Arbor Day Foundation And Toyota Partner To Make VirtualTrees…Real
Facebook Application Allows Users to Donate Trees;Target of One Million Trees to be Planted in U.S.
March 20, 2008 - Nebraska City, Neb. - The Arbor Day Foundation
and Toyota announced today that they have partnered to create a new Facebook application
called Tree Planter. With the Tree Planter application, users can plant real trees
in forests across the country - without even leaving their computer.
Using
Tree Planter, users gift trees to their friends. For every gift sent to a friend,
the Arbor Day Foundation plants a tree in one of eleven needy forests, including
Custer National Forest, Hoosier National Forest, and Huron-Manistee National Forest.
Many of these forests have suffered devastating effects from recent forest fires.
The cost of sending a tree to a friend is $1. The Arbor Day Foundation has a goal of planting one million trees in the first year of the application. Toyota is supporting the effort by purchasing $50,000 worth of trees, so the first 50,000 users can send one tree to a friend for free.
"Toyota has partnered
with the Arbor Day Foundation since 2001 on their education and tree planting
efforts," said Patricia Pineda, group vice president of Toyota Motor North
America. "We are proud to support an innovative use of one of the most popular
social networking sites to make a genuine positive impact on the environment."
The Tree Planter application is available now and can be added to a member's
Facebook page by searching for "tree planter" on http://www.facebook.com/apps/
About
Arbor Day
The Arbor Day Foundation is a nonprofit conservation organization
of nearly one million members, with a mission to inspire people to plant, nurture,
and celebrate trees. More information on the Foundation and its programs –
or ways to celebrate Arbor Day – can be found at www.ArborDay.org.
About
Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) established operations in North America in 1957
and currently operates 13 manufacturing plants. In addition, new plants are under
construction in Ontario, Canada and Mississippi. There are more than 1,700 Toyota,
Lexus and Scion dealerships in North America which sold more than 2.9 million
vehicles in 2007. Toyota directly employs over 43,000 in North America and its
investment here is currently valued at more than $21 billion, including sales
and manufacturing operations, research and development, financial services and
design. Toyota's annual purchasing of parts, materials, goods and services from
North American suppliers totals more than $30 billion. According to a 2005 Center
for Automotive Research study, Toyota, along with its dealers and suppliers, has
generated nearly 400,000 U.S. jobs, including jobs created through spending by
direct, dealer and suppliers employees. For more information about Toyota, visit
www.toyota.com.