Getting people to grow their own tree from seed and then having a million trees geotagged and mapped out is the vision of two young ‘treepreneurs’ from Centurion, Sean Hide and Patrick Leckie from Grow A Tree. “My big dream is to actually incorporate the grow a tree from a seed idea into the grade one syllabus,” said Sean. And the name? “It was originally going to be … [Read more...]
Breathing new life into Platbos Forest
Recently, our team spent a relaxing weekend at the 1000 year old Platbos Indigenous Forest, near Gansbaai. We slept in huts made from wood and canvas, and heated up the geyser by making a fire beneath it. Discovering the southernmost remnant of the ancient Afromontane forest which once covered almost the whole of Africa was a journey to our roots in a series of significant … [Read more...]
Green lungs help us breathe better
Arbor Week was celebrated nationally from 01 to 07 September, and in 2012, the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa (IWMSA) urges all South Africans to heed the call to respect and nurture the greenbelts in our urban areas. A greenbelt is best described as natural, undeveloped land which has been demarcated and set aside within an urban or developed area for the … [Read more...]
Coming together to green up Zambia
Volunteers from all walks of life gathered in Livingstone, Zambia during July 2012 and found common ground in a passion for the environment. Sindy Peters tells us about her experience joining the "treevolution": Initiated by Cape Town-based Greenpop, we spent three weeks planting 4135 trees. Everyone arrived with something to give, and left with a little more. "This is … [Read more...]
Plant a Tree campaign reaches a new milestone
Save our Planet – Plant a Tree reached a new milestone of 10 000 trees donated to school pupils and residents of Pretoria so far this year. This coincides with Arbor Week and is the brain-child of Charl du Toit, CEO of The Success Academy, a property development and management company, who has put his money where his mouth is and has pledged to sponsor 150 000 trees over the … [Read more...]
New York investors’ big African land grab exposed
A new report from The Oakland Institute, in collaboration with Greenpeace International, exposes how a New York-based agri-corporation, Herakles Farms, and its local subsidiary SG Sustainable Oils Cameroon (SGSOC), are involved in a land deal that is questionable under Cameroonian Law and opposed by locals since 2010. Herakles Farms has just pulled out of the industry’s … [Read more...]
Living trees as fence posts
Drive around Costa Rica’s windy mountainous roads and you will see numerous trees, from those bearing colourful fruits to others sporting thick spines, planted about 1 to 3 meters apart. Connected by long lines of barbed wire, these rudimentary-looking arrangements, known as living fences, have both economic and environmental benefits over their dead wood … [Read more...]
Trees for Africa this Arbor Month
A responsible supermarket will be making a sizeable donation to Food and Trees for Africa, in support of Arbor Day and Arbor Month, starting 1 September. Pick n Pay will be donating 1 million smart shopper points to them. Pick n Pay have been partnering with FTFA for more than 10 years, planting thousands of trees, developing food gardens, as well as being the sponsor of the … [Read more...]
Trees for Zambia to inspire a culture of tree planting
Greenpop's Trees for Zambia 'Conference of Action' is set to start on 1 July 2012, after over a year of preparation. The team is setting up and trees are ready to be planted. School children, local businesses and volunteers are gearing up for 3 weeks of tree planting, soccer activities, live music and more. This 3-week tree-planting and eco-education event will kick start an … [Read more...]
“No” to forestry in fynbos areas
It may no longer make economic or environmental sense to pursue forestry endeavours using conifers in the Western Cape. If local plantations are to be maintained, invasive pine trees will continue to spread, the Cape’s water supply will continue to dwindle and the unique natural diversity of the fynbos region will be changed forever. This is the opinion of two of South … [Read more...]
Amazon’s chainsaw massacre delivered a blow
Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff has partially vetoed a bill that would have weakened her country's efforts to protect the Amazon and other forests. Environmentalists cautiously welcomed the last-minute decision, which came after the most closely watched political debate of the year in Brazil. But they warned that the battle was not yet over because large parts of the bill … [Read more...]
Tree woman determined to leave a forest for posterity
A once an under-greened and neglected area in the outskirts of Durban will soon be boasting with countless lush trees once their home-grown yellowwood and paw-paw trees start spouting up like skyscrapers around them. For about 6 years Natalie Rowles, a 66 year old house wife from Kwazulu Natal has been donating thousands of her home-grown indigenous Yellowwood and paw-paw … [Read more...]
Greenpop launches Trees for Zambia project
For three weeks in July 2012, Greenpop is hosting a reforestation project in Livingstone, Zambia; the country with the second highest deforestation rate in the world. They will be planting over 5000 indigenous and fruit trees that are growing at the Zambezi Nkuku nursery, and hosting valuable educational sessions for children and subsistence farmers. This will be the start of … [Read more...]
