Alexa launches Grow a Tree Skill for Earth Day

By Keyan Riddick April 12, 2022

April is Earth Month, and in honor of the celebration, Amazon is teaming up with the environmental charity One Tree Planted. Through this partnership, Amazon will donate money to the charity to help with its reforestation campaign. The partnership will culminate in $1 million dollars donated, 1 million trees planted, and additional money from Alexa users for the rest of 2022.

If you’re not familiar with the One Tree Planted organization, it is a charity that has planted over 40 million trees since 2014. Since trees are essential in creating clean air and water, as well as a healthy environment, One Tree Planted wants to make it easy for anyone to help plant more. The organization has also been an AmazonSmile partner organization that allows Amazon customers to quickly donate to the charity when shopping on Amazon.com.

Related Videos

Charity workers walking across a field to replant trees.

Through this new partnership, anyone with Alexa capabilities can automatically donate to One Tree Planted by saying, “Alexa, grow a tree.” This command will automatically donate $1 from your default Amazon payment to One Tree Planted. This seamless way of contributing makes it easy for users to help restore forests and positively impactt he world.

Amazon has detailed some of the initial projects that will be impacted. The first is surface mine reforestation in Appalachia. This project will help reforest 34 acres in Pennsylvania that can no longer regenerate independently. Next isforest fire reforestation in California, which suffers yearly forest fires. This project will help reforest areas in Northern California. Fruit trees will also be planted to fight hunger in India. These trees will be planted across marginalized communities throughout India to help sustain a livelihood for people in those communities. Lastly, the project will help protect orca whales in the Pacific Northwest. According to One Tree Planted, planting trees alongside rivers and streams restores habitats for salmon and other fish that are crucial to endangered orcas that reside in the area.

This partnership and teamwork between Amazon and One Tree Planted is projected to help the charity through December 2022. To make a donation, just talk to whichever Alexa device you have in your home.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Smart Home

Despite its new features, Astro is still impractical for most people

Astro looking at a dog on a couch.

Amazon's Astro is among the most interesting devices in its entire product lineup. The idea of an intelligent home robot tickles something deep in our psyches, harking back to old episodes of The Jetsons. At its Devices & Services event, Amazon announced a ton of new features for Astro that make it more useful than before, and even expand its functionality to small businesses, too. Yet despite all these features and updates, the Astro remains largely impractical for most people.

If you're going to drop almost $1,500 on a robot, it needs to do more than look at things.

Smart Home

Amazon Astro gets new pet- and security-focused features

Astro looking at an open front door of a home.

Last year, Amazon announced its new home robot Astro. Astro combines autonomous navigation, intelligent motion, Alexa, and a cheery personality all into one device. Thus far, you could use it to help patrol and secure your home or have it always near a loved one for communication. Today at its fall hardware event, Amazon announced new features that Astro will have to improve its intelligence.

First, Astro is no longer just for the home, but also for small and medium-sized businesses. Having Astro patrol your business after hours or while you're away is an excellent alternative to hiring a security guard. Speaking of which, Astro can now utilize Ring's Virtual Security Guard feature to keep businesses protected. For example, suppose the company is already using Ring Alarm systems, and an alarm goes off. In that case, Astro can investigate what is happening while a rapid response agent can visually observe what's happening in real time. Then, if needed, agents can take action by calling authorities or talking to intruders using Astro's cameras and two-way talk microphones.

Smart Home

New Amazon Echos bring ‘dot displays’ and mesh networking, plus models for kids and cars

The Echo Dot with Clock sits on a table.

At Wednesday's Amazon Devices & Services event, the company announced a brand-new lineup of Echo Dot devices. These include a new Echo Dot, Echo Dot with Clock, Echo Dot Kids, and a new Echo Auto device. The Echo Studio also received a couple of more color options, as well as a software upgrade.

All of these devices feature updated technology and several new features that make them well worth the upgrade, and pre-orders start today. If you want to snag one of these new Echo products for yourself, you can expect to receive it sometime next month.
Echo Dot
The new Echo Dot retains the spherical design of its predecessor, but with new technology on the inside that gives it a lot more power. It features a custom full-range driver and the most powerful excursion speaker of any Echo Dot, which allows it to produce double the bass of the previous generation.