American Forests has enabled the planting of more than 42 million trees through our Global ReLeaf program since 1990. Now, we are excited to have recently introduced a new program to follow in Global ReLeaf’s footsteps: Meeting ReLeaf.

Meeting ReLeaf is a way for organizations to offset the carbon emissions of their meetings and conferences by partnering with American Forests to plant a tree for every attendee. In addition to being a cost-effective way to sequester carbon, organizations get the satisfaction of knowing that the trees planted for their meeting in carefully chosen reforestation projects are helping to clean our air and water, enrich soil and provide habitat for wildlife.

In August, American Forests was proud to implement our first Meeting ReLeaf project in partnership with the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). ASAE — a source of education and research to more than 21,000 members representing more than 10,000 associations and nonprofits — is no stranger to innovative ways of offsetting its carbon footprint. For its Annual Meeting and Expos, the society partners with host hotels to serve locally grown food and works with a travel agency that offsets travel emissions. Its participation in the Meeting ReLeaf program brings it one step closer to its goal of sustainable meetings.

“It’s great to be able to tell attendees that we offset our carbon footprint by planting trees in honor of every single one of them,” says Amy Ledoux, senior vice president of meetings and expositions at ASAE.

Held at the Dallas Convention Center in August, ASAE’s 2012 Annual Meeting and Expo drew more than 6,000 participants — their highest attendance in five years — meaning that together, we will be able to plant more than 6,000 trees in Texas, helping ASAE give back to the land and community that hosted the meeting.

To learn more about Meeting ReLeaf, visit www.americanforests.org/meetingreleaf.