THE CONSCIENCES of some Wanganui Honda owners are a little easier since Saturday.
About 50 Honda owners and dealers turned out to plant trees that day ? trees that will help offset the carbon emitted by their vehicles.
Carbon emissions are a major contributor to global warming and climate change.
Watkins Honda owner
Lindsay Watkins said 500 native trees were planted at Pauri Lake on Saturday. They were just a fraction of the 2500 to 3000 trees Honda needed to plant in the Wanganui and Rangitikei in order to get 10 trees in the ground for every car sold last year.
For Manawatu, the amount is 4500 to 5000 trees.
To purchase all these green things the Honda New Zealand Tree Fund handed a cheque for $15,000 to Horizons Regional Council on Saturday. This paid for 7000 to 8000 trees grown by Wanganui Prison for Honda to plant in the Wanganui, Rangitikei and Manawatu districts.
Mr Watkin said on Saturday morning the weather stayed dry long enough to get the trees dug in.
He anticipated that Honda would do more planting at that site next year, or at another site chosen by Horizons.
The company's tree fund aimed to plant 76,000 trees nationwide this year. And its model cars sold in New Zealand met United States emission standards, the Honda New Zealand website said.
Mr Watkin was impressed by the fencing and preparation for planting at Pauri Lake, about 7km from Wanganui. He said the lake was used a lot by sailing and rowing clubs and the trees would be appreciated.
The approximately 20ha of lakeside is owned by Neil and John Campbell, who hope to create a public walkway along it.
The planting is a four-year project undertaken by the Campbells with the help of Horizons' He Tini Awa Trust. Last year 10,000 trees were planted.
The total project, which extends to part of Lake Wiritoa, will need 50,000 trees.
