"It's been exciting, rewarding and has made a difference." Dan Lambe, president of the Arbor Day Foundation
By Aaron Montes
NBCUniversal and the Arbor Day Foundation once again team up during the holidays to spread awareness and draw attention to the importance of planting trees.
NBCUniversals' donation of $25,000 to the Arbor Day Foundation, a nonprofit conservation organization, will go to planting more trees. Since 2009, the two have partnered in a large social media campaign to spread a message of holiday cheer for the environment.
Green is Universal, NBCUniversal's initiative to raising environmental awareness, and the foundation are asking participants to use the hashtag #GIFtATree and create or share GIF's, the popular animated photo files, on social media. For each post, or GIF created, the foundation will plant a tree in a state or federal forest until they have planted 25,000, which amounts to $1 a tree.
This year, #GIFtATree to the environment by:
<![if !supportLists]>· <![endif]>Going to greenisuniversal.com and creating and sharing a holiday GIF
<![if !supportLists]>· <![endif]>Using #GIFtATree on social
Green is Universal has provided a variety of templates to create a GIF on their website. A Douglas Fir, Garry Oak, Red Maple and Longleaf Pine are available to decorate with holiday trinkets and create wintery scenes. Participants can also share pictures of their holiday trees as part of the campaign.
“It's a unique way to draw attention to the importance of trees,” Dan Lambe, president of the Arbor Day Foundation said. "It's been exciting, rewarding and has made a difference."
James Kolstad, the director of social innovation at NBCUniversal’s corporate social responsibility, said the foundation works with trees in the U.S.’s state and national parks that are in need of replanting due to natural forces such as fires or droughts, making Arbor Day the perfect partners for the environmental initiative.
Kolstad said giving back is a central theme to the holidays and by participating in the social media campaign, anyone can have fun while giving back to the environment.
“The beauty of the GIF’t A Tree campaign is that there are so many ways to participate,” he said. “For each of those actions, you’re helping to plant real trees for the holidays.”
“GIF’t A Tree” will last the whole month of December and kicks-off Wednesday Dec. 2, the same day as the “2015 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting,” a tradition practiced in New York City since 1933. A Norway Spruce currently sits on Fifth Ave., and between 49th and 50th Street ready to dazzle the Big Apple.
Published at 6:41 AM EST on Dec 9, 2015
