Matt Hill  0:01  
So, you know, work and finance started, a couple of businesses. And then, in the back of my head when I had kids and I was building that sustainable food packaging business, traveling all over the country. But again, so representing the manufacturers, they said, You know what, I'm going to start that charity because I know there's a lot of businesses and people out there that would love to help the environment. They just don't know where to start.

kevin edwards  0:23  
Let's get it started on this episode of the Real Leaders Podcast, your number one source for impact leaders, harnessing capitalism to sustain the planet, people and profits. I'm your host, Kevin Edwards. And that message was brought to you by Matt Hill, the founder and chief environmental evangelist of One Tree Planted. And on today's episode, I asked Matt about the series of events that inspired him to start One Tree Planted, how the reforestation efforts have impacted him, and the little things that you can do to create massive change. So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, let's give it up for the real Matt Hill. Enjoy. 

Welcome, everyone to this episode of the real leaders podcast. I'm your host Kevin Edwards. Joining us today is the chief environmental evangelist of One Tree Planted, Mr. Matt Hill. Matt, thanks for being with us today.

Matt Hill  1:36  
Thank you. Pleasure to be here.

kevin edwards  1:38  
So Matt, it's 2014, you decide to start One Tree Planted. Why'd you start it? How'd you get into it? And what were you doing before then?

Matt Hill  1:47  
I was working for Eagle Products, which was a manufacturer of sustainable food packaging. I just got them into the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. They asked me to run. So they had a mandate, the Winter Olympics in Vancouver to be green. So I built Canada for eco products. And every time I was talking to businesses, trying to get them to go sustainable on their food packaging, and then the price sensitivity might have been out there, they were saying, "Oh, we wish we could help, Matt. But we wish we could do more". I'd always tell companies, "You can. Plant trees." People don't realize how important trees are to the environment. So I started the charity after, you know, running Canada for eco products for many years.

kevin edwards  2:28  
So what were the problems you experienced at first? Because a lot of entrepreneurs will have great ideas and they realize oh my gosh, there's a lot of work. What are some the challenges you initially ran into?

Matt Hill  2:38  
The first was to kind of prove the concept, would really people buy in for, does a dollar really plant a tree? Exploring what's out there. Can you really do it? So the challenges were first kind of proof of concept, challenging kind of creating a charity, going through that, and the legal aspects and figuring that out. And then the next challenge probably would have been you're still that small guy, and you don't have that credibility factor. So it was always trying to convince those businesses, you know, like, we're a solid organization, we could work with you. Those were some of the challenges, but you know, growing pains with any business, right?

kevin edwards  3:15  
You touched on the Vancouver Olympics. And that just reminded me, the last time I was there, I was there for a sustainable brands conference right at the Olympic Couldron in downtown Vancouver. And there's always someone at that conference talking about impact measurements. What are some of the things that One Tree Planted measures and how is increased, your impact increased, over time?

Matt Hill  3:40  
Impact measurements, I mean recently, we just hired two people that are forest experts from Yale School of Forestry have their masters. And their job at One Tree Planted is to really look, you know, beyond just the tree number. So yes, we'll plant trees. And then the big thing is, you know, the carbon number, but what are some additional outcomes? So water quality, working with that X amount of farmers, like social impact. So we're looking at other outcomes that are helping in a lot of ways, each region being different. Biodiversity, for example, soil quality.

kevin edwards  4:15  
So the impact can be in one place, but obviously affects us all. I mean, we're in a point in time right now, where the environmental costs of capitalism cannot comfortably be ignored. And people are starting to speak out about these issues, these topics. What do your projects look like around the world? How many are there and what's really the impact? How has it impacted you?

Matt Hill  4:39  
You know, there's so many phenomenal projects going on out there. And when I started One Tree Planted, it was about these great organizations that have been doing this work for 30 years. But people don't find them or when you go to their website, you know, they're dated, or found too technical. So One Tree Planted, really, were more on the story. This amazing project that might be in California that needs funding and support to help in this region. And Northern California's so different from Southern California. And then we'll jump down to the Amazon Rainforest. Ahen I go down there and see these amazing projects, and they've been doing this for many, many years, a lot of small farmers and whether we give them $8,000 to help, they're almost in tears when they received this. And then going all the way to Australia where we're about to do, you know, millions and millions of trees, with a lot of really sophisticated restoration organizations who know what they're doing. So they're all so different in so many different ways. I could talk for hours about, you know, how good some of these projects are.

kevin edwards  5:36  
Well people love stories. Explain your favorite story from a project, whether it's in the Amazon Basin or up here in the Pacific Northwest, with with the whales.

Matt Hill  5:46  
Yeah, one of my favorite ones is that one in the Pacific Northwest with the resident orca whales. So we're planting a million-and-a-half trees through this corridor in Oregon/Washington State going up to British Columbia. And the reason these trees we're planting is helping cool the water along these streams. And the reason for cooling the water is so that the salmon can come back for spawning, and they're not coming back for spawning as much as they used to, because the water temperatures are too warm. And by planting these trees it's cooling it, it's also cleaning the water. They'll repopulate. And the resident Orca whale's dependent on these Chinook salmon for its food supply chain. So there's only 75 left and they looked into it, why they're on the decline. A big part is this salmon part. So you can realize how this is kind of all interconnected between planting trees, cooling the water, bringing back the salmon to populate, which helps the resident orca whale.

kevin edwards  6:41  
And we think about interconnectedness. The whales need the salmon, the salmon need the freshwater, the freshwater needs the trees. A lot of organizations are thinking and think they need to have some type of impact in this world. How does One Tree Planted work with for-profits and what can for-profits take away from nonprofits?

Matt Hill  7:07  
Well, the for-profits right now, and especially in this critical time where we've seen in two months how much now you can see the mountains from afar where you typically couldn't see it in waterways. So what I've said, you know, recently to businesses--and I find a lot of businesses now taking this time to focus on these projects for, you know, next year--they're realizing now. Because before I think people would be skeptical, "Well, how do I know this is really gonna work and what's gonna be a long term results?" But now in two months, we can all see firsthand, cleaner waterways, cleaner air, just ourselves. So I think companies now are doubling down looking at opportunities. They reach out to us and they're looking for, you know, just hearing these stories, and I can see their interest. They're intrigued, even the enthusiasm now when I tell them these stories, because, you know, I love the way that we're helping all these organizations around the world. It's a collective effort, you know, these nonprofits organizations will give their experiences and workings, what's worked, what hasn't worked, what can we do better, sharing that with companies, and then companies can kind of decide, how can we help? And they look at it in different ways.

Unknown Speaker  8:13  
I'm sure. Exactly. What are some of the ways? Who are some of the partners that want to work with you? Why are they coming to you? And why specifically do they want to focus on reforestation and, let's say carbon reduction?

Matt Hill  8:27  
Well, for example, Nestle, the largest food company on the planet--which I never knew until I started working with them, in so many different categories as well--they wanted to plant. They're doing a beta test, but you know, they've committed to 3 million trees, they wanted to plant in Mexico because that's where they're sourcing their palm oil from, and they want to plant in Brazil, because that's where they're sourcing their cocoa and dairy from, and then in Canada for their packaging and water. So they're trying to put trees in the regions where they have an impact. And our number one objective is, let's get the million trees in each of these countries. And our secondary objective is looking in the landscape where they're sourcing their raw materials from, and how close can we get these trees in the ground. So we're beta testing, and then they have this ultimate longer term vision. There. So that's on a supply chain aspect. 

We worked with Facebook, we're doing Climate Week in New York City. They wanted people to experience tree planting in the middle of Times Square. So Facebook asked us to get trees that were, you know, to New York State. We got the soil, we got the pots, and we brought in a bunch of project managers. They had this pavilion in downtown New York Times Square, where we're telling people about the importance of trees, the people potted it, they wrote little notes, and then we got these 1,500 trees planted in upstate New York. And then afterwards, Facebook donated, you know, over $200,000 in the National Forest to kind of get behind this initiative. So again, so many different ways. Some are doing it from a marketing aspect where they just want to say hey, if you buy this product that's going to help plant the tree. Others want to get back to based on supply chain. Some just want to plant because it's the right thing to do. You know?

kevin edwards  10:06  
Absolutely. And Matt, we just had a question come in from one of the attendees today. And she, Donna asks, "How do you determine what trees are planted?" I know you, you just touched on that a little bit. But maybe let's break this down because originally I thought it was just more for reforestation, reducing carbon emissions, just replenishing the land. But you just mentioned about what type of trees we want to plant, it can bear fruits, it can grow the economy, can provide nutrition to these organizations. Maybe elaborate on what determines what trees you plant.

Matt Hill  10:42  
So we work with the local experts there. So let's take California for example, in Paradise. So Paradise is in Butte County, and every 10 years it seems to be a massive, you know, flare up in terms of massive forest fire. So they're asking this critical corridor to do more oak trees because oak trees are more resilient to drought and to forest fires, what's been traditionally there. So we rely on them because they know that region. And Paradise, Butte County is very different from, like, the Woolsey fire down in Southern California. California is broken up into 98 different resource conservation districts, each kind of knows its base. Then when we donate money over to, let's just say, Australia, for example, and they're working in a particular area, they know the tree species, and often they just need, you know, additional funding to help them collect more seeds, grow more trees in the in the nursery, and get them planted, that will benefit this particular area. So, again, to answer your question, native tree species, our local experts know what's best just because they're there on the ground. And we don't want to be the type of organization taking money and just sending it to an organization, and then tomorrow, it's forgotten. We want to work with those partners, allow them to grow on to scale, and they show us the results. And, you know, we're in for three years, five years, if not indefinitely to just continue, you know, with these successful programs with them.

kevin edwards  12:08  
And Matt, I just went elaborate because the same person asked the same question and just wants to know if you plant fruit trees.

Matt Hill  12:15  
Yeah, so actually, this Friday in India, we're doing 400,000 fruit trees, and 100,000 mangroves. So in that region, you know, they're excited. So, we look at agroforestry projects, we're doing a lot of agroforestry projects, we're doing it Rwanda and also in Peru. So it's not just putting a particular type of tree, it's a tree that's bearing fruit or nuts. So now there's a sustainable livelihood behind it. So just working with these small farmers, and you know, providing that type of financial assistance to allow them to do this.

kevin edwards  12:49  
So One Tree Planted is aligned with a few of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Goal Number 6: Clean Water and Sanitatization. Goal Number 13: Climate Action. Goal Number 16: Life on Land. Why incorporate these goals into the organization, and how have these goals perpetuated this impact?

Matt Hill  13:13  
Well us working with them. Ao a lot of times companies want to achieve some of, or incorporate some of these Sustainable Development Goals, and then we can help them with some of these. But you know, Life on Land, you know, we're helping with biodiversity. A lot of projects are connected to, you know, we're doing a project, a million trees in Australia that's helping with the koalas, because they've been displaced, because a lot of what you know they're living in, is not there anymore. You know, Water Quality, almost every project, you know, is connected to helping with water quality. And a lot of people, like New York City, you know, access to clean drinking water and a lot of major cities around the world are getting clean water from these forests that are on the on the boundaries of these major cities. Because when it rains and these trees absorb the water, and then they're slowly releasing them over time, helping with landslides, in terms of soil erosion, and there's just so many benefits to trees. And that's why, when I started this way back when, you know, I always tell people, like people don't realize how important trees are to the environment. Air quality, water quality, soil quality, providing health, biodiversity, they sequester carbon, you know, creation of jobs. And now what's going on? You know, a lot of people now are out of work. And we're getting reforestation organizations like in British Columbia and elsewhere, they're saying they're getting so many calls for people who want to go back into the tree planting, you know, for jobs. And there was a great article that was written in the New York Times about you know, we could create millions of jobs and get people out to national parks and plant trees because we need more trees. 

kevin edwards  14:43  
That was going to be the next question I was going to ask you. How has COVID-19 impacted your operations? Are you finding more businesses are pulling out of partnerships? And are more volunteers wanting to contribute with, let's just say, extra time on their hands?

Matt Hill  14:58  
I've seen a bit of both. So obviously, when this happened, we're in this point of uncertainty. So that was one month where we definitely saw everybody was on pause, what's going on here, what's the next steps. But I'd say, outside of that month, we've progressed in a lot of ways, because companies now have always been caught up in the day to day of regular business, but now it's allowed companies to kind of focus in on these projects that they've been wanting to tackle. And we've been having, you know, great conversations with some really big companies out there that want to do some projects for 2021. Others, now, you know, based on whatever industry they might be in, are just kind of reserving their cash to really see what's going to play out the next period of time. But I'd say more, much higher percentage on now focusing to developing a sustainable strategy.

kevin edwards  15:53  
What type of organizations are you looking for? Amall, medium, large, all the above, organizations that share the same ethos? 

Matt Hill  16:02  
All of the above. I mean, I love working with these SMEs, these small to midsize enterprises. You can kind of make that decision that week and the owner, they're just saying, "Let's do it." And it's like 10,000 trees or 20,000 trees. And then yes, we work with the bigger organizations that have deeper pockets, let's just say, a little bit more bureaucratic, or very much more, but they've been doing some phenomenal stuff as well. And I think that all of us collectively make a difference. And I never go to the big companies and say, oh, give us millions of dollars. It's always been like, "Hey, you know it's twenty thousand, it's fifty thousand. But together this adds up."

kevin edwards  16:36  
Absolutely. And for people listening out there, the message they have on the website, great website, onetreeplanted.org, highly recommend going on there. I should have been wearing my reforestation t-shirt today. I don't know what I was thinking. But you can go on there to the dollar for a tree. And, now Matt, you've planted 4 million treats, like 4 million trees, that's a lot of trees. How do you do that? And did you run into any constraints as you continued to grow and grow and grow?

Matt Hill  17:06  
Well, a couple of years ago, so it was 340,000 trees, well it's 100,00 trees this is our growth. 340,000 trees. Then we went to 1.8 million. And then last year, we planted 4 million trees, but we actually raised almost 6 million. But because a lot of the donations come in in that fourth quarter, and then so we have to plan it to 2021. So it's going there. So almost 6 million trees that will be planted in 2019. And this year, 2020, will probably be over 15 million trees. So we're growing. But I think that, you know, a lot of hard work, I got lucky with the timing, I think, you know, because the environment--back in 1999 when I was doing my MBA, I wanted to do it in the environment, an environmental masters. So I was ahead of the curve, but you know, it takes a lot of time because we're partners with the United States Forest Service. We're partners with the World Resource Institute, you know, that just doesn't happen overnight. So doing a lot of meetings with them, speaking to them, understanding they have to understand us. Now we've gotten there and now all of a sudden, you know, the environment is becoming very important. It's always been very important to me, you know, since 20 years ago 1999 when I was graduating my undergrad in poli-sci. So, yeah, we're now 30 people in the company. Last year, if you want to take this, last year, we were six people in the company. We just hired our 30th person. So during this COVID crisis, actually, we've hired four people just to accommodate our growth.

kevin edwards  18:37  
It's incredible stuff, man. Round of applause. And you all over at One Tree Planted are great people. And 220 events in one year. Now I'm thinking about that, and we did approximately the same amount of interviews that year, and I don't know how we did it, because we did a lot at in one event, one area, one sitting. You have 220 events going on around the year. What are a few key ingredients of a good relationship? Because you just mentioned you've been able to grow and establish those relationships. So what are some good things that you're looking for in a good quality business relationship? And what have been some keys to decentralize your organization to produce 220 events?

Matt Hill  19:23  
Well, I have to put all the, the, what's the word I'm looking for, the kudos to our partners that are out in the field, because they're the ones that rally the troops. I mean, a lot of traffic comes to our website. So we have an amazing team in One Tree Planted, but they're constantly speaking to the partners that might be in New York, and then in Boston, in Sydney, Australia. And, you know, we send the funding to them to buy the materials that they need and get X amount of trees and volunteers sign up on our website, and we coordinate that. So it's an effort all around, you know? And then they just like working with us. And I'd say on both ends because I try and keep it super simple. You know, a lot of times when you want to seek funding, you got to fill out, you know, tons and tons of paperwork to try and get two thousand dollars. Like, hey, you need funding to get trees in the ground. How can we help? And that's a big thing that I look at: how can we help you guys? And we listen to them. And then all we ask is make sure that these trees get in the ground, that they're going to survive, get us photos, and pretty much everybody's been so accommodating. 

And then on the business side too, big or small. I mean, like Unilever, they said, "I'm always used to companies dinging us on we got to pay a fee to use your logo, we got to pay for this." I'm just like, "Look, one dollar gets one tree in the ground. There's no minimums to work with us. Try and keep the agreement super simple to get you started." And then we jumped on a plane the next week, flew to Peru in the Amazon Rainforest, took a bunch of shots and video, and sent back to the UK at Unilever so they could use it. And they're like "Wow, we haven't seen something turn around that fast." And then customer service, like you know, like if you give a donation, what happened to my five dollars I sent to you guys. If you don't hear a peep, then you kind of, you know, wonder. So we just try and communicate as much as we can. And we don't try and position ourselves as "donate to us." We tell more of the stories, and then I think people or businesses end up wanting to kind of give based on the inspirational story on how this helped these farmers, or helped you know, particular animals that are on the endangered species list.

kevin edwards  21:24  
This being such a big problem, you know, what do you see as the biggest threat to deforestation? To just overall carbon sequestering? Is it the soil? Is it the people? Is the businesses? To you, what is the biggest threat to deforestation right now?

Matt Hill  21:47  
I'd just say it's population growth. Because, you know, as we grow as a population, we have to consume more food, we have to build more homes. You know, I'm building more buildings for business. So we need more land. You're cutting down trees to grow more food. So whether it's beef, dairy, palm oil, etc. So, you know, it's small little things that we try and make tangible, because a lot of people say, "Well, I'm not responsible for affecting climate." But everything we do, I just use the consumption of stuff, because we're always buying stuff. And then I hate to see waste. So it's small little things that you can do that overall make an impact, right? So I'm not expecting somebody to become a vegetarian. But if you just say one day per week, I'll be a vegetarian. It's kind of fun and try it out. My kids are vegetarian. It adds up.

kevin edwards  22:33  
Now, your employees, are they coming to you with a shared sense of purpose? And what is that like? That does that mean to have a strong vision? And are you saying that your employees are attracted to your organization because of it?

Matt Hill  22:47  
I just think more and more people care about the environment. I don't think one person I hired except for my most recent forestry experts. So the first two were like masters in art history, and masters in journalism. You know, like, these aren't things that were specific to the environment, but they cared about the environment. And you know, if you're passionate about this, and you enjoy your job, it's not work. Right. So I think we just have a great team. And one big thing is our team's nimble. So when we see a particular, I'm always like refining processes, how can we continuously improve on all departments, operations to customer service, project management? But sometimes we're really pressed on a particular thing. So the team all chips in and helps out. So nimble team, nobody feels like they're siloed, we do team meetings all together, you know, don't like to use that expression, drink the Kool Aid, but everybody just loves I think what we do, and corporate culture has always been very important to me.

kevin edwards  23:41  
For the people watching this, listening to this on audio, how can they get involved? What are some things that they should know about One Tree Planted?

Matt Hill  23:51  
I just think, get your hands in the dirt. Like if you just Google wherever you might live in the world, you can try and find these great reforestation organizations. I mean, they're literally everywhere. And then, you know, they usually have a volunteer page. So you get out, that's, you know, within a reasonable distance for you. And then that organization itself will kind of say, "Hey, here's what we're doing. Here's the land. This is why we're planting trees. This is how it's helping." So I think that's the first start, to just get involved, you know, volunteer and get out there one day. I mean, we've done events, we did events for L'Oreal, and the CEO was out. And then you know, he didn't realize, and a lot of people take forests or trees for granted. And they were talking about, hey, these trees that we're planting right here and all these L'Oreal employees, one, they were in different departments. So they got to kind of bond and meet other people in different departments. They don't typically get to meet and then they got in teams. But he said we need to do a memo internally to talk to all our employees about how important this is. But it's just by being out there and you're understanding the importance. So what I tell to the listeners out there, there's a lot of ways you can help. You don't have to go to those extreme levels. It's small little things in your daily habits. Tree planting is one part of the equation, but a lot of littlethings, you know, walk to work, bike to work, recycle, you know all of this stuff together.

kevin edwards  25:09  
Matt, it seems like you've been aligned with forestry or environmentalism for quite some time. What's different about being the chief environmental evangelist of One Tree Planted versus your prior occupations?

Matt Hill  25:26  
So undergrad and poli-sci, then work and finance out in California and wore a suit. Wasn't for me. And then I just kind of started my own business. And I think once you get that entrepreneurial bug, you kind of just you can't go back to the nine-to-five corporate type of life. So I started a few businesses and you learn, you know, from mistakes and from successes. And I get to wear flip flops to work, I wear my shorts, you know, and every day is just awesome going into work and I think the employees are all on the same page. So yeah, so you know, worked in finance started, you know, a couple of businesses. And then, in the back of my head when I had kids and I was building that sustainable food packaging business, traveling all over the country, but again, still representing the manufacturers, I said, "You know what, I'm going to start that charity, because I know there's a lot of businesses and people out there that would love to help the environment, they just don't know where to start, and what to do."

And you know, it's not a big amount of money. So for every dollar, so if somebody wants to give one dollar, or five dollars, or five hundred dollars, you know, they can do that. And it's making sure that these partners that we work with, these organizations around the world, are vetted. Because you don't want to give Bob's your uncle in Brazil, you know, $twenty dollars and not sure that this is the right organization trees are going in the ground. So we really spend a lot of time on that transparency and explaining to people the cost the plant the tree, how you go about planting the tree. Why maybe a project was not successful. I mean, I think that it's something that people need to know about. Climate's changing, you know, we're seeing snow in mid to late June. That's not supposed to happen. We're seeing, you know, I was out in British Columbia doing a site visit. And this thing was called the Black Army Cutworm. And I was expecting to see some devastating monster out there ripping apart the trees. It was a little tiny caterpillar. And for whatever reason, gazillions of them came out and just decimated millions of trees that we planted, and literally no success. So there was 32 experts from a lot of different fields that were out there and say, "If you ever see this Black Army Cutworm," they were saying to the crew chiefs and everything, "you have to stop and move on to the next project, because they're just looking to you anything that's out there." But they've only seen this three times ever in history. 

And it was because when a forest fire gets to level six and it charrs the ground so hard, these moths are just attracted to this high intensity heat, and then they lay their eggs. So the load, all these moths came through when there was this massive forest fire, laid all their eggs in the ground. And in the springtime, when we were planting, they all came out and just ate everything. So they litarally said stop. But I've gone to Florida with Florida State Forestry and they're looking at more and more frequent and bigger hurricanes. Which trees withstood that hurricane, which ones went down? Maybe let's change up the mix to the type of trees now that are more resilient to hurricanes, create windbreaks. So they're having other type of positive effects. Yes, we're still planting a tree, but we're looking to, you know, the new type of climate we're living in.

kevin edwards  28:32  
So you as an organization as well are adapting, just like the nature you're trying to improve the outcome of many of these projects. Now, I'm thinking Matt, you know, there's there's a lot of talk right now, you know, about just movements in general. There's one that's going on right now, with the I Can't Breathe, and you know, Black Lives Matter. Climate Change has been going on, like you've mentioned, for years and years and years, and it seems like no matter what we do, it's increasingly getting worse and worse and worse. With your transparency, your storytelling, you're able to--and I would recommend anyone listening to this to go online to to onetreeplanted.org--you can see all their videos, the YouTube channel is phenomenal. You can visually see the transparency, the storytelling aspect behind this. There's been tons and millions and millions and billions of dollars of capital now on impact investments there are working towards either for-profit or nonprofit solutions to take on these 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Matt, do you think that these goals can ever be achieved? Or are they going to continue to increase an increase increase with, like you said, the global population increasing?

Matt Hill  29:43  
Look, I've talked to some big organizations that are making some big commitments and claims, and you hear these pledges and commitments by whatever organization, but then you see no action. Right? You hear about it, but then show me the proof in the pudding that you got at least a few million trees in the ground, and tell me how it's having an impact. Because you hear this big number one day, but then tomorrow, it's forgotten. I always tell companies or these organizations, you have to create longevity to it. So showing people like the videos, so that's one of our strategies is the video, these stories. So look, and then companies that are doing the right thing, people nitpick, and they're always looking for holes, but at least maybe they're trying to do the right thing. Might not be perfect right now, but it's an attempt. And then we're learning from these trial and errors, let's just call it, like anything in business, right? Or in life, right? Then work that time, next time, I'm going to do it differently this time. 

So I think it's the same thing with the tree planting and environmental part. What I say to big companies is that they have deep pockets and but it's explaining it to them. And I think that they are looking at it from a different angle now, versus before everything was looked at from return on investment. How do we make money out of this? But I think now companies are looking at because it's the right thing to do. So it's a broad way to look at this. But there's a lot of great initiatives that are happening out there. But they're mega projects and they take many, many years. But going to our generation, let's just say, people want instant gratification. We all know that here, right? So if I give you the money now, I'm not going out tomorrow to plant your tree, I got to collect the seeds, I've got to collect it and do them during the right season. So there's a combination of a lot of factors. But my big general point is we're trying, we're making attempts, might not be perfect, but we're going the right direction.

kevin edwards  31:36  
I think you touched on a good point. That's, you know, capitalism, like any iPhone could be updated and needs some updating, and the people at the top who are decision makers can make those decisions. So Matt, the question to you is, what type of leadership is needed for municipalities from leaders of organizations who control the whole body the whole means of the company. Will leadership is needed from them to effectively pursue and change something like this?

Matt Hill  32:07  
I think willing to take risks from a leader perspective, and to be bold. So I find a lot of people maybe are waiting for the first person to make that. So who's that leader that's willing to take that risk, be bold. So like the grocery stores, and I was saying, you know, get rid of Styrofoam and use these fiber based trays instead. And you know, styrofoam trays, three cents, fiber tray is five cents. But they're up in arms, like that's 40% more, I'm like, not 40% more, it's two cents more, and then maybe put a point of sale materials in the grocery store saying we're banning styrofoam. We're the grocery store across the nation that's just banning styrofoam, because it's the right thing to do. Whether you eat that cost or you pass on that nickel to the consumer saying, hey, we're adding that five cent kind of little surcharge on your receipt. I have no problem as a consumer paying the five cents knowing that gross should change taking that big bold commitment to ban styrofoam is by styrofoam is just terrible toxins and that goes into landfill and things thousands a year to break down. So that's my two that I would say in terms of what companies and people and organizations need to do.

kevin edwards  33:14  
Well, Matt, speaking of the consumers, we've got a lot of people chiming in in asking a lot of questions and I don't want to ignore them. So if you will get a few questions here. Thank you, Jimmy for typing a lot of questions. Peter, we're going to start with yours. Peter asks, "In Matt's view, what for-profit companies does he think are the most forward thinking in his space, and which are his best partners?"

Matt Hill  33:45  
Okay, broke up a bit, but some of the best partners, you know, I, I can tell you one, NIKIN, which is a clothing line in Switzerland. We started with them, when we were small, they were small. They're doing so much great stuff and doing, you know, over 20 thousand dollars a month, a small organization that was like a couple of dollars per month, but they've grown and they're just there with us continuing. They came out to Colorado with us to help plant trees, very enthusiastic young group, you know. Facebook's got that cash-A name, you know, and worked with us to do something cool, you know, in a New York Times Square type of scenario, and then plant the trees in the National Forest. Trafalgar was one of my first clients, big travel agency, and they said, when you go paperless, we're going to plant a tree. So I mean, there's just so many and I wouldn't want to miss any. And what was the other part in the first part, because you broke up and I missed that. 

kevin edwards  34:39  
Oh, yeah. He just asked, "What for profit companies do you think are the most forward looking and forward thinking?

Matt Hill  34:46  
You know, Google's very progressive, and I think most people would probably assume that, but you know, we talked to them in terms of like, they've been carbon neutral, this company for 10 years. They do a lot of cool things, employees there get, you know, extra time to look at cool projects. So we're talking to Google on some things that are dealing with the environment, you know, with their Google Maps and satellite imagery. 

kevin edwards  35:10  
Great to hear then. Someone else asks, "What is the most innovative project you've worked on? Please share. And what is the most challenging aspect of your work?"

Matt Hill  35:21  
Now that we've grown and we're 30 people, I was, you know, it was me, myself, and I, were six people and then 10 people, so managing people and making sure we're always moving forward. This has been challenging in terms of keeping people motivated, challenged. And then, so that part has been challenging, dealing with the growth and some sort of hyper-growth as well. And making sure every dollar is tracked to every project, and making sure that those people who donated--and I try and keep everybody treated the same. Whether you donated one dollar or you donated a hundred thousand dollars, you still get the same communication touch points. Yes, some of the bigger companies ask us because they want to talk to the marketing team and they want to organize a trip to go down to see the site. But if somebody who donated a dollar to me said, "Hey, when can we go see a project in Toronto?", let's just say, I would like to try and treat everybody the same. And we do. So that's a big part of corporate culture, maintaining that so everybody--there's no Debbie Downers. That's the word I use. Everybody's kind of optimistic and loves what they're doing. And what was the first part to that question that she said?

kevin edwards  36:27  
She was asking. Yes, the most innovative project you've worked on?

Matt Hill  36:32  
I think an innovative project that we're doing, I learn so much every day. Like, I mean, when I went two years ago to South America to an agroforestry project that was dealing with growing cocoa. I've eaten chocolate all my life, I had no clue that that's how they process it to make chocolate. It looked like these gigantic papayas and they cut it open and it was all this white stuff with that and how they went through the whole process of chocolate. I was like, oh my god. So I get a lot of different cool projects every day in terms of how it's helping and making an impact. But I think in terms of the innovation now, looking at the technologies in terms of the monitoring. Because the number one question I always get is, "How do I know my tree is going into the ground?" So we're taking photos and you go to the website, we post a lot of photos from the projects, we try and create a lot of videos to tell this. But to be able to click on a link for anybody and saying, hey, we've completed your project, click this link, and you can zoom in with like satellite imagery to see kind of the before and after. And some people ask if they can watch the trees grow. And I'm like, it's like watching paint dry, if you want to go for it, but trees don't grow that fast.

kevin edwards  37:35  
Maybe one day they will. Who knows? All these efforts, you know, one could consider could be all for the next generation to sustain the population. For the kids. It's all for the kids. We had another question come in. Actually, a few questions come in about the involvement with our youth. Do you have any opportunities for teens and high school students or university students to get involved?

Matt Hill  38:01  
Yes, so we're working on that. So one, we're gonna have a Costa Rica trip come next summer, where, you know, you can go to Costa Rica, and Costa Rica really sets the benchmark in terms of like, you know, conservation efforts, you know, countries are striving to be like Costa Rica. We're doing a project where kids can go to the Amazon Rainforest and stay there for two weeks and live with a family and go out and do work. And we're also going to do one in British Columbia. You know, it's hard work, tough conditions, but I think the people who volunteer want to go out there, you know, they're all ready for the hard work. The part that would be the toughest for me, and I've been to some of the sites where the mosquitoes and the black flies you can literally part the air with the mosquitoes, you know, it's a fog, and they're buzzing in your ear. So getting up at 4:30 in the morning, getting on the truck, going to the site working all day, no problem, but those mosquitoes buzzing in my ear all day.

kevin edwards  38:53  
Oh, man, that's that's a lot. I can only imagine the amount of things that you'd be able to see and experience. So with all of that in mind, you've had a lot of impact. How have the people, how has the planning impacted you?

Matt Hill  39:07  
Impacted me? Yeah, I would have never have thought that, like, Coldplay would be inviting me out to California to meet with them because for their new album, November, you know, they are planting a tree with us for every album sold. And they stopped their tour, because they wanted to look at how they could do it more efficiently from a carbon footprint aspect. And getting invitations to some of these things at Climate Week where, like, you know, big organizations like Rain Forest Alliance and Jane Goodall Institute are they're, like big names that we all recognize. And I'm sitting at the table with some of these people, or we're actually contributing funds there. So when I started this, I just wanted to make an impact. I said, Look, it's gonna be me myself, and I'm gonna have a positive impact, but we've grown a lot. I wouldn't use the celebrity type of name right there. But you know, I get a lot of people now saying, "Oh my god, One Tree Planted." And that's always been my goal. It's never been a number of trees, whether it was 5 million trees or 50 million trees. It's like, if you think of a tree planting organization, that One Tree Planted is what comes top of mind to that, to any person you stopped in the street. Yeah. So, yeah, it's just been an incredible journey.

kevin edwards  40:19  
Matt, it's been a pleasure having you on the show today. I mean, what a vision, what an effort to put trees back to the ground, bear fruits for this community, sustain those efforts all around the world. 220 projects a year. So Matt, with all this in mind, the vision, the people the impact. To you, Matt Hill, what is your definition of a real leader?

Matt Hill  40:45  
You know, so my definition of a real leader would probably be somebody that's inspiring, hard worker, has great communication skills, always there to help in any way. And I always remember, I had a great boss and you know, he was say to me, I was just like a nobody in this big company, and he's like, "How's it going up there in Canada? And what can we do to help you?" Like a leader is that type of person, no matter where you are in the organization, that's there to clear any obstacles that might be there for you. So I think that's one thing that I took away, you know, working at a company. But yeah, it's a lot of hard work, being able to communicate with the team. And I always look at things when we do it as a team, what worked well, what didn't? What can we do better the next time?

kevin edwards  41:33  
Matt, again, pleasure having you on the show. Thank you so much. And thank you all for attending today. All 15 of you. We want more people. Make sure you share this link with your friends, with your family, with your network to continue this movement, put more trees into the ground, people. For Matt Hill. I'm Kevin was asking to go out there, ask what you can do to help, and always folks, keep it real. Thanks for coming on the show, Matt.

Matt Hill  41:58  
My pleasure. Thanks, Kevin. 

kevin edwards  42:00  
All right, good people. And thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Real Leaders Podcast. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did, and if you haven't yet subscribed or left a review, then please by all means, hit the subscribe button or scroll down to the very bottom and leave us a review. Let us know who you want to have on the show, what you like, what you don't like and how we can improve. For all the visual learners out there today, if you want to watch this episode on your computer or TV with friends and family, make sure to subscribe to our new YouTube channel @RealLeadersMagazine to see all of our interviews with guests harnessing capitalism to sustain the planet people and profits. This episode was a live recording on our new crowdcast platform. All we want you to do is go online to real-leaders.com, hit newsletter, type in your email, to be notified of upcoming events so you can appear on screen and ask questions to people like Matt. Thanks again for being a real leader and stay tuned for the next episode.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai