Dell Tempts Buyers with $2 Trees

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Not one to let Apple Inc. steal his thunder, Dell’s Michael Dell announced a new program yesterday that will allow consumers to plant a tree when they buy a computer.

Dell’s new “Plant a Tree for Me” collects an optional $2 donation per notebook, or $6 per desktop which will be donated to the Conservation Fund or Carbonfund to offset carbon emissions. Dell estimates that a tree will make up for three years of electricity needed to power a computer (assuming you remember to turn it off each night, we presume).

Dell (the company, not the guy) currently recycles computers for free, and it aims to recover about 275 million pounds of old computers from customers by 2009.

—Jen Phillips

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Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do. That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

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