Linden Labs, the company behind Second Life, has partnered with the real-world nonprofit Friends of the Urban Forest in an effort to plant trees in San Francisco.

Members of Second Life can use their Linden Dollars to purchase virtual trees. That virtual money gets converted to real-world currency, which then gets donated to FUF.

Look out! It's a media shower!

This Second Life resident ponders the use of virtual realities to simulate climate change:

Svarga shows some of the amazing potential of SL to mimick real life and demonstrate the delicate balance of earth's various life forms. Which makes me wonder about the political and educational possibilities of these kinds of simulated environments. If you wanted to get all Al Gore in here, you could have the island's balance fall apart as more and more residents visit, using up resources and trampling the soil. Or you could give residents control of small plots on the island to learn how to balance resources and land use wisely. Any businesses that operate on the island might have real impacts on the ecosystem based on the resources they use and the waste they create. The possibilities are endless.

While global warming might be an inconvenient truth that people don't want to face, creating more interactive, fun ways for people to learn about how the Earth operates might help convince new audiences of the importance of sound environmental policies. At the very least, it would be more appealing than watching Al Gore give a powerpoint presentation.

(Hat tip)

Look out! It's a media shower!