Here’s How to Get a Free Tree to Plant for Arbor Day

Watching The Lorax With My Daughter

Last night, my daughter and I watched The Lorax. She had to do a project on dystopias after her class read The Giver, and she chose the classic The Lorax as the basis for her project. I can see why a middle schooler might avoid 1984 if they can help it, but it’s one of the best lessons kids can learn in school.

A Quick Explanation of The Lorax Story

If you've never read the book or seen the movie, it's a story about a greedy businessman called the Once-ler who cuts down all the Truffula Trees to make his product called Thneeds. The Truffula Trees are protected by a grumpy but lovable little orange creature who speaks for the trees. In the movie, he’s voiced by the incomparable Danny DeVito.

The Lorax warns that cutting down the trees is a huge mistake, but the Once-ler and his family don't listen. There’s too much money and power at stake. As the Lorax predicted, the wildlife leaves and the environment becomes barren. Greedy businessmen even bottle air and sell it to people who need it to survive.

Eventually, the Once-ler realizes his mistake and leaves a message for the next generation. The story ends with the town planting a Truffula Tree. We never see what happens years later or whether people actually stop making Thneeds and plant more trees. We can only hope for the best in Thneedville.

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Thinking About Deforestation in the Real World

Since I was a small child, I’ve heard about the effects of deforestation, but there’s never been a cute but grouchy little orange guy standing around yelling at us about it.

The typical carbon footprint of a person in the United States is roughly 14 to 17 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year when you factor in transportation, food production, home energy use, and, you know, breathing. It takes about 730 mature trees working for a year to offset that amount.

How Many Trees Are Being Cut Down

There are an estimated 3.04 trillion trees on Earth. A study from Nature Portfolio estimates that we cut down about 15 billion trees every year, but only plant around 1.9 billion to replace them. Unfortunately, young trees don’t absorb carbon dioxide nearly as efficiently as mature trees.

Forests in the United States

Total U.S. forestland has remained fairly stable at around 755 million acres for the past century. Forests cover roughly one-third of the land in the United States, which is encouraging. But we still need to plant more.

With deforestation in the rainforests happening at a rapid pace, every tree planted today is an investment in the future.

How You Can Get a Free Tree in Evansville

To help make that happen, Subaru partnered with Arbor Day Foundation to give away regionally appropriate trees to plant on Arbor Day, Fri, Apr 24, 2026.

All you have to do is visit the special website and locate the dealership nearest you.

Here in Evansville, that dealership is Romain Subaru. Head over to their website and reserve your tree for pickup.