In 2019, Alipay Ant Forest was awarded(奖励) the United Nation's highest environmental honor – the "UN Champions of the Earth" award – for encouraging over half a billion people to take action in their daily lives to live greener lifestyles and help protect the environment with digital(数码) technology.
Ant Forest is an app-based game that is sweeping across China. The users of the game get green energy points for choosing low-carbon(低碳) activities like taking a bus or using less plastic. Once players have gotten enough green energy, they can plant a virtual(虚拟的) tree in Ant Forest. For every tree planted in the virtual game, a real tree is planted by Ant Forest in China's countryside. Ant Forest says 100 million real trees have been planted so far, covering a total area of 933 square kilometers — almost the size of 130,000 soccer fields.
In order to make it possible for more than 500 million users to watch their trees growing, Ant Forest works with GaGo Group to monitor trees using satellites(卫星). Two satellites took pictures of the desert areas before and after the tree planting to show users how their everyday actions have made a difference.
Alipay Ant Forest shows how technology can change our world. Internet connects the virtual world with the real world. This has been easily accepted by the Chinese youth. Alipay Ant Forest's popularity shows that the public is ready to take action to protect our living environment. Many Chinese net users said that they were so proud that they had made acontributionto the greening of the world through online games.
