Why can we plant timber?
Right here at ExxonMobil, we’re continuously searching for methods to counterpoint our most important shareholder: the planet. That’s why, for each barrel of oil bought by shoppers such as you, we’ll plant a tree.
Bushes are Mom Nature’s little rockstars: they beautify metropolitan Houston, our beloved company abode; they create shade to counteract the catastrophic warming we pretended to not learn about for many years; and so they suck carbon from the environment, which is crucial since we’re within the enterprise of including it again!
How does the tree planting program work?
For each barrel of oil offered, a mid-level gross sales affiliate enters a tally mark right into a Google spreadsheet. On the finish of every week, that spreadsheet is exported and despatched to our Sustainability Staff, who look at it earlier than submitting it alongside to our International Affect Activity Power. From there, the sheet is punted to our Local weather Initiatives Division, then faxed to our Native Outreach Divisional Head for approval. A passionate Environmental Works Case Supervisor then assigns the spreadsheet to a devoted Tree Procurement and Planting Staff Member.
Wait, so who is definitely planting the timber?
Largely Boy Scout troops, to earn their ExxonMobil Plant-a-Tree advantage badges. The design is an lovable oak tree shaking arms with an equally charming barrel of oil.
Additionally, interns.
What forms of timber are planted?
Scouts’ selection! We give them an organization card and complete impunity within the House Depot Backyard Heart. These intelligent lads in neckerchiefs have truly provide you with a few of our greatest concepts. Latest warming on this planet’s most closely drilled areas has created thrilling alternatives to introduce new species to beforehand inhospitable locales. Our freshly planted palm timber in northern Alaska, as an illustration, are flourishing. They seem largely unaffected by the zombie-like underground fires turning the Arctic right into a “hellscape,” and albeit carry a sure tropical je ne sais quoi to a area that’s in any other case extremely pointless. Aside from drilling.
Who maintains the timber?
We consider the Earth ought to take care of Her personal creations. Truthfully, what would you have got us do as soon as a tree is within the floor? Watering timber in a world that rains is laughably superfluous. Checking to see if seedlings survive to maturity is a gross invasion of privateness that ExxonMobil will merely by no means perpetrate. Let’s have some perspective: it’s a tree, not a child. We don’t want a social security internet for timber. Or our interns.
When did this program start once more?
Lawsuits about our alleged local weather deceits initially impressed us to attract your consideration towards our magnificent timber. Now it’s our personal lawsuits in opposition to climate-activist buyers that make us so obsessed with showcasing our carbon removing efforts. As we communicate, a newly-planted weeping willow outdoors the CEO’s workplace is sequestering away!
Does one tree sequester sufficient carbon to offset the emissions produced by burning one barrel of oil?
This math is inconceivable to calculate.
How a lot is ExxonMobil investing in this system?
Because the Boy Scouts and our interns function largely on goodwill, the Plant-a-Tree Pledge prices us lower than our company luncheons. However the emotional toll of understanding this program exists is immeasurable. We get so many frivolous and time-consuming emails about this, and truthfully, we’ve larger fish to fry. (Have you ever ever seen the ocean on hearth, like one big sauté pan for pelicans? That. That’s what we’re chasing.)
What number of timber have been planted up to now?
Since this program has been carried out, we’ve planted a amount of timber. Admittedly, our interns and the Boy Scouts have a tough time planting sufficient seedlings, provided that we produce over 500,000 barrels of oil per day. We inform them on a regular basis: they’re falling behind. The badges could be taken away.
If a tree is planted in a forest, however no one is round to confirm that we truly planted it, does it depend towards the Plant-a-Tree Pledge?
Sure.
Be sincere, is that this program only a tax write-off?
It’s that and a lot extra. It’s a last-ditch PR effort, and the one factor our executives can look their children within the eyes and inform them about throughout dinner.
The reality is we nonetheless really feel a little bit dangerous about the entire Valdez factor.
What’s the way forward for the tree planting program?
Coming quickly, ExxonMobil will plant its first mangrove timber alongside the Florida Keys. We firmly consider in a future the place oil spills have strong coastal ecosystems to spoil.
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