Reddit’s Former CEO Wants You to Buy a Subscription for Trees
(Bloomberg) -- Yishan Wong is best known for leading the social media platform Reddit from 2012 to 2014, but since 2020 he has turned his attention to fighting climate change through his forest restoration startup, Terraformation. This summer, the business rolled out its latest product in beta: A subscription-based model where individuals can fund reforestation for the monthly cost of a streaming service.
It’s not the first or only initiative of its kind. But Wong says what makes his project different is that it puts a realistic price on planting and growing a healthy tree as part of a biodiverse forest.
Whereas many tree-planting projects are run by nonprofits, Terraformation is a for-profit startup that boasts a suite of high-profile investors including Sam and Max Altman, Marc Benioff and Naval Ravikant. They have invested in the project because they believe it’s an effective and scalable solution to climate change, said Wong.
The startup has worked with corporations to plant millions of trees already, but the subscription model is targeted specifically at individuals. People “have been asking for a long time” for the option, Wong said. “It’s a very popular thing that people understand.” Terraformation sends subscribers photos of the tree they have funded so they can follow its growth.
There are plenty of other options for people to donate $1 or $2 to plant a tree. Experts say that often only covers the cost of dropping a seedling into the ground, rather than tending its growth.
The $25-per-month cost covers not only initial planting but years of care, said Wong. “We are trying to plant enduring, self-sustaining forests that last to maturity,” he said. “And if you do it correctly with biodiverse native species, this creates a self-perpetuating carbon sink.”
Terraformation is headquartered in Hawaii, and the first phase of the subscription tree-planting is happening at two sites on the Big Island. The species being planted are native to the state and include Hala (Pandanus tectorius) and Koa (Acacia koa).
The startup is also in talks with tourism companies about buying the subscriptions in bulk to offer to its workers as an employee perk.
Trees and forests store carbon dioxide that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere, so they’re crucial to maintaining a livable climate. Interest in reforestation as a climate solution has risen. Still, there are many cases of these types of projects failing – carbon offset projects, for example, have been shown repeatedly to offer fewer climate benefits than expected.
Karen Holl, a professor of environmental studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz, researches tree-planting and says that Terraformation’s higher price point is encouraging. “You might be able to plant a tree for a dollar, but you can’t grow a tree for a dollar,” she said.
Subscribers might like getting photos of “their” tree, but Holl says those looking to purchase a tree subscription should also be asking for data: on how the forest’s biodiversity is monitored, what the project’s social impacts are and whether there are satellite images showing tree coverage over the project area and whether it’s increasing. And critically, how many seedlings make it to maturity.
There should be more disclosure across the sector, Holl said. “It’s surprising how many groups can’t tell you how many of their trees survive.”
For corporate and institutional partners, Terraformation provides reporting that includes biodiversity monitoring, social impact assessments, satellite imagery and detailed survival-to-maturity rates, Wong said. Individual subscribers get less detailed information. Along with photos, Terraformation gives them regular progress updates. According to Wong, that’s because “the general public wants a radically simple narrative of impact.”
Even with the best projects, it’s important to remember that tree-planting is a “short-term carbon” solution, says Holl. New trees eventually die and can burn or be cut down, which releases their CO2 as greenhouse gas pollution.
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