Trees For Marriage, Divorce and Shiny New Cars?

The Brazilian Câmara dos Deputados is discussing a bill which will make planting trees mandatory as a means of paying fees for certain legal proceedings. Which ones? Getting married, getting a divorce, buying a new car or trading estate.

The bill establishes that couples to be married would have to plant 10 tree seedlings in order to carry on with the wedding, while those who want to get divorced would have to plant 25 new trees. For the car buyers, the 'fee' for a new car would be 20 trees, the 'cost' of a middle-size car would be 40, and 60 for heavy vehicles. Construction companies would have to plant 10 trees for every new home and 20 for every new commercial unit they build.

Why divorce? "When people separate, families are divided and that results in an increase of the number of residences, which leads to a higher space occupation and consume of energy and water," explained Mannato, Brazilian deputy, to O Globo.

According to estimations published by the newspaper, if the law is approved, the construction and automobile sectors would plant at least 65 million trees a year.

The project has been approved by two of the five first commissions it has to go through and can be followed via the Congress website.

Obrigada. That's not a bad idea.