Radical environmentalists spent a lot of money trying to elect eco-friendly candidates to federal and state offices. A lot of money. Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmental activist, was the election’s single biggest spender: He spent more than $74 million of his own money to influence this year’s elections.

Steyer and groups such as the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, and League of Conservation Voters oppose the use of coal, natural gas, or oil—the energy sources that Americans depend on for more than 90% of our energy needs. Perhaps voters weren’t ready to accept their extreme agenda and the high costs and job losses that go hand in hand with eliminating all fossil fuels.

If Steyer really wanted to make a difference with his millions, he could have spent that money on something that actually helped preserve the environment and offset climate change–like planting trees.

According to the Arbor Day Foundation, the $74 million dollars he poured into candidates (most of whom lost their races) could have been used to plant 74 million trees. Every tree absorbs 1 ton of CO2 in its lifetime—that’s 74 million tons of carbon! To put that in perspective: That would be the equivalent of taking Kansas offline with zero carbon emissions for an entire year. Of course $74 million is pocket change to the hedge fund billionaire.

Steyer’s PAC, NextGen Climate Action, was positive about the election results, saying the group was “happy to report that we have met and exceeded our goals across the board.” An odd sentiment considering most of NextGen’s supported candidates lost, and earlier this year Steyer told C-SPAN “I’ve spent my life up to 22 playing a lot of sports so I really care about wins…I don’t think there’s any way you look at elections and don’t look at it in terms of wins and losses.”

Big Green Radicals clearly lost on Tuesday night, but they’re already gearing up for the next election cycle. Instead of spending green on planting trees or other tangible environmental wins, these deep-pocketed activists will be pushing their radical agenda on voters for years to come.