Why Save Trees?
The answer to 'why save trees?' is that they make the world a better place both with the processes they carry out to help the earth and their beauty, not to mention that they could end up saving us.
And the best news is that there is plenty of things you can do to save a tree from home before tea. Let's take a look at those things now.
FIRST FIND OUT YOUR CO2 EMISSIONS TO SEE HOW MANY TREES YOU NEED TO PLANT OR SAVE!
First things first...
Let's take a look at how much CO2 you use annually.
You can use the CO2 Emissions Calculator through the link below to see how many trees you need to plant to offset your CO2 carbon emissions.
http://www.replaceatree.org/calc-co2.htm
You can make a donation through this site to offset your carbon emissions, or just bear that figure in mind as you embark on the journey through the ways to save a tree from your digital device before tea time, contained in this article.
Now, if you are anything like us, you might want to aim to reduce other people's carbon footprints, as well as your own. There are plenty of ways to save trees to choose from - some free, some inexpensive, and some just plain thought provoking and ultra imaginative.
It's all for the trees and improving our world.
Simply Click a Link or Icon
Did you know that all your have to do is click on a link and you will either save trees, or get trees planted on your behalf?
Each one of links given in a moment will have buttons, or icons to press, which when pressed, will save trees! The links are either sponsored, or display adverts, which is how your clicks equal saving trees.
Below are 5 click to donate sites, which you can try to make a habit of clicking every day to get trees planted, or stop getting trees destroyed.
(There are many causes and charities that can be supported with clicks everyday.)
http://www.care2.com/click-to-donate/rainforest/
http://ecologyfund.com/ecology/_ecology.html
http://www.therainforestsite.com/clickToGive/trs/home
http://www.landcareniagara.com/
http://naturarvet.se/?lang=english (may need translating, but click to save Swedish forests)
Sign Rainforest Petitions
People often think that one person cannot make a difference, but taking the regular action of signing petitions related to saving trees and the environment (or whatever other causes you are passionate about) really does demonstrate the power of a number of people, carrying out one small action each. E-signatures can really influence decisions.
Here are a few places you can find petitions to sign about rainforests and saving trees (just do a search for rainforest or trees on these sites). There are bound to be lots of other issues that you also feel strongly about, so stick around to sign a few that touch a heart string, make you angry or you just want to help:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/
http://www.gopetition.co.uk/petition.html
http://www.ipetitions.com/
https://www.change.org/
Use and Choose Tree Friendly Search Engines
Did you know that there are some search engines out there that will help you save and plant trees every search that you do?
It's a great feeling to be able to search the web and save the planet by doing something that you would do anyway, except on a different site. It's a little change that can make a MASSIVE difference.
We have discovered two search engines, which we now use to save trees every time we use them (as well as the Care2 toolbar we have mentioned already):
i. https://www.ecosia.org
This search engine is every bit as good as the big well known search engines and you can save 0.1 m² of rainforest with every search you do. Advertising revenues generated from this search engine allow millions of acres to be saved.
ii. GoodSearch.com
Good Search is powered by Yahoo, so it is a powerful search engine. On this search engine you get to choose your charity, then every search you do will donate money to your chosen charity We found these potential charities to pick for saving and preserving trees and rainforests: Amazon Conservation Association, Rainforest Action Network, Rainforest 2 Reef, Forest Conservancy, Trees for the Future
http://www.goodsearch.com/
Give as You Shop
If you do any amount of searching or shopping online anyway, then using this free application is a great way to donate money without doing anything different, or paying any extra.
Let me explain some more...
Give as You Live is an application, which is easy to download and install on your PC. At the moment, it just works on Internet Explorer, but versions are being created for Firefox, Safari and Chrome.
It allows you to turn searches into funds for your chosen charity and on average 2.5% of every £1 spent on selected retailers into a donation for your charity.
If you do your grocery shopping online, book the odd holiday, can't resist a new pair of shoes, or an Ebay addict (or can find something in over 1,000 stores and 15 million products that you might want to purchase), then it makes perfect sense to make your online shopping habits into a cost free way you can give to charities.
You can see just what retailers, brand and stores are partaking in this excellent scheme: http://www.giveasyoulive.com/search/stores
Another great feature of this application is that when you sign up, so that you can track your giving, right down to the very last penny.
There never will be anything additional to pay to use the application, as it will advise you how you can raise funds with just one click. It's online shopping, but ten times better for you and your chosen charity.
Some good charities available to support with Give as You Live, which help save trees include The World Land Trust, Borneo Orang-utan Survival Foundation UK, Tree Aid and Trees for Life.
For more info visit: http://www.giveasyoulive.com
Other Similar websites are
http://www.igive.com
http://www.goodshop.com
Earn Butterfly Credits at Care2 to Plant a Tree for Free
Care2 is the largest online community of people trying to and actually making a difference in all sorts of environmental issues, green living and animal welfare, so it's no wonder that saving trees and rainforests are one of the many causes supported.
One of the best things about Care2 is the ability to earn Butterfly Credits. Butterfly credits are earned by undertaking simple actions, like commenting on an article, searching the web, sending an ecard, or signing a petition. You can view the full list of actions here: http://www.care2.com/rewards/how-to-earn.html
Once you have some Butterfly Credits, you can redeem them against 'gifts', which help make the world a better place. There are a variety of different causes that your Butterfly Credits can be redeemed against, but here are examples of a couple of tree related ones:
50 credits will offset a pound of carbon
1000 credits (or 500 if the special offer is still on) will get a tree planted
You can see the full list of world changing 'gifts' here: http://www.care2.com/rewards/redeem.html
Care2 also has a free toolbar which can be downloaded. This toolbar will help you earn enough butterfly credits to plant a tree in 3 days, by just searching the web. It also has a multitude of other features like; easy access to click-to-donate sites, the Care2 email resources, e-cards and lots of features of the Care2 site.
http://www.care2.com/toolbar/download.html
Yes, Care2 is a place we will be spending some time at. It's full of passion and people wanting to change the world.
Turn Deserts into Forests Before Tea's Up
The premise behind Tree Nation is to encourage people to sponsor trees in the desert to help combat land degradation and desertification, which has many humanitarian and environmental benefits. When trees are planted in bulk, it increases productivity and helps soil re-generate.
When you sponsor a tree, a tree will be planted on your behalf and not only is this beneficial in environmental terms, but it produces benefits the local community. This could be medicines, fruits or gum etc.
Each tree you plant has a special dedicated page, where you can see it as it grows through photos and water it (virtually).
You don't have to buy a tree to be part of the online community, which is basically what Tree Nation is. You can comment on other people's trees and invite other people to become aware of the cause.
3 new sign ups means a free tree planted, so, here is an invitation to join Tree-Nation: http://www.tree-nation.com/invitation/
However, if you do buy a tree, you are essentially it's guardian. You will get see photos of it, can blog about it and related issues and even track your tree with GPS on Tree Nation! Whether you get into this community, or just love your tree, it's another exciting way of planting a tree before tea.
Use the Internet to Find a Tree Cause to Donate to
If you can spare a few dollars, then you can donate to specific issues and causes at GlobalGiving.org. Global Giving connects donors to community based projects that need support. It is always good to know exactly what your donation is going to be used for
You can search for rainforest and tree related community projects, by clicking on Find a Project at: http://www.globalgiving.org/
A few current examples from this site include:
Plant 1000 trees in Miyako in 2017 for fishery
Saving Rainforests with a Stethoscope
Save the Cassowary from Extinction in Australia
Forests4Water Brazil: Community forest restoration
Conserving 250,000 Acres of Tanzanian Rainforest
A scheme that supports the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the Plant a Billion Trees campaign created by the Nature Conservancy. Here, if you donate, you will be planting a minimum of 10 trees in Atlantic Forest of Brazil.
The main aim of the site is make it as easy as possible to fund a tree planting and it is as simple as filling out your credit card details, address details and how many trees you want to plant. The minimum payment is $10, which equates to 10 trees.
Simple, but effective. http://plantabillion.org/
Another website along the same lines of Plant A Billion is American Forests, where you can also get trees planted for $1 per tree. Here they also have an other amount option, so you can choose the exact amount you'd like to donate:
http://www.americanforests.org/
Make Saving Trees Your Online Passion - Going Viral
The internet is the perfect springboard to share your online passion, especially if your passion is something like saving trees. You can let people know about some of the ways to save a tree from this post (as well as RESTEEMING it, of course) in a whole manner of ways to reach a vast audience.
The best approach is to take advantage of going viral and letting as many people as possible know about your passion in a unique, funny, or controversial manner and also let them know what they can do as well. For example...
Make a funny video telling people why saving trees is important and how they can help, but do it in an imaginative way. Just an idea of the top of my head - dressing up like a tree, acting like you are being felled and then someone else dressed as the earth starts crying (this would work ultra well with small children acting parts of tree and earth). Upload video to You Tube.
Create a social Facebook fan page, making people promise they will take at least one action to save a tree today and pledge that you will do the same.
Join Care2.com and write an article based on some of the methods detailed in this book to get in front of more like minded people, who might not be aware of all the ways that they can save a tree from their PC.
Create a Twitter profile based on your passion and find other followers with a similar passion, who happily pass on your tweets on how to save the trees. You can do a search for “save a tree” and see who has been tweeting about saving trees. These are the people to follow and get to know.
Choose a rainforest (or tree) charity that you'd like to support and create a Yourcause.com page about saving trees. Then, use social networking sites like Facebook, Care2, Youtube, or Twitter to let people know about it.
Get a game, Facebook application, or phone app designed and created to demonstrate your passion.
The More Unusual 1: Don't Make Notes on Paper Anymore...
If you have ever found yourself writing a lot of notes and ending up with reams of paper or notebooks and then spending hours trying to find a particular note, then you could consider a digital pen - not only would you save the paper, but you could find that important note by searching for a particular keyword!
These digital pens are useful for students, authors, business people, internet entrepreneurs and anyone who takes copious notes.
Some of these digital pens even record drawings and audio as well, so it's good for interviewing people and attending seminars.
These digital pens are nothing short of amazing, as you write notes (hand movements are recorded through wireless sensors), the pen stores your notes and even can transcribe them onto the computer. Although if you have writing like a doctors, the transcription might end up a little less than perfect.
There are many advantages of these digital pens like they are easy to use, portable (although you have to be careful not to lose them, until you've got them to a computer that is).
It also means less typing and data entry, which has got to be a godsend to many people, especially those susceptible to repetitive strain injury due to typing on the computer.
Why not see what Amazon has to offer by searching for "Digital Pen" yourself. There are quite a few different ones (although people seem to be raving about the Livescribe one) and they are quite pricey, but if you are tempted - do it for the trees.
The More Unusual 2: Become a Lord or Lady...
I am actually Lady Hope Huggs (well I'm not as that's my pen name), but I am a Lady.
What better way to make yourself feel better within yourself (and help preserve trees in Loch Wood, one of Scotland's last remaining native woodlands) than becoming a member of the aristocracy?
Did you know that this was a possibility?
All you have to do to become a Lord or Lady anywhere in the world is to purchase a small plot of land in Scotland and this gives you the right to use the Lord or Lady prefix.
By purchasing a plot of land on the Blackwood Estate in Scotland you will acquire the right to style yourself Laird, Lord or Lady of Blackwood. At the same time you will contribute to the preservation of Loch Wood, one of Scotland’s few remaining native woodlands.
Also As Laird, Lord or Lady of Blackwood you will also be granted the exclusive right to wear the Blackwood insignia and tartan which may not be used by others than the rightful owners of land in the Blackwood Estate. Aristocratic accessories with the Blackwood insignia is available from the website.
After you have obtained your lawful right to the title you may use a Master Title Deed to change the title on your personal ID cards, bank accounts, utility bills, etc
Interested, take a look here: http://www.lairdofblackwood.com/ (It's only £29.99)
Over to you...
Let's all save a tree today :)
Also...
Do you have any tree saving resources or tips to share?
Would you like to see more resource pages like this one for other causes?
All images from Pixabay.com
This is today's entry for Challenge 30.
Spreading hope and hugs :)
P.S All the STEEM and STEEM DOLLARS from this post will be donated to @verbal-D to help with this: