Executive Travel to plant one million trees in local communities

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - As travel picks up across the country and flights return, the environmental impact can become a concern as you board your next flight.

Air travel is a great way to stay connected to long distance family and friends, and gets us quickly to our vacation destination. An ambitious goal from Executive Travel, a Lincoln travel agency, aims to combat the environmental impacts of planes.

“Travel itself does cause a carbon footprint and that carbon footprint obviously has long-term effects on the environment, and we want to make sure that we can do our part,” said Executive Travel Chairman, Steve Glenn.

Starting July 2021, for every airline ticket purchased, the travel agency will plant a tree until one million are planted. The initiative will start in Lincoln and continue throughout the rest of Nebraska and into the Midwest.

“You know when you’re doing positive things why not set the bar high? It’s something we should be able to attain over the next five years. So set the bar high and let’s figure out how we can accomplish that,” said Executive Travel CEO, Paul Glenn.

The campaign is called ETGreen, a commitment to offset the carbon footprint from air travel. According to tenmilliontrees.org, one tree absorbs 48 pounds of carbon dioxide each year.

Chairman Steve Glenn said, “not only is it a big issue for the environment to offset the carbon footprint, but it’s beautification of our communities and when you take a million trees and plant them in Lincoln and in Nebraska, you’ve got a very beautiful canopy of trees.”

The process starts with a seedling purchased by Executive Travel, where it is then distributed to the community, for the community.

“It’s a great bonding time for families when you do that together, and you know for the community at large. If there’s a big group of people to plant trees together, it’s always a good time,” said Tree Lead at Campbell’s Nursery, Jason Orth.

As Nebraskans return to airports, Executive Travel believes there’s now the opportunity to make a difference.

“Any business that has a carbon footprint, we want to get involved with this. We hope that we aren’t number one in Nebraska that will grab hold of this initiative and launch it to make Nebraska a better place to live,” said Steve Glenn.

With help from Executive Travel, the first tree will be planted in Lincoln, at the 10/11 NOW studio.

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