Plant a tree! Or not...

Ok, so yesterday I went to EPA (our version of a Home Depot, only not nearly as good) in Escazu to get a refill for the weed whacker. String trimmer. Whatever the hell they call those things. Out in front of the store was a huge flat of seedling trees in peat pots, with a sign about supporting the plant-a-tree program. I asked someone how much the trees were (figuring they were free, but of course, you never ask if something is free, that would just be rude). The guard outside didn't know (of course, because guards usually don't know anything except guarding), so we went in, did our little bit of shopping, and then I asked the cashier what was the deal with the trees. She didn't know either. I asked the guy who stamps your receipt on the way out to make sure you didn't steal anything, and he didn't know about the trees. I finally managed to track down one guy who finally, at long last, told me I had to go buy a ticket from the ICE if I wanted to purchase a tree, said tickets being 800 colones (about $1.75 more or less). Now, I could call the ICE, or one of the other companies involved in this program, but of course he didn't have the specific number to call. He did, however, hand me a brochure about the program, which had neither phone numbers nor prices of trees nor any indication of where you could go to purchase a tree. Of course at this point I gave up. I mean, how much are people expected to go through for $1.75 trees?

I'm thinking -- call me crazy! -- the thing to do is sell them at the store. You know, the store. Where they're located. Even better: give one away with every $10 purchase or something. Actually get the trees in people's hands so that they can plant them. I guess that's too much to ask.

The whole thing seems like a big corporate write-off to me. The board meeting, I imagine, went something like this: "So, here's the deal guys: we buy some tree seedlings, tell people we're doing this big plant-a-tree project, have the trees right there at the store, but make it incredibly difficult for anyone to actually buy one! That's the brilliant part! No one is going to jump through hoops for a $2 tree, so we can say we're doing all this great stuff for the environment and then, when all of the trees die because no one bought them, we can write them off! Brilliant, right?!? Am I right??"

Sigh. Bureaucracy at its finest.