How To Plant Trees With Every Purchase You Make This Holiday Season
And Every Season Thereafter
Oftentimes, when we hear about the magnitude of the climate crisis and its consequences, we can feel overwhelmed and immobilized. We wonder how and if, on a personal level, we can contribute to meaningful change, and what we can do to counter the earth’s rising temperatures and sea levels, increasingly devastating storms and wildfires, and growing threat of mass animal extinction.
“The average tree can absorb about one ton of CO2 in its lifetime.”
No one thing can solve it all, but carbon-offsetting through reforestation (or tree planting) has been found to be one of the most scalable strategies. The average tree can absorb about one ton of CO2 in its lifetime and, when done correctly, reforestation can restore biodiversity and local ecosystems that have been disrupted by deforestation. We can personally support the replanting process not just through planting seeds ourselves of course—get dirty if you desire!—but through simply continuing to make our daily purchases. Here’s how.
#PlantYourChange is a movement that will plant a tree every time you swipe your debit or credit card and round up your change to the nearest dollar. You don’t need to get a new card. You don’t need to join a new bank. And you don’t need to accumulate a certain amount of money in order to get a tree planted either. A simple swipe will do the trick. And for each and every transaction that rounds up a purchase, one tree will get planted—no matter if it’s one cent or 99. (You can also disable the option at any time, as well as put a cap on the contributions.)
“Reforestation can restore biodiversity and local ecosystems that have been disrupted by deforestation.”
Ultimately, the movement wants to make it easy for anyone to offset their personal carbon footprint. And by shopping as we normally would, this change can seamlessly be implemented into our daily lives.
Working in partnership with non-profits like the Arbor Day Foundation and Eden Reforestation Projects, #PlantYourChange has already planted 2.6 million trees from Los Angeles to the Amazon Rainforest since launching in March. A minimum of 10 percent are fruit and vegetable species, which provide food security, benefit human needs, and become a source of sustainable income over time. And to offer the trees long-term protection, the movement works with local governments, hires forest guards, and steers clear of planting in logging areas.
With the help of card-holding consumers, #PlantYourChange hopes to reach its goal of 100 million trees by 2021.
“Our micro impact can yield macro change.”
