Earth University, founded in 1986, is an international institution devoted to the formation of professionals in agricultural engineering with emphasis on sustainable development.

The Challenge: Underscore Earth University’s leadership in environmental sustainability as a key component in the celebration of its 20th Anniversary.The objective: To increase awareness about Earth University through the celebration of its 20th Anniversary.

The strategy: To create a tree planting project. 'Earth Plants the Future' oriented to simultaneous planting of 200,000 trees, in 26 countries, on June 5, 2010 (World Environment Day) and contributes to mitigate climate change.'Earth Plants the Future' was implemented through the collaboration of hundreds of people around the world, including Earth’s graduates, donors, sponsors and allies that volunteered to make this dream possible. The project was promoted mainly through social networks and a website with a virtual forest, mailing lists, media relations and media announcements.The number of trees planted exceed almost six times the propose goal: 1,195,371 trees planted the same day in 34 countries. The event was broadcast by CNN International News Network. In Costa Rica, president of the country, Laura Chinchilla attended the main planting event at Earth’s campus that day.

a) Launch the 'Earth Plants the Future' ideab) Activation of social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia.c) Launching of the website www.earthplantsthefuture.org: including a virtual forest that allowed visitors to purchase real trees and also estimated there carbon footprint.d) Visit to media: Meetings of University President with national and international key media directors and editors.e) Media strategy: Design and implementation of a media strategy that included key messages, Q&A, spokesperson training, press kit, press releases, one on one interviews and media public announcement material.

f) Internal anniversary celebration: March 26th marked the anniversary celebrated internally.g) Sponsorships and alliances pursue: Through a fundraising campaign, private companies sponsored the project.h) On-line conferences: On-line conferences with the alumni for coordination purposes.i) Live broadcast: On June 5th the tree-planting event was broadcast live on the Internet.

The number of trees planted on June 5th, as part of 'Earth Plants the Future' project were almost six times the projected figure (200,000), having planted 1,195,371 trees.The number of countries participating in the simultaneously tree planting were 34 countries exceeding the original goal (26) by 8 countries.

Thanks to the sponsorship of CNN International, media announcements were run on this network and reached more than 151,200 families in Latin America.In Costa Rica, the participation of the President of the Republic was achieved during the tree-planting event in Guácimo.Outcome in numbers:Trees planted: 1,195,371Countries united: 34Sponsors: 28Allies: 65Facebook fans: 5,836Twitter followers: 513Publications in Costa Rica: 89 (approximately $118,784)Publications in other countries: 46 (approximately $21,910)Media announcements coverage: 151.200 families in Latin AmericaNumber of persons added to the data base: 3,256