from Hacker News

TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

by ivanmaeder on 1/3/21, 12:32 PM with 101 comments

  • by Nbox9 on 1/3/21, 3:56 PM

    Ecosia, the company backing TreeCard, has a search engine that plants trees. Ecosia has claimed to have planted 116M trees. Several environmentalists have come out in support of the product — and specifically in support of the way Ecosia uses partners to plant trees on Ecosia’s behalf and the way Ecosia keeps their partners accountable.

    I personally will have a hard time saying good-bye to my credit card rewards. However I think the wooden card might have a viral aspect because people will want to comment on how unique the design is. This looks like another great product by Ecosia, and I hope that they continue to make competitive products that plant trees.

    It’s also worth noting that while planting trees is very good for the environment, it is not a silver bullet against climate change.

    Previous hacker news discussion about Ecosia. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19324766

  • by Hamuko on 1/3/21, 4:59 PM

    >World's first wooden debit card.

    I have my doubts considering Säästöpankki has offered debit cards made out of birch years ago.

    https://paperijapuu.fi/viilua-vinguttamaan/

    https://twitter.com/HaveMik/status/913800152644759553

  • by VoxPelli on 1/3/21, 5:23 PM

    Is it just me who dislike being incentivized like this to do something? By having someone do a totally unrelated donation to charity when I do something?

    I much rather do X because X itself is good than because X will have someone do Y and have me consider X to be good because Y is good.

    It is essentially green washing, no matter how well intended it is or how good X in itself is. Doing some totally unrelated donation is essentially PR, where one instead could lower prices and have me myself donate that money.

    (Also, credit card charges are insane and almost amount to stealing a percentage of all sales from businesses. Debit cards are better in that they, at least in Sweden, have a fixed low rate that doesn't change if someone buys for a lot or a little)

  • by eatonphil on 1/3/21, 2:59 PM

    How it works:

    > No. Zero fees. TreeCard will be 100% free to use.

    > Every time you use your TreeCard, Mastercard processes the transaction and charges merchants (online and physical stores) a small fee. This is a standard fee paid by all merchants to1 accept card payments. We'll use that fee to plant trees.

    I'm confused though. Surely this fee Mastercard charges goes to Mastercard, not the card company?

    https://www.treecard.org/how-it-works

  • by codingdave on 1/3/21, 3:35 PM

    I like the concept, but so many questions -- Who is behind this? As in, what bank? If it is a debit card, I have an account somewhere holding my money. Is it insured? Is this just a branded card from an existing bank, or is this a new organization? Is this even real, or just another "build a landing page to see if there is interest"?

    "How it works" needs to answer the financial side of this product, not just what percentage of profit goes to trees.

  • by fumblebee on 1/3/21, 3:44 PM

    We’re fast moving away from physical cards being necessary. With the ubiquity of Apple / Google Pay, the TreeCard feels like a gimmick more than a solution.

  • by Tomte on 1/3/21, 3:54 PM

    This is associated with Ecosia.

    It actually gives me more confidence in the product. I used to be on the fence regarding Ecosia (probably just the usual Internet cynicism), but I came around to thinking they are a force for good.

  • by newhaus1994 on 1/3/21, 2:50 PM

    Love the design but debit cards always feel a bit dicey to use.

  • by soupson on 1/3/21, 11:48 PM

    “We also use suppliers such as social media companies and search engines in order to advertise the launch of our Services. We may share your email address or device ID with these suppliers.”

    I will not get this card because their privacy policy does not align with my values.

  • by dwighttk on 1/3/21, 3:58 PM

    I think I’d rather get 1.5% (or whatever I can get) back and donate that to my chosen program instead of paying these guys all that percentage to then turn around and donate less of it to their chosen program.

  • by wackget on 1/3/21, 4:42 PM

    Do the trees that they plant actually grow into full-sized adult trees or are they planted but never cared for? That's a huge issue which apparently affects many of these tree-planting schemes.

  • by qwerty456127 on 1/3/21, 6:33 PM

    BTW are mechanical imprinters which need the embossed numbers still supported by any banks? The last time I seen one was more than a decade ago. I actually love offline analog tech, it would seem cool to me if they are, but I doubt so.

  • by Raidion on 1/3/21, 6:50 PM

    I would have signed up for the trial, but I don't see why I have to add my email, name, DoB, and phone number. Why isn't email good enough?

  • by rahimiali on 1/3/21, 4:15 PM

    I tried to sign up for their wait list but gave up after entering my real name, a fake date of birth, and a fake phone number, which means I couldn't get their verification code. I understand asking for demographic info to prioritize a wait list, but that's not what they're asking.

    why do they need all this info for a wait list of a service they don't yet provide? this doesn't inspire confidence.

  • by zaxpr on 1/3/21, 6:06 PM

    just curious if there is any similar project to save existing old trees? planting new trees is nice but losing existing "old" trees is killing our environement from urban to global scale...

  • by rishidevkota on 1/3/21, 2:58 PM

    I waited for this for long but never hear back.