$25 a month to help restore forests

Yishan Wong is best known for leading the social media platform Reddit from 2012 to 2014, but since 2020 he has turned his attention to fighting climate change through his forest restoration startup, Terraformation. During the summer, the business rolled out its latest product in beta: a subscription-based model where individuals can fund reforestation for the monthly cost of a streaming service.

- BY OLIVIA RAIMONDE

JOE SOHM Visions of America

TERRAFORMATION is planting trees by subscription on Hawaii's Big Island.

It’s not the first or only initiative of its kind. What makes his project different, Wong said, is that it puts a realistic price on planting and growing a healthy tree as part of a biodiverse forest.

Whereas many tree-planting projects are run by nonprofits, Terraformation is a for-profit startup that boasts a suite of high-profile investors including Sam and Max Altman, Marc Benioff and Naval Ravikant. They have invested in the project because they believe it’s an effective and scalable solution to climate change, Wong said.

The startup has worked with corporations to plant millions of trees already, but the subscription model is targeted specifically at individuals. People “have been asking for a long time” for the option, Wong said. “It’s a very popular thing that people understand.” Terraformation sends subscribers photos of the tree they have funded so they can follow its growth.