TREE PEOPLE IS AN ONLINE COMMUNITY LED BY CHILDREN, FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL
NEW ZEALANDERS

Children and grown ups can adopt virtual trees and make pledges to do small things to fight climate change. Their trees grow according to several factors, such as carbon savings, the number of times your child visits the tree, and the number of friends and sponsors your child has.

Sponsors are usually adults who have not joined the Tree People website. They could be family members or neighbours, for example. When a child makes a pledge to do something that helps the environment, they can approach a sponsor — and ask that sponsor to reciprocate by also making a pledge to make a small change to their own lifestyle.

For instance, your child may pledge to use scrap paper for their drawings. In return, your neighbour might pledge to switch off their television at the wall every night for a week. This way, your child’s tree grows faster to reflect the increased carbon savings and positive impact on the environment.

Tree People shows children simple ways to reduce their carbon footprint, and hopefully create a better world for them and their children to live in as adults. It not only encourages children to rely less on energy-hungry modern conveniences, but also increases appreciation of New Zealand’s flora and fauna. It’s entertaining as well as educational.

Tree People is the latest in a line of several successful initiatives created by Genesis Energy for younger New Zealanders. These include projects like the international award-winning game ElectroCity, and the solar energy initiative called Schoolgen.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS

Please note that we take online security and privacy extremely seriously. Your child’s email address is never given out under any circumstances. We do not ask for street addresses. We will never pass on email addresses to a third party, or use them for any purpose other than the operation of Tree People.

A child can only sign up a sponsor if they know the sponsor’s email address. Tree People does not offer any form of direct contact between children and their sponsors: contact is only through emails sent via the Tree People website, where automatic emails are generated. Further information about our privacy policy is here.