Hannah Ewing

Peaceful JAM (00:01.363)
Welcome to the Marketing for What Matters podcast. I’m Jam at Peaceful Media and today I have a very special guest with One of our charitable donation partners, One Tree Planted. Hannah Ewing is in charge of partnerships, so we’ve had a chance to connect with her already through a bunch of different conversations as Peaceful Media came on board. Hannah, welcome to the podcast.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (00:28.174)
Thanks so much, Jam. Really excited to be here. Yeah, it’s an honor. I love working for One Tree Planted and just super excited to talk kind of all things reforestation and how folks can get involved.

Peaceful JAM (00:30.515)
Yeah.

Peaceful JAM (00:42.355)
Yeah, I love to start with an intention setting as if we’re going to a meditation retreat. And what is what is your intention as you showed up and made time for this episode today?

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (00:57.006)
Ooh, I love this. So my California spirit, I was born and raised in California. So I’m like, this is wonderful. I think mostly to, absolutely to, I think just get the word out about the benefits of reforestation and kind of the many different ways to get involved. That’s beyond just kind of, you know, donating to plant trees, for example, but also.

Peaceful JAM (01:06.035)
it right in. Yeah.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (01:25.486)
as we kind of touched on at the beginning, to kind of lend a really positive light. One of the things I love about One Tree Planted is our messaging is really positive, oftentimes kind of almost overwhelmingly positive. And we do that not to kind of be naive or to ignore the kind of plights that our planet and people and animals are facing, but rather to empower folks to really feel like.

these small differences, small changes and the small impacts each and every One of us can make really do add up and make a difference. And so we do, although we have to kind of hold that reality of the climate factors and crisis we’re facing, we have to also hold the reality that we still can make that positive change and give that just the same amount of weight. So really excited just to kind of spread that positivity and message to everyone because…

kind of I hold the two every day and want to make sure that we all remember there’s a very bright spot for the climate and with all of us to make a positive change.

Peaceful JAM (02:31.379)
Yeah, I’ll say my intention. I hope that more businesses like ours realize that it really doesn’t take that much to start contributing. Just a small percentage of our P &Ls can go towards being a solution to an overheating planet. And trees are very special to me. They always have been. I’m a total Tree hugger.

And I want to be an agency at Peaceful Media that speaks for the trees. And so I, yeah, again, I hope that there’s some e -commerce owner or a brand, a brand owner who looks at this and goes, gosh, why aren’t we just contributing a little, a dollar, you know, out of every checkout experience that we’re sending our customers through, ask if we can donate an extra dollar to planting a Tree.

in all of these various places that One Tree Planted creates impact across the world. So I know we’re going to dive way more into that and talk about the mechanisms of One Tree Planted, but I am curious. There’s a theme that runs through some of my episodes in particular about how you decided to work in this space, because there’s a lot of different spaces, industry sectors to use your brains and your education.

Why this? Why One Tree Planted And for you personally?

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (04:03.822)
Thanks. Yeah, it’s a great question, actually, and One that I often find and I tell folks that are younger than me that if you ever hear anybody tell a linear story about their career, they’re leaving a lot out. Unless I mean, they’re like the One percenter that knew what they wanted to do when they were five and they truly went that route. They do exist. But for the most part, they’re just leaving out those kind of circularities and, you know, stop and starts and

Peaceful JAM (04:16.699)
Yeah.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (04:31.886)
those parts of their career journey. So for me, I actually studied English literature at university. As I said, grew up in California, born and raised about.

Yosemite National Park in Merced, California, in the Central Valley. Highly kind of industrialized agricultural part of the state, for those of you unfamiliar. Beautiful, absolutely beautiful grasslands there, but yeah, just a lot of kind of industrialization. And I actually started my career in events and fundraising during university to help me pay for my education. And One thing led to another, and I ended up working in…

development and fundraising at the University of California, which is the youngest UC campus in my hometown, in Merced. For about five or so years, I was working kind of in public relations development there. Absolute privilege and a joy. For those unfamiliar, it is the most diverse University of California campus. So kind of sustainability and diversity are really.

just intrinsically entwined. So small plug for UC Merced there near and dear to my heart. But full disclosure, I wanted to get out of fundraising. I was done with the career and I found the job posting for a corporate outreach position at One Tree Planted. And it was literally written for me, Jam. I was like, this is, I can do this to a T. And it kind of occurred to me as I saw the posting and I applied, it was the only job I applied to.

and I got it and I actually, I’m not gonna lie to you, I cried after the third interview because I thought I bombed it and I wanted the job so much because it spoke to kind of my heart and soul so much. And I realized it wasn’t ever fundraising, it was that I was doing it for the wrong cause. So really the environment is kind of where my spirit really kind of soars and I want to stay in this space for the rest of my career. And so that was kind of the story.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (06:34.51)
Like long and short of it, that’s quite a bridge. But that is how I found myself, again, just working in the environmental space and to be driving resources towards reforestation, towards restoration, it’s just, you know, what a fire to fuel your day -to -day work. And I feel really privileged to be able to work in this space.

Peaceful JAM (06:59.123)
100%. Yeah, that alignment in your career must feel just amazing. And I would love so it’s obviously the show’s marketing for what matters. And you and I share the belief that planting trees matters significantly as Tree huggers and ecosystem lovers. But for those uninitiated in this passion and belief system, what would you say to them to help them?

help them understand why this matters so much.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (07:33.888)
Yeah, absolutely. I would say even the folks who might feel uninitiated, you actually are initiated. And I use this a lot when I’m speaking to folks, speaking to, you know, panels or just One -on -one with folks. I tell everyone, trees are amazing because they’re like music. You’ve never met anyone who says, no, I definitely don’t like music. I don’t like any kind of music. Everyone likes a form of music, maybe 10, 12.

50 different styles. Maybe they like almost all music, but everyone likes music somehow. I think it’s part of the human condition. Let’s call it. Trees are the same thing, I believe. Everyone likes certain types of trees. They might like all kinds of trees. They probably love trees. And if you’ve never thought about it and you’re like, I don’t really necessarily love trees. Think about it for two minutes. You probably do. You love their shade. We love the way the wind sounds through their leaves. And the same can be said of the environment.

We all live and interact with our environment on a small and high level scale every single day. I mean, everything you’re interacting with, the chair you’re sitting on was made from, you know, let’s say wood or plastics taken from the earth, right? And our environment, when we step outside our door or when we step inside our doors, it all has to do with the planet and the health of the planet. So how does this and why does this matter to everyone is because we share this planet and our environment.

is directly affected by our actions. And just as we can kind of make the decision to ignore it, we can just as actively make the decision to say, every small action matters and I wanna make those small actions, both in my personal life, but also so many of us have so much more power that we may not recognize we hold in our professional lives to make these positive changes and to make them more systemic. And we really have to stay attuned to that because the more that we recognize,

the power that we hold in our professional life, not just personal decisions, the more we can make those positive changes. So even if you think you’re uninitiated, you actually are initiated. And I encourage you to kind of take up that, just take up that responsibility with a lot of positivity and agency and power.

Peaceful JAM (09:52.307)
Yeah, there’s so many things I want to pull on there, but I would love to know how One Tree Planted differentiates itself from other Tree planting organizations, of which there are many, but and then I’ll share my Peaceful Media’s partnership journey with One Tree Planted to kind of chime in on what I saw as points of distinction that matter to us. But I’d love to hear your perspective on that.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (10:20.75)
Absolutely. So we always like to say that planting trees is hard, but we make it easy. And so kind of our ethos and really our ambition since our founding in 2014 has been to just make it easy to help the environment. So we have a kind of premise that One US dollar plants One Tree in many of our global projects. Jam, as you are likely familiar.

And this is true, we’re in about 80 countries right now. And that’s true across many of those geographies, North America, Latin America, Asia. We have a few geographies that are two or three US dollars. But again, this is less about making it inexpensive because we ensure the quality and that these trees are not just going in the ground, but that they are surviving and thriving. And we work with our planting partners on the ground to ensure that.

But it’s also more than that, again, about making it inexpensive, because that’s not our goal. It’s to make it feel like it’s achievable to lay people and businesses alike. So I can buy this pack of gum or a snicker bar, or I can plant a Tree. No brainer to most everyone I’ve ever met. I’d much rather plant a Tree than kind of indulge in a small treat, or what do I even need this dollar for? I’m gonna lose it in my car. So to kind of make that, or 50 trees for $50. So again, to really make that accessible.

and easy. And then of course planting trees, it’s not simple. There’s land preparation that goes into it. We’re working in many cases in large scale areas, former burned areas, former cases of erosion landslides. There’s just so many different factors that go into of course planting trees as probably anyone who’s had a backyard and tried to plant One knows. So again, to kind of make that really simple and easy.

both for people at the professional and the personal level to get involved. That’s really our goal. And I think that’s what sets us apart from many other admirable organizations and we need them all to exist. There’s so many trees that need to be Planted. So I’m glad there are multiple actors in this space.

Peaceful JAM (12:35.987)
Yeah. You touched on many of the ones that helped us decide, I can, I didn’t even do a ton of, you know, quote unquote competitor research, because you really did a fantastic job of drilling down and explaining how, how you’ve made this process simple, which I think is, is a huge piece of this is removing the barriers to entry and integration with, with companies ambitions and goals.

when it comes to Tree planting. The other One, which I’d love to unpack more is I didn’t see any other organizations with a whole menu system dedicated to contributing or basically donating or planting trees by impact. And I think it might be actually useful. I’m going to pull this up on this here and share this with people so we can…

I’m gonna go through it. Let me just make sure I’ve got the right screen. Here we go.

So you can see that on the screen there.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (13:45.87)
Yes, sir.

Peaceful JAM (13:47.635)
Look familiar? All right. Yeah, so by impact, and again, maybe this is on every Tree planting organization’s website, but this really like, it touches on way more than imagining a Tree in my local mountains. It helped me really see the bigger picture here, which is how are these Tree plantings becoming part of a Tree?

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (13:49.006)
Yes.

Peaceful JAM (14:16.595)
a society, right? And how are we lifting up societies that are being negatively impacted the most by climate change? I started to investigate more on why is mangroves, you know, One of the by impact, why specifically that Tree or that sort of ecosystems, ecosystem helped helped many members of our team who are, you know, women, my two partners are both women. you know, at the

touches on something else that’s really important to us, making sure that we’re empowering future leaders, female leaders. So that by impact piece was so huge for us. Can you just speak to that a little bit?

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (15:00.782)
100%. Yes. No, I love these funds. And just in case anybody is digging around on our website and you’re kind of, you know, thinking about, Ooh, because as you see Jam, and as you know, there are also geographies on our website, but we always love and appreciate when folks do give give trees for impact, essentially because this allows our project managers to get those funds to the projects that are most in need.

Peaceful JAM (15:17.875)
Yes.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (15:29.326)
course that fall into that category. So while you can give trees of course to Europe, to Africa, and they’re always welcome, we always do appreciate again kind of these One step higher level because it allows us to have that flexibility. So say our project in Africa needs a little more love and that falls under biodiversity because it’s an Albertine rift protecting chimpanzee habitat for example.

versus maybe our monarch butterfly project that you wanna contribute to in Mexico. So you go into Mexico specifically that might have that support. So these impact funds allow us that flexibility. But even more than that, they allow you folks and all of our business partners to really tell a beautiful story and kind of an evergreen story. We love our Tree puns here, but a story year over year and plant trees where they’re needed most is kind of the best example of this.

because this is just our most flexible fund at the One US dollar level. So every dollar you donate to that fund will plant One Tree, but it allows, again, our project managers to put them wherever they’re needed most globally. But again, back to kind of the more specific funds, if it is really important and part and parcel core to your business, for example, to empower women, you can give to that fund and any project that those funds will go to will be sure to have that component, that women’s empowerment.

built into that project. And I want to touch on something else with these funds that’s so important. So you’ll see community is there. There’s mangroves, there’s watersheds. For many of these, it’s kind of easy to forget when you’re giving, you know, philanthropically, especially towards the environment, you’re kind of thinking of wilderness areas and places that, you know, feel really remote, or at least I used to kind of envision these places that were very far from.

from human beings, let’s say. And this is something I think that Western culture has done a lot of and kind of trained us that we’re apart from nature. And I’m glad that it’s coming back into our narrative that human beings are indeed part of nature. And actually One of the reasons that we have tended to kind of degrade it so much is because we are often putting ourselves separate from it when really we are One in the same.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (17:50.798)
And so many of these funds, yeah, urban forestry is a great example of this, getting trees into these urban places and spaces, incredible environmental justice impacts, but also let’s bring back up mangroves. Mangroves are incredibly important to fishing communities on the coasts of Asia, on the coasts of many places. And so these are just…

so quintessential for the health of the fish populations, the health of the human populations that rely on those fish and also their land itself to prevent, you know, when these tsunamis occur, flooding occurs, the mangroves, as many of you may know, act as that shield, their actual shield to protect against the damages of flooding. Another great example of this kind of interconnectedness of us humans and the environment and protecting it is it is really easy to forget if you are sitting,

you know, in the privilege of a first world country to forget that many folks still rely on wood as their fuel source. So both their heat and their cooking source for light. We actually have a project in Africa that is a beautiful example of forestry that is both a restoration project, but actually it’s a kind of almost protective project because it’s allowing the communities that we’re planting with to plant trees that are

really hardy and you can actually chop off the limbs of these trees and they can use them for fuel. They can take them to market to sell as fuel. And it’s therefore protecting their old growth forest. These communities were being forced to cut down for fuel because they had no other choice. So just these amazing kind of, again, you see how, okay, this, although it is a restoration and a reforestation project, it’s also a protective project because although we don’t work in conservation per se,

it is protecting those old growth forests. So just the incredible interconnectedness of all these different projects and how humans are part and parcel part of this ecosystem. And really we can’t ignore that. And so I love these funds for that because they really show community watersheds interconnectedness with people on the planet.

Peaceful JAM (20:03.667)
Right on. I love it. I love it. I love your site. So easy to use. So easy to find what touches upon your organization’s hearts and goals for what you want to see in the world. So again, going back to that, you’ve made it really easy. It’s also sticky, you know, to communicate out to internally and externally that every Tree, you know, every dollar in most cases is going to plant a Tree in a place that really matters.

I am kind of curious, so you’re the partnerships guru over there at One Tree Planted. At least that’s my understanding because he were the person we spoke with. And I’m kind of curious, what goals do you hear most organizations trying to achieve as part of the inspiration for the conversation with you?

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (20:57.742)
Yeah, absolutely. So we have, it kind of runs the gamut, but the most common are that folks want to, and when I say folks, I mean corporate and business partners essentially want to do more. And usually, and I speak with a lot of folks that it is, and many of you, this may resonate with you. It’s kind of part of their job. They might, yeah, sit in marketing or they might sit in procurement or they might sit in, you know, a C -suite position.

But typically, this is One aspect of their job and not the entirety of it. So they’re oftentimes working with limited resources, but they want to make the biggest impact that they possibly can. And so oftentimes, they might be, for example, incorporating recyclable packaging, but they want to do more because they recognize oftentimes packaging is made of trees. And ironically, the more sustainable packaging is paper and kind of paper. paper.

cardboard rather than plastic because many of these plastics are not recycled or not easily recycled. But then they kind of feel that that weight of, my gosh, we’re using all these trees now. So how can we kind of help to to contribute towards mitigating that effect, let’s say. So that is the case many times. And then overwhelmingly as well, we have many folks who want to recognize their employees. So, for example, they’ll plant trees on behalf of

the number of employees they have globally. Or they might plant trees in different countries where they’re sourcing raw materials or actually making materials. So many, just so many ways to kind of weave in that narrative. And then, yeah, I’ve had HR teams come and say, we want to honor employees anniversaries with gifts of trees Planted rather than kind of a traditional gift basket or something. So.

Peaceful JAM (22:48.147)
Yeah. You just triggered a new idea for me. I’m thinking about all these different ways to integrate it at Peaceful Media, and that’s something I hadn’t even considered. Well done. Yeah. What are some other… What are some… Go ahead.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (23:02.286)
Absolutely. And there’s many, yeah.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (23:07.714)
Oh no, I was just gonna say there’s, the kind of the list goes on, there’s matching programs as well. And we’ve had a few folks, One of our board members actually was a former corporate partners of ours and he got us on board at his company. They did a matching program, it was overwhelmingly popular with employees. And then he actually started asking his friends and family to donate trees on his birthdays and anniversaries. So really just kind of fun examples of ways to, again.

professionally get involved in personally if this cause really speaks to you.

Peaceful JAM (23:42.739)
Yeah, what is, so as all these companies, organizations are rolling out different programs, as we talked about this offline is that Peaceful Media is donating trees for every guest that is on our podcast. And we get to highlight that in the episode, which we’ll do at the end here. What kind of impacts are these organizations reporting back to you in terms of how this may enhance their other goals aside from mitigating packaging?

damage and treat damage and just trying to be a little bit more conscious as a business. Like how has this enhanced the other aspects of normal business? If at all, you know, maybe that’s something they don’t report to you.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (24:26.19)
Absolutely. Yeah. Typically, this is just really well received with consumers. And so with external stakeholders, whether they’re a consultancy working with clients or they’re selling products, this usually lands really well with consumers. And something too I encourage folks, because if you’re kind of familiar with the reforestation space, and there’s a lot of talk

Carbon credits trees sequestering carbon and we inevitably, of course, and undoubtedly trees do sequester carbon, but at One Tree Planted, we are focused on the ecological and community impacts of trees. And these are not carbon certified projects. Those projects, for those unfamiliar, take about typically a few years at least to set up and they’re measuring those impacts usually upwards of 30 plus years.

So as you can imagine, that’s just not possible that One, two or three US dollar mark. However, we have many corporate and business partners that chose kind of before these carbon credits were really trendy and even after they got really popular and it was a buzzword to donate money towards Tree planting philanthropically purely because they again, wanted to focus on those community and ecological impacts because.

It’s much harder for folks to kind of point and say, you haven’t done the good that you’re doing. You know, when it’s kind of this esoteric number of CO2 that’s very hard to prove, let’s say, it’s extremely hard to discount the fact that we’ve helped these communities with Tree planting. We’ve, you know, enlivened these ecosystems with the trees. I mean, these are real and tangible impacts that are measurable. And of course the CO2 is measurable as well.

But it’s very tangible for folks. And I go back to the monarch butterfly project. These monarch butterflies are an endemic species that are just so incredible and so, I mean, just astounding. We still don’t even fully understand how they make their migration, right? So there’s just amazing animals whose habitats are in danger. And so to say we’re directly helping to reforest, for example, that landscape, it’s just very hard to point at that and say that impact is not real.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (26:53.358)
when in fact it is. So that’s kind of what I like to touch on for folks that, and I know we are all kind of here that, you know, green hushing or we’re so scared of green washing, but when it’s really about the impacts on these environments and on these people, it’s nearly impossible to refute because these impacts are real.

Peaceful JAM (27:16.563)
I definitely want to come back around to how organizations can communicate this and navigate the hushing, washing piece of this. But before I go there, I’d love to highlight some of your favorite campaigns that your partners have run successfully. And then I’ll ask the converse question, which is which ones have not gone well, not naming any names, of course.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (27:44.27)
Absolutely. Yeah, we’ve had a lot of folks who will really kind of engage their audiences through, you know, activations, let’s say. So ASICS, for example, ran a run for reforestation challenge and that Planted, I think, something to the tune this year of 90 ,000 plus trees and folks were running for reforestation. So they made that commitment and really did it on behalf of their audiences. And.

just a really incredible way to get involved and a really great illustration of that. Something that typically kind of doesn’t land as well, I won’t name names, but just to illustrate at a high level is when the consumer is kind of asked to give instead of the other way around. I’ve seen it go really well when the company, whoever they are, corporate business partner, you know, let’s say they’re selling a product, they plant a Tree on behalf

of their consumer, for example, and they offer them the option to plant as well. Those generally go really well because again, it kind of speaks to that reciprocity. We all feel, you know, it’s not an ask, it’s a, you know, join us in this endeavor. But they tend to not do so well, yes, when all that onus is placed on the external party or again, the consumer or client, it just usually doesn’t land as well because again, it’s kind of lacking that reciprocity.

Peaceful JAM (28:59.475)
Yes. Yes.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (29:13.166)
And deep down folks feel like if you’re not fully invested in this, why should I invest? And so really the more that you can fully commit, the better that outcome will be and the better that relationship building and reciprocity between you and your stakeholder will be.

Peaceful JAM (29:17.907)
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Peaceful JAM (29:31.151)
Do you have any anecdotes of your partner liaison coming back and saying, my goodness, like the feedback we’re getting on this campaign has just been astounding and people are so thrilled. I don’t know, just a few more of those ASIC stories and what kind of impact that’s having with the consumer base.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (29:55.438)
Absolutely, yes. And a few I like to share are also internal. So a lot of folks come to us, again, kind of looking for resources to help with either long standing B2B relationships or their own employees. And typically, I mean, the reception is just overwhelmingly positive. I think folks really are, and again, kind of back to our previous conversation.

Folks are really hungry to try to have a positive impact. And it can just be so overwhelming sometimes when you’re going through your day and then you’re kind of trying to Google search, how can I live more sustainably? The kind of opportunities are endless, but then you get in the space of overwhelm. And when an employer or someone you’re already engaging with, even a power company, let’s say, I work with some power companies who will give trees on behalf of their.

customers and clients, when you can see that kind of, you know, let’s say you open your bill and they’re seeing now trees are Planted, this is just such a positive impact. And I’ve yet to see when it was not well received, when the trees are Planted on behalf of that, again, that consumer, that external stakeholder client, B2B partner. It’s just almost…

impossible for them to kind of say, the One, and this is not negative, I take this as positive, is this legitimate? And are these trees really being Planted? And they have a lot of questions, which I love. And I tell everyone reforestation is a popular space right now. And do your homework on One Tree Planted and other reforestation organizations, because you do want to make sure that those impacts are indeed real and they are the impacts that you want to make.

So I love that and I actually take that as a really positive, not a critique, but a positive question that folks were being really proactive and discerning in the impacts they’re trying to make. But there’s so many examples, Jam, I can’t even think of just One, but it’s really just, yeah.

Peaceful JAM (31:53.939)
I figured I’m going to share the screen again, because this touches on One of my next questions. And I know you’re not in the marketing department per se, but you get the results of One Tree Planted’s marketing department, right, which is more people filling out an inquiry to become a partner.

Is that a correct assumption? I’m not sure how the org chart looks like over there.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (32:23.566)
Yes. Yeah, you’re right on.

Peaceful JAM (32:27.411)
And then you’re, I’m assuming that you have conversations with your marketing department to enough to the point where you could kind of tell them, Hey, you know, this, this material seems to be having an impact. This story, a partner story, for instance, that got a lot of buzz and interest for us. Could you speak to that a little bit? And cause you know, there are marketers listening to this podcast, thinking about how they,

take a sustainable brand out more effectively. And I know storytelling has just got to be part of the core answer to that, but what in particular has worked for One Tree?

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (33:09.39)
Absolutely. And do you mean specifically for us as an organization, I’ll kind of answer this in a two -pronged way, and then for our business partners, for us?

Peaceful JAM (33:15.827)
Yep. Yes, yes, for the organization. Yeah. Yeah, because then like a bit of like to.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (33:20.75)
Absolutely, yes. For us, it’s really been about…

Peaceful JAM (33:27.443)
Sorry, I’m noticing there’s a little bit of a lag, so I apologize. If I’m running over, it feels like I’m running over the top of you. So if I just say this question again, I’m imagining, like I’m paralleling this to some of our B2B clients whose marketing department’s job is to get inquiries and discovery calls and people coming with enough, no like trust to be able to have a,

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (33:37.294)
No, no problem.

Peaceful JAM (33:56.787)
decent conversation about fit. And I’m kind of curious if you’ve seen certain pieces of marketing or certain approaches to marketing One Tree Planted that have been most impactful for you.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (34:12.526)
Absolutely. I think the overwhelming answer to this is the stories of our projects on the ground, which sounds really obvious, but it’s not necessarily. So we’re really highlighting all the time the incredible work of our planting partners. And we really strive to make this always foremost front and center in all of our materials that we put out.

And essentially, again, this is back to the story. So when folks interact with our website, you kind of see all these, you know, incredible stories about the real impacts on the ground. You know, what does this project look like in India? What are these trees doing, you know, to restore this ecosystem that was damaged from mining in Pennsylvania? Like really these specific stories about these direct impacts of the projects. The incredible work we’re doing in the Andes ecosystem

for example. And so I think, and again, telling that story in two ways. So at that high level, so that’s kind of that sound bite and sound clip kind of backed again to the impact funds. Why are watersheds important and how can we help them? But then you go down and you can drill into these different projects and the impacts that, you know, watershed health has.

in the Pacific Northwest on the orca whale population. Like really from this high level down drilling into these details. So I think overwhelmingly just our really key and core to our marketing is to get the story on those impacts on the ground. And I think folks will experience that and see that our marketing team does an incredible job. I can’t speak for them, but I know that that’s always front and center for us and they’ve done just a beautiful job of it.

Peaceful JAM (35:53.523)
and we’ll…

Peaceful JAM (36:05.651)
Yeah, fabulous. I am Marvel. And it’s something, yeah, I’m trying to really.

develop a stronger muscles around this at Peaceful Media is this sustainable sector storytelling. And I’m kind of curious on a medium level, written content versus images versus videos. What have you kind of heard from prospective partners that, gosh, this really touched me. This is why I’m here.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (36:39.63)
Yeah, this is a great question. It’s been, it really depends on the person, but from a corporate standpoint, as you can imagine, kind of the website is very important. But then on a personal level, we have tons of individual donors who are brought in through our social media platforms, for example. So kind of harnessing all of these different platforms as you can imagine. And then also I would say, and this is always kind of a,

Peaceful JAM (37:01.459)
Figured, yeah.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (37:09.582)
You know, you have to know how to assign your resources, but given your audiences and our audiences are so diverse. So we have to really try to capitalize and, you know, drum up enthusiasm on many different platforms. But I would say also our blogs have been really received really well from with our corporate partners. So kind of getting the word out in their space, it’s easy to share them. There’s a short read and they stay, you know, kind of evergreen, let’s say, but.

Back to the video example, we have a lot of folks who subscribe to our YouTube channel and video, as you know, is such an engaging form, especially in this space, because as we know the environment, it’s beautiful and it’s impactful to see what you’re hearing as well and to see these images of, you know, you have the monarchs pulled up there, you know, to see the monarchs and see them on the trees is just incredible. If you’re unfamiliar, go take a look at the video. But I think that…

Peaceful JAM (37:48.307)
Yes.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (38:09.966)
really for corporate partners to hone in on where your audience is most attuned is really important, as I’m sure you all already know. But yeah, that for us has been, as they say, for the environment, diversity is key. And I think that’s also been key for us as well, to kind of have success, both with individuals who want to get involved, and again, with those corporate donors, is to really be diverse in the platforms we’re working on. And again, in…

Peaceful JAM (38:21.491)
Sure, yeah.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (38:38.606)
Producing content in both video, blogs, newsletters, as well as on the website.

Peaceful JAM (38:47.475)
Okay, so now I got a tough question for you, Hannah. Consumers are inundated with information. Some people are just flipping through, I’m guilty of this, just flipping through headlines and taking headlines as fact. Especially if it’s embedded in the headline is research report from…

fill in the blank with reputable organization or institution reports that, you know, maybe planting 1 million trees isn’t such a great idea after all, you know, something along those lines. I mean, that One’s like obviously click bait, but I imagine that they’re that your marketing team has a misinformation campaign, right? That they’re always going against and overcoming some of these, some of these.

and landing in people’s psyches as truth. I have One in particular from, you know, the Verge, I sent this to you prior to our episode and I just love to hear what One Tree plants, One Tree Planted responses to this kind of shenanigan.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (40:08.462)
absolutely. So I think kind of the short answer is to recognize that, of course, tree planting is not a silver bullet, right, to just the challenges that we’re facing with our climate. And we recognize that. And I think anyone kind of, you know, with common sense, that. However, it is One of the most tried and true, scientifically backed and accessible.

resources and tools that we have, combatting the negative impacts that we’ve had on the climate and again, restoring ecosystems. So while some of these articles may have some grain of truth and while like any space, there have been some actors in the past who may not have had kind of that higher level moonshot, truly ethical ambition, there are of course, actors in the space who may have just been

trying to plant trees just to plant them, right? Because it was something that they could kind of, you know, those opportunistic actors. So my short answer is, of course, we know it’s not a silver bullet. However, this tool is so important and again, kind of back to doing your homework. And if you’ve done your homework with any reforestation partner you choose to work with, whether it be One Tree Planted or another, you’ll know and you’ll have the fast fire answers to those questions, you know.

was this, let’s say you did get someone saying, you know, what is this legitimate? What is the impact? We have an answer to that. You know, here’s all the impacts that your project has had. Here’s the number of trees that were planted. Here’s the community members that it helped, the species that it helped. Really just having the quick answers ready and at hand from your, whether it’s a for -profit or a nonprofit partner, like One Tree Planted from.

your reforestation partner that is key to being able to speak to these and kind of really nip them in the bud to go back to a plant pun. Because I don’t think, I think while many of them may be well -intentioned, I think a lot of them, as you said, Jam, they are clickbait and they’re again, being opportunistic in this space. It’s nice to be able to get, you know, attention. People’s attention is money and to be able to get attention from this space that is.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (42:33.998)
Thankfully becoming more popular. We need restoration. That is an opportunity for folks who also have to be aware of as a consumer. And so again, yeah, doing your homework, knowing that the partner you’re working with is legitimate, that you can fall back on the true impacts of those projects easily and you know they exist and you know that those are real and they have fortitude. That’s really key. And then to not let, and I’ll stop here.

but to really not let that greenwashing and that fear greenhush you as they say now, like greenhushing. I think that this is something we cannot let stop us both in our personal and professional lives. So we shouldn’t, as professionals, we shouldn’t be afraid of this negative press because what’s the flip side of this that many of us probably think of, many of us might overlook, is the folks that are doing nothing.

And unfortunately, it is most often the corporations, businesses and individuals that are trying to get this negative backlash. Meanwhile, those that aren’t trying at all are not getting any negative backlash. So we again, as consumers of media have to remember that as well and really be discerning and look at, you know, what’s the other side of this story, right? Was this truly a bad actor or was this maybe a mistake or was it actually good and bad impacts?

Peaceful JAM (43:54.163)
Yeah.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (44:00.302)
No restoration project is perfect. No company, no business, no person is perfect. But we have to continue trying and keep having these positive impacts and learning along the way.

Peaceful JAM (44:14.675)
Yeah, I mean, and as consumers, you know, I think you touched on this really well is like, we got to double click into these things. If they matter to you, you know, double click into the headline and do that extra five, 10 minutes worth of research. You know, the reason I think that that Verge article is click -bait is because at the end of the essay or the article, you know, it becomes really clear that it’s not that planting a lot of trees is.

is counterproductive by any stretch of the imagination. What they’re really trying to convey through the article is that it matters a lot where you plant the trees, you know, that the impact of planting a million trees in the global south may have quite a bit more impact than, you know, I don’t know, up in the Arctic. I’m being facetious here, but also factoring in the

the socioeconomic factors that are causing communities to cut down their own forests and degrade their own ecosystems out of pure necessity to put food on their plates. Without keeping an eye on those and the consciousness around those factors, we’re kind of missing the point by just, you know.

Announcing a big, we’re planting a billion trees headline for PR sake. we have to go deeper with the tree planting. We have to think about why those trees were, were cut down in the first place. And I, I, I fall asleep at night knowing, feeling confident that we can overcome that by deciding where that, where you want to have the impact through One Tree Planted, reforestation efforts.

so, you know, I’m, I’m putting my faith in One Tree Planted, helping restore some of those communities that are in a state of desperation, economically and just, just, you know, ecologically. So that’s my two cents on the whole thing. Yeah. I think we, we’ve woven this, challenge Hannah.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (46:27.502)
Absolutely.

Peaceful JAM (46:37.555)
of green hushing and green washing through a couple different threads in our conversation. And it seems to be like a major obstacle as companies who may in the heart of hearts, like peaceful media, heart of hearts, we really want to change the world, right? We wanna make an impact in the natural spaces and…

societies that we touch. And, and yet I have this like little corner of my brain. It’s like, someone’s going to, someone’s going to think we’re just full of BS and that we’re just marketers being marketers and PR being PR. And, so yeah, I just love to hear how you would counsel someone who’s, you know, the CSO at a company or, someone trying to get a sustainability initiatives out the door.

and well communicated what your guidance would be to those folks to help them communicate in this space.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (47:45.358)
Absolutely. So I think from, this is me personally, Hannah, I think that transparency is key. I think really being completely honest with your stakeholders is again just really key. And what I mean by that is if you have kind of any doubt or any…

Peaceful JAM (47:52.851)
Yeah.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (48:11.022)
qualms let’s say, or anything that just doesn’t, yeah, again, sit well with you, Jam, when you’re kind of going to sleep at night, tell those to your consumers. And I mean this in the sense of, you know, whether it’s kind of your e -commerce platform, your shop online to the level of it’s your annual ESG report, you know, encourage your CEO to write into your report or whether it’s you writing it personally, say, say what you’re feeling. And so for example, let’s say you choose to plan.

you know, for watershed restoration with One Tree Planted, just to illustrate. But you know, of course, as I spoke to earlier, this isn’t a silver bullet and you know that there are, you know, many negative effects of your industry, recognize those. And you can say that, you can say we recognize these XYZ factors and these impacts that we’ve had on the environment. To take ownership and onus of that and to put it into writing to, to again, really own it and do that honestly and transparently

with your stakeholders, I think is huge. And I think just kind of truth is kind of hard to come by or if it looks like truth, it’s often kind of actually behind a veneer. But to really be truthful as an individual in a corporation is, I think, a little more rare than we’d like to see. And so to really be truthful and to focus on obviously that positive impact, but to recognize,

where you’d like to keep improving. That would be, that’s just amazing. And people, people see that and they see the genuineness of that. And again, it’s really hard to see that transparency and to mark that as greenwashing because if it’s all out in the open, what can you point at and say, this isn’t true? It is true. So, the really being truthful, transparent and honest with your stakeholders, I think is something.

that’s a little too rare to come by nowadays. So I really encourage everyone to do that as much as they’re able to in many different sectors as well, not just in your sustainability kind of initiatives.

Peaceful JAM (50:18.067)
Sure. Yeah. Yeah. That’s really good advice. Do you see any brands that are doing this really well in terms of communicating their values and the demonstration of those values?

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (50:35.054)
Ooh, this is a good, I think, I feel like Patagonia is like the classic answer to this, but I think that that is one. And they do not donate to One Tree Planted that I’m aware. We’d love to have them, but this is not a plug for Patagonia, but just they’ve, I’ve seen, I mean, they’re really honest, they’re upfront about what they value and they live by those values. And so, and as we can see,

Peaceful JAM (50:43.195)
Yeah. Yeah.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (51:02.958)
I know so many of us are familiar already with their branding, but it’s just really stellar because they’ve done what they said they were going to do. And they stand by that kind of without, they just don’t compromise on it. And again, that’s so important and to kind of stand by what you, you know, put your stake in the ground to stand by. That’s also important that that, what would you call that? That fortitude and integrity, really having integrity to stand by that is also so important. So, I,

I’m sure we have so many brands that we work with that do this well, but that one is one that really stands out. And I encourage folks as well as our current donors and others, I’m working with many of our current donors to kind of, how can they build this in more long -term? And that’s just a really wonderful way to, you know, we have projects that are multi -year. So how can they keep contributing to these projects and see these, you know, what will these projects look like in five, 10 years?

and for them to be a part of that and to keep telling that story and to be able to 10 years from now say they planted this many trees in this environment or across the globe and again to stand by that with integrity and keep having these impacts these long -term impacts are going to be incredible and so I really encourage folks to continue to build this in and to build it out and you will have just immense positive pushback in the future for this a reaction to this.

Peaceful JAM (52:31.795)
Yeah, so refreshing to chat with you, Hannah. Yeah, you give me a lot of hope and organizations like One Tree Planted give me a lot of hope in times that, you know, you read enough about where we’re at as a species in our planet, it can get pretty dark. So I really appreciate you investing your career and your professional passion into this.

Is there anything that you would share out to someone who’s equally inspired but not necessarily aligned with their, aligned in their career? Is there anything that you could share out as something to go watch or read that has made a big impact in your personal relationship with your profession?

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (53:22.35)
Absolutely. So One of my favorite books is Braiding Sweetgrass, and this is written by a woman, which I love, and it’s also, she’s a native woman, which I think is rare to see their voices really kind of upheld. And so I really encourage folks to go and read that. One book that I actually have on my to read shelf, so I’m not so sure, but our chief project manager actually, or director of projects.

recommended it is called Nature’s Best Hope. And this is actually how you can create ecological havens for your native wildlife where you live, you know, in your backyard, on your balcony, really kind of with whatever resource of nature that you have available to you, how you can support nature, which I just find, it gives me goosebumps talking about it. I haven’t read the book yet, so I’m not sure. Don’t take my word for it, but just the premise, and I want to read this, is to have that, that.

Peaceful JAM (54:15.475)
Yeah.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (54:18.638)
that agency, again, all of us might have, let’s say you don’t have access to a balcony or that small parcel of land to be able to really help nature at that level, again, down to the individual level, I think is really powerful. And then of course, and we spoke to this a little at the beginning, just, I really want to remind folks that if you are feeling down about the state of the world, you’re seeing all the news, it becomes a lot really quickly.

But I always remind people and myself included, if you’re thinking about everything kind of that we’ve lost and feeling down in the dumps, remember and go out in nature and look around you and enjoy it. If you love nature, if you just want to go in a park or stand by a tree close to you, remember when you see birds, when you interact with nature, when you’re in your house, everything that we still have, because we have so much to protect. And although we’ve lost a lot, this

overwhelmingly positive message that the world is sending us and nature and our environment is look at us and look at how beautiful we still are, protect us. And we have so much to value and protect that we can still protect and value. And so let’s work towards that and remember that. And it’s really positive and something we have to hold with it, although we’ve lost a lot. We have so much left and we can work to protect

that and that really gets me going in the morning and no matter what role you sit in to remember that and to just look for those small ways whether it’s in your backyard in your professional and personal decisions every single one of those decisions that you make that has that sustainable aspect to it it does matter and it does count and it will have long -standing effects.

Peaceful JAM (56:07.731)
That is an amazing, amazing answer. I love, I love Braiding Sweetgrass. I can’t stop talking about it with my friends and family. So I really do hope that people will heed that one and grab the audio book in particular, just an incredible voice in text and speech.

not surprising that you love that one, Hannah. so I love to, you know, I heard about this organization called One Tree Planted Hannah and each of our podcast episode guests, get to plant some trees with us. Have you heard of them?

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (56:52.302)
I think I’m familiar.

Peaceful JAM (56:56.787)
Yeah, yeah, so cool. But before we plant your trees and hear about why you’re selecting that, I would love for you to have an opportunity to just talk about best ways to get involved. I know there’s a lot, so it’s probably just based on who you are and where you feel like you can contribute, listener. But yeah, do you wanna speak to any of the things we see here in particular?

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (57:22.67)
Yeah, so actually I would encourage you if you’re interested and especially if you’re not sure how to get involved or if you’re listening to this thinking, you know, whether you’re sitting in marketing or a different department, you know, if you’re kind of sitting there thinking, well, I’m marketing and I can’t have this kind of effect on our sustainability goals overall, question that thought. And I want you to really say, is that true?

And kind of again, kind of take up your agency and say, well, wait, who can I talk to to get this idea started? and reach out to us, go to our website, dig around, sign up, get more information. It can’t hurt to get more information. Information is power and you can, you know, see all the different possibilities. And again, really, if you’re, I really want anybody who’s thinking like, I can’t have this positive effect. I want to question that and just see what’s there.

And then I will also say for the favorite fund, should I talk about, well, let me see, I see you on teachers and parents. On a personal level too, we have free curriculum. We.

Peaceful JAM (58:29.747)
Yeah, I thought, you know, so many, yeah, this overlaps with so many things near and dear. My wife’s a teacher and a parent. And so I’d love to just maybe hover on this for an extra minute. What are you doing with teachers and parents?

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (58:44.206)
have, yes, we have a free curriculum, whether you’re an educator or an educator at home, everyone has a little, one is an educator, you can access this free curriculum. We also have what’s called a tree ambassador program on our website that’s geared towards kind of young adults and the young at heart. And you can sign up to get all kinds of additional information about why planting trees and reforestation is important to help spread the word.

And then again, just kind of back to a personal level, if you’re really fired up about this, consider encouraging folks to plant trees when you would traditionally receive a gift. Or maybe instead of, you’re getting married soon, you can have people literally plant trees for your wedding, plant trees for your birthday. It’s just a great way to have that kind of little extra environmental impact. And it’s so feel good for everyone, for you, for the folks who gift them.

Mother’s Day is coming up. You’ll see us highlighting, you know, plant trees for the loved One in your life, for your mother and your mother figure. So just so many creative ways.

Peaceful JAM (59:47.315)
Yes.

Peaceful JAM (59:51.251)
Yeah monarch. Monarchism.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (59:55.15)
Absolutely, yes. And then the one other plug I’ll put on this is when I worked at the University of California, I actually worked at the School of Natural Sciences and a director there pointed out something to me that was so ingenious is to get out into your natural places and spaces, whether it’s a park, a national park, a city park, use these spaces and take care of them. And I say this because we often overlook

Peaceful JAM (59:55.987)
Yeah, it’s fabulous.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (01:00:22.926)
or aren’t aware of the fact that these places are funded by our own tax dollars, the more that we use them and steward them and take care of them and come to understand and appreciate them, the more we’re going to protect them and the more that our state governments, city governments, federal government will work to protect these places. So any ways that you can also advocate for our public spaces and places that are natural.

I mean, these are hugely important, not just to our mental health, but to the environment’s health and parks and these green spaces in cities are havens for wildlife and humans. So to really use those spaces and show your local city, state governments, federal government that these are important to us and they need to keep investing in them is also huge and will benefit you and your kids and everyone you know, including animals and plants.

Peaceful JAM (01:01:15.507)
Mmm.

Well said, Hannah, I would love to plant some trees with you. So we’re going to plant 20 wherever you’d like, and then we’re going to match it. I’ve already added 20 to the cart here to the Women’s Empowerment Fund. And so where would you like to plant your trees?

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (01:01:38.03)
I will plant trees for community actually. And the reason being is that there’s just, there’s many different, so you’ll see on the website this fund is not one, two or three US dollars per Tree because these trees are of course, usually they’re planted in urban spaces, so they’re much more expensive, they’re much larger trees. But as I touched on briefly, just the incredible environment.

Peaceful JAM (01:02:02.707)
You must be talking about the urban forestry.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (01:02:06.734)
Yes, and community actually is a part of that. And so why I would choose community rather than urban forestry jam is because it’s more flexible for our project managers. So they can really choose whether it’s a large scale reforestation project or at the urban forestry level, they can choose the project that’s most in need right now and get that to that community most in need.

And so I really like this fund, this community fund, because again, it has that human aspect and that environmental intertwined with us humans on the planet. And so it provides that flexibility for us to get those wherever they’re most in need, regardless of the dollar amount. And so this one really speaks to me. So I would love it if you wanted to give to that fund.

Peaceful JAM (01:03:00.851)
Right on. Well, I found out the last time I did one of these live or during a recording that it has all of my billing information that will have to blur out. So I’m going to save this for after I stop the recording, Hannah. But thank you for all the work you do at One Tree Planted and thank you for planting trees with us and making a difference. I really appreciate you being willing and for One Tree Planted to be willing to.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (01:03:11.054)
Thank you.

Peaceful JAM (01:03:31.123)
Give an hour of your time with us on Marketing for What Matters. And unless you have any parting thoughts or inspiration to the listeners, I think we’ll say adios.

Hannah Ewing at One Tree Planted (01:03:45.902)
Thanks so much, Jam. And just one thought in parting, yeah, get out there and have a positive impact, every small impact and every One Tree matters. And such a joy to be here with you today. Thank you so much for having me and for your support of Reforestation with us.

Peaceful JAM (01:04:07.827)
Alright, I’m Jim at Peaceful Media. Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode. Until we see you next time, remember to love more, play more, and do more good, and plant more trees with One Tree Planted. Reach out to Hannah as soon as you can and figure out how you can make an impact here, wherever it matters most to you in the world. Much love.