6 Millionth Tree to Be Planted in 2011 as Part of Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation's 50 Million Tree Pledge
date 04/28/11
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Jeff Salem, Director of Communications & Public Relations, emailEnterprise is First in Travel Industry to Launch a Social Media Campaign to Match Consumer Tree Planting Pledges
ST. LOUIS – April 28, 2011 – This year The Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation will fund the addition of one million trees to national forests in countries where Enterprise operates as part of the 50 Million Tree Pledge. To celebrate this sixth round of tree plantings, and the sixth millionth tree planted through the Enterprise Rent-A-Car program, Enterprise Facebook fans can pledge to plant a tree. Enterprise will then match that pledge by planting another tree (up to 50,000), for a total of an additional 100,000 trees to be planted as part of this year's effort.
The Pledge is a private/public/nonprofit partnership between Enterprise, the Arbor Day Foundation and the U.S. Forest Service. Enterprise works with the Arbor Day Foundation each year to determine the planting projects that address the greatest and most immediate needs. The more than five million trees planted since the program's launch in 2006 have gone into forests across Alabama, California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Montana, Oregon, South Dakota, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and Scotland. An interactive map of the plantings is available at http://www.drivingfutures.com/foresight/#50-million-tree-pledge.
"The 50 Million Tree Pledge is not about offsetting emissions, it's about conservation," said Lee Broughton, director of sustainability, Enterprise Holdings. "As a family-owned company, we are aware of the importance in protecting and enhancing the sustainability of the communities in which we live and work. Our conservation efforts go deeper than planting trees."
"This year's projects were selected to help rebuild and preserve several forests that are essential to local water sources," said Broughton. "The planting of our six millionth tree this year will be just one more down payment on our long-term commitment to this issue."
More than 180 million Americans – 53 percent of the U.S. population – enjoy abundant, healthy drinking water thanks to forests. Forests help snow melt and rain water soak into soil to replenish rivers and streams during dry times. Trees stop silt from eroding into waterways and serve as natural filters to clean sparkling mountain streams, healthy lakes and reservoirs, and rivers.
The UN estimates that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will live in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world's population could be living under water stressed conditions. As demand for water increases, the plantings help improve the health of watersheds, which are important to the drainage of rainfall into streams, ponds, rivers and lakes.
The 50 Million Tree Pledge planting projects for 2011 include:
- Gallatin National Forest, Montana – 200,000 trees to be planted in summer 2011
- Cowal and Trossachs Forest District, Scotland – 72,300 trees to be planted in fall 2011
- Superior National Forest, Minnesota – 150,000 trees to be planted in spring 2011
- Klamath National Forest, California – 350,000 trees to be planted in spring 2011
- Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests, Colorado – 100,000 trees were planted in spring 2011
- Fremont-Winema National Forests, Oregon – 50,000 trees to be planted in spring 2011
- Manitoba, Canada – 77,700 trees to be planted in fall 2011
"Enterprise's 50-year, 50-million-tree commitment shows an unprecedented dedication to keep forests healthy by planting trees," said John Rosenow, founder and chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation. "The need to replant our forests is vitally important because of damage from insects, disease and unprecedented wildfires. Through the next 44 years, thanks to the vision and commitment of Enterprise, we will plant another 44 million trees where they will best serve people, our environment and water resources for generations to come."
The 50 Million Tree Pledge complements a range of other environmental initiatives by Enterprise Holdings, which operates the Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Alamo Rent A Car and National Car Rental brands, including:
- Offering the world's largest fleet of fuel-efficient vehicles
- Embracing new, clean fuels and engine technologies
- Funding renewable fuels research
- Offering customers the opportunity to offset the emissions associated with the average vehicle rental, with partner TerraPass
- Helping remove vehicles from the road to reduce emissions and traffic through WeCar car sharing and Rideshare vanpool services
- Committing to reduce both energy use and energy costs by 20 percent by the end of 2015
- Investing more than $150 million in sustainable construction through 2016
More information about Enterprise's environmental initiatives can be found at www.drivingfutures.com and forewords.drivingfutures.com.
About Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Founded in 1957 and known for an extensive network of locations, everyday low rates and outstanding customer service, Enterprise Rent-A-Car is an internationally recognized brand that has been named to BusinessWeek magazine's annual list of "Customer Service Champs" in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Enterprise also has ranked "Highest in Rental Car Customer Satisfaction" among North American airport rentals for the last seven years in a row, according to the 2004-2010 J.D. Power and Associates Rental Car Satisfaction Studies.
St. Louis-based Enterprise Holdings owns and operates the Enterprise Rent-A-Car brand. With annual revenues of $12.6 billion and more than 68,000 employees, Enterprise Holdings also operates, through its regional subsidiaries, more than 1 million cars and trucks, making it the largest car rental service provider in the world measured by revenue, employees and fleet. There are more than 6,000 Enterprise neighborhood and airport locations operating worldwide in the United States, Canada, the UK, Ireland and Germany. For more information about Enterprise local and airport car rental as well as vehicle leasing, car sharing and vanpooling options, visit www.enterprise.com. [This news release and other Enterprise Rent-A-Car announcements are available at the Enterprise Holdings press room.]
About The Arbor Day Foundation
The Arbor Day Foundation is a nonprofit conservation organization of more than one million members, with a mission to inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees. More information on the Foundation and its programs can be found at arborday.org.
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