If you dig a hole and plant your laptop in it you won’t find any green sprouts poking up come spring time and your computer will be just plain dirty, or ‘dirtier’ depending on how you’ve been spending your time lately.

Luckily, Dell Computers, in cooperation with Penn State, has found a way to combat this no-win situation for people and the environment with the “Plant a Tree for Me” program.

Dell’s new ‘Green’ oriented project offers the chance for customers to make a donation to plant a tree in order to cancel out the carbon footprint of their computers.

According to Penn State Live, Penn State Procurement Services took advantage of Dell’s program when it ordered over 1,100 new laptops this year. Dell even struck an extra super special deal with PSU by planting 455 trees to offset the carbon footprint of the computers purchased and – here’s the extra super part – waiving the donation fee. Truly a Green match made in heaven.

To those not riding the big  Green wave, “carbon footprints” (no not the ones found from a giant, hairy mythical creature that’s videotaped stumbling through the woods every now and then) are simply described as the amount of carbon, or c02, released from any one product which then becomes harmful GHGs, or Green House Gasses. These GHGs can then contribute that global warming thing you may have heard of.

The “Plant a Tree for Me” program, as well as Penn State’s willingness to take advantage of it, is another stupendous step forward by the University in helping our environment regenerate itself. For those interested in contributing to Dell’s program, you don’t have to buy a brand spankin’ new laptop to help out the environment. Anybody can make a donation of $99 to offset their estimated total carbon impact for one whole year.

Dell assures that %100 of all donations will go to “facilitate the planting of tress.”