Press release for immediate release:

Go Green this Christmas and give affordable gifts to friends and family - and the planet!
Vancouver, December 9, 2008 – This year, Love Trees, a Bowen Island, B.C. based eco-company has inexpensive gift ideas that can help holiday shoppers stick to their budget, help the planet and even plant a tree to replace their Christmas tree by having a Christmas tree planted that will never be cut down.

When someone purchases Love Trees’ Holiday Tree Planting certificate they are funding an environmental education project that puts a tree in the hands of a child to plant. It’s a powerful way to teach kids that they have GREEN POWER - the power to make the world a better, healthier place!

So far, Love Trees has given hundreds trees to students in Katrina-torn Louisiana and to students in mountain pine beetle ravaged Prince George. Each child takes their Wish Tree home to plant with their family to absorb up to one tonne of carbon in its lifetime. When they plant their Wish Tree they get to make a wish for the planet and every time they return to their tree to care for it they get to make more wishes – for anything.

"We think planting a tree is one of the best ways to empower and educate kids – the future stewards of the environment. Kids really care about the environment and they want to help,” said Andrea Koehle Jones, Executive Director of Love Trees. “Sometimes the least expensive gifts are the most powerful. Love Trees gets more requests from kids and teachers across North America for Wish Trees than we can send out. The more people that buy our certificates the more trees we can donate.”

Love Trees is also selling The Wish Trees, a children's eco picture book and mini-Christmas trees, beautiful little decorated blue spruce seedlings you can plant in a pot as a Christmas dinner table ornament. Keep the little trees in the pot until spring and then plant it in your garden. Love Trees is a member of One Per cent for the Planet and gives a portion of revenue from sales to environmental learning charities like The ChariTREE Foundation.

Christmas is supposed to be about kids
At a time when over-spending is contributing to global warming and relentless marketing is eroding the true spirit of the Holidays, now has never been a better time to take a moment to think what Christmas is really about – kids. Travel, shop, and wrap gifts thoughtfully this holiday season and consider the extra stress we’re putting on the planet. This is the planet we’re leaving our children and grandchildren so making choices and giving gifts without considering environmental consequences is really no gift at all.

It would be difficult to calculate exactly the ecological impact of the holiday season but here are just a few considerations:

• Flights
  People are flying everywhere to spend time with their families. The average medium-range flight such as flying from Toronto to Vancouver produces one tonne of carbon per passenger. (source: Zerofootprint.ca)

• Driving
  A one hundred kilometre trip to visit relatives in a mid-size vehicle produces about 2.4 kilos of emissions. (source: Natural Resources Canada: Fuel consumption guide 2007)

• Buying Toys made in China
  This is much more difficult to qualify as the energy intensive inputs from Chinese manufacturing are unknown.  What can be said is that China has surpassed the United States as the world’s largest toy producer and carbon emitter. Much of those emissions come from manufacturing exports.  Also, shipping accounts for a greater share of global emissions than air travel (sources Financial Times Published: March 22, 2007 and April 19, 2007)

Everyone knows the best gift of all is love. Spend time with your kids over the holidays and love them enough to think about their future and the world they will be left with many Christmases from now.

For more information contact:

Andrea Koehle Jones
Communications Strategist, Love Trees

(t) 604 947 6803
(c) 778 386 6803
(w) www.lovetrees.ca

Give a Tree. Plant a Tree. Hug a Tree.