I saw this originally on Josh Rubin's Cool Hunting, and it just warmed my heart. And it seems more than a gimmick to me. It is called Ecotonoha, and its a project by NEC.
People can come in and add a message as a leaf on a tree every day, and watch the tree grow. For every 100 messages, NEC will plant a tree on Kangaroo Island, Australia. Last year 84,000 messages were added, translating to 845 Eucalyptus seedlings being planted.
There is much more beneath the surface, however. There is a wealth of information on NECs website about their environmental activities, along with figures and graphs of their progress in making a more sustainable product. Its amazing to see that they've put the resources into putting together such an extensive website. This seems like a really honest attempt to do the right thing, as not all the bad numbers always go down. Sometimes they rise, and there is an explanation as to why they rose. One footnote that would be interesting to know more about, however, is that their computer recycling activities are only available in Japan.
Seems to me like NEC are putting their money where their mouth is. It would be great to see more companies get this serious about sustainability.
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