Gifts hold great sentimental and emotional value, and thus, when gifts are given, careful thought must be invested. The ideal gift is one that not only expresses the sentiments of the giver but also has great significance attached to it. Small wonder, then, that for those in search of a gift that is unique and also sends across a great message, a sapling or tree is ideal. 

Trees hold just as much value for corporates as they do for individuals. When hunting for eco-friendly corporate gifts, gifting a tree is a quick and easy way around it. Individual tree planting or corporate tree planting is an excellent way of raising awareness about saving the environment while maintaining profits and increasing customer loyalty and shareholder value. It makes for a wonderful CSR initiative and can be extended within the company as well, through an ‘adopt a tree’ program to increase employee engagement. 

Here’s why trees are cool:

• Reduce Packaging Waste and Shipping Costs Across Borders

Traditional gifts are not only overused, but they also contribute tonnes to the world’s already burgeoning packaging waste problem. With international orders, the delivery process becomes that much more unsustainable as transport and air travel can be involved, despite being one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gases in the world today.

Trees, however, are physical but not tangible, per se. They can’t be shipped in boxes or packaged in turtle-strangling bubble wrap. Today’s technological revolution is even allowing the digital gifting of trees—online platforms such as EcoMatcher champion the efforts to cut packaging waste and costs by offering trees digitally. EcoMatcher’s TreeTracker web app allows virtual visits to the gifted tree from anywhere in the world. 

• Reduce CO2 Emissions and Toxic Greenhouse Gases in the Air

The environmental change due to the destruction of this life force may increase the number of harmful gases in the atmosphere, making the planet increasingly unfit for living. However, by planting more trees, we can ensure a reduction in these harmful gases. Trees are natural cleaners of the atmosphere and environment. They reduce toxic gases and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, letting out breathable oxygen in return. Even a single tree is impactful– one massive tree can produce enough oxygen for four people for a day!

Tree planting has a lot of scope for effectively wiping out 100 years of carbon emissions. Reforestation and climate change action go hand in hand, not least because tree planting is possibly the best climate change solution there is today.

• Restore Habitats for Wildlife

Just the way we humans depend and dwell on our environment, so does our wildlife. Our wildlife and environment are dependent on each other. The destruction or harm to the environment endangers wildlife and disturbs the ecosystem. One of the more significant threats to wildlife is deforestation. Gifting trees is an excellent way of getting people to help the environment and also educating people about the advantages of trees in our lives. More trees mean protection; protected wildlife means a symbiotic ecosystem. On an organizational level, companies can initiate corporate tree planting for sustainability or introduce sustainable employee engagement initiatives to continue meeting business targets and, holistically, sustainable goals.  

• Increase Emotional and Mental Health

Many studies present a resoundingly positive case for trees contributing to the mental and emotional health of humans. In fact, one discovered that increasing the number of trees in a city block by 10 can invoke emotional and psychological changes in ways similar to getting $10,000 extra a year or being 7 years younger!

Exposure to nature or spending time in tree-lined areas can considerably bring down the symptoms of depression, stress, and anxiety. This co-relates to why those who live in urban settings or away from nature tend to see a spike in symptoms compared to those in tree-covered areas. Gifting a tree only makes measurable happiness more accessible and affordable to those without the means or money to settle in suburban or green spaces. 

The reasons for these observations are many, the most agreed-upon being trees’ ability to purify the air and produce more oxygen. Tree planting also reduces stress, which in turn delivers physical benefits. But the psychological ‘placebo’ effect of trees is perhaps the most intense, yet the most unexplainable. 

Conclusion

And there you have it– reasons, running the gamut from environmental change to increase in happiness, that make tree planting and tree gifting the next cool trend and one that you should definitely be in on as individuals or corporates. Trees make for excellent eco-friendly corporate gifts, employee rewards, and milestone markers in a firm. There’s a positive business element in tree gifting, too, as it can be used to contribute towards CSR initiatives, fulfill sustainable development goals and targets or simply make the world a better place for your employees and clients!