen helpers, he made the attempt in Tuskegee National Forest. In April, Guinness confirmed he had established a record by wrapping his arms around 1,123 trees in 60 minutes.

According to Guinness, that’s a rate of 19 trees a minute or about one every three seconds. Video shared by Guinness shows Tahiru sprinting along a corridor of marked trees, stopping to give each one the requisite close embrace.

“I attempted to set a record calling for action towards environmental sustainability and, of course, to demonstrate my love for nature,” Tahiru posted afterward on Facebook. “Trees symbolize life, hope, and comfort. Anyone who finds something wrong with hugging a tree, which brings out your happiness, cannot truly be happy. I find solace in trees and embrace them wholeheartedly.”

Since the record was confirmed, Tahiru has been interviewed by numerous media outlets, including some in Africa. In one such interview, which aired on the “Prime Morning” show on Ghanian TV outlet Joy Prime TV, Tahiru took some gentle ribbing.

“A lot of women, all over the place, they deserve some hugs,” said Kpekpo Maxwell Justice aka KMJ The Royal Host. “You decided to hug trees?”

Tahiru said he was motivated by his longstanding concern about devastation to forests, in his native country and elsewhere.

“I saw how it was needful for me to do something to show why there’s a need for us to all come together to collectively fight for global awareness of climate change sustainability, and of course to show my love for trees,” he said. “I see no fault with that if somebody decides to call for global awareness and the person is doing it in such a unique way.”

He said he’d heard from people from all over, including people in Europe. “They were wondering why I did that and it has really caused a lot of conversation around it,” he said. “I think it’s very impactful and that is what I’m excited about.”

On Facebook, Tahiru said he has spoken to campus groups about the attempt, including the Graduate Student Council.

In response to questions from co-host Asieduwaa Akumia, he said that this was the new record and he was the first to hold it. (Guinness said it had set a minimum threshold of 700 trees before it would consider a record. Among other rules, no tree could be hugged more than once and no damage could be done to the trees.)

Tahiru said that he’d long been concerned about the way that activities such as logging and gold mining were conducted in Ghana, and the resultant impacts such as water pollution. As a forestry student, he said, he was learning that “there are a lot of best management practices we can follow to makes sure that all these activities are done in such a way that water quality is being protected, wildlife is being protected, our heritage, our culture is being protected.”

When Akumia hinted that he might have hugged more trees than he got credit for, he agreed. The video shows careful preparation: A course of trees had been marked with numbered tags, to make sure he never had to stop and think about where he was going next, and never had to take more than a few steps to reach the next tree. But because he was moving swiftly, he said, the photographers and videographers on the team might not have gotten a clear image of every single hug. Guinness only counted the trees that were properly documented.

He said he wasn’t concerned about a few uncounted tree-hugs.

“I’m not really looking for setting a record that nobody can ever break it,” he said. “That is not my goal.”

He said he knows some people will think the whole thing is just silly.

“For me, to me, I’m always for those who are seeing the positive energy and I’m proud about it,” he said. “And I’m happy that I’m making people laugh as well.”