Alexa can now plant a tree for a nominal fee

Amazon has announced that customers in the US can now use their voice to plant trees around the world by simply telling Alexa to “grow a tree.”

This new initiative, which Amazon has brought about in celebration of Earth Month, is being facilitated through a collaboration with One Tree Planted, an environmental charity with a long history of planting one tree per one dollar donation they receive. 

Continuing this tradition, the new “Alexa, grow a tree” voice command, which is only available to Amazon customers in the United States, now donates one dollar to One Tree Planted in order to plant one tree, so long as you have a payment method linked to your Amazon account. 

Alongside encouraging their customers to donate to a charitable cause via Alexa, Amazon has also put a minuscule fraction of their own money where their mouth is by donating one million dollars to One Tree Planted themselves. 

According to Amazon, the planned planting of one million trees by December 2022 will help to “make a global impact around the world,” with the first reforestation efforts being targeted across the United States and India.

This first wave of reforestation efforts includes restoring a surface mine in Appalachia Pennsylvania, forest fire restoration in California, planting and nurturing fruit trees across India, and protecting Orca whales in the Pacific Northwest by planting trees along riverbanks and streams.

Grow a tree this Earth Day – just by asking @alexa99! Simply say, “Alexa, grow a tree” donate $1 to plant one tree with One Tree Planted and that’s it! They take it from there. ?? ? pic.twitter.com/rojqJjqT7N

— Amazon (@amazon) April 11, 2022

While this rainforest reinvigorating charitable initiative may seem like a benevolent move from one of the world’s biggest companies, it’s worth noting that these tree-planting schemes aren’t always exactly what the planet needs, as often the planted trees can die before they are of any use to the planet, or they can even cause more harm than good to local ecosystems.