by Steve Beimel
A simple truth: trees suck up carbon and cool down the area in which they are planted. They are also beautiful, assist in ground water replenishment, provide habitat for many forms of life and act as wind breaks.
I was tired of years of helplessly watching the world get hotter and ignoring a voice inside of me that continuously repeated “Why don’t we plant lots of trees?” so I found a source for inexpensive maple saplings and began planting them and handing them out to people who wanted to participate. As of 5-25-2020, we have planted about 70 trees in Kyoto, Japan where I live, and a few more by people around the world who have joined a Facebook group created around this project.
If you plant a tree, please let us know, so we can add it to our total.
If you want to plant a tree but don’t have a place at home for it, you can do one of the following things:
1. buy a small, inexpensive tree sapling and plant it in a neighbor’s yard or at some neglected place in your neighborhood (a patch of dirt in a parking lot or in a planter area in front of a convenience store or gas station. The store proprietor would probably be happy to have a free tree.)
2. buy a small tree and keep it in a container while you ask around to people if they want a free tree.
3. plant a tree via one of the many online tree-planting non-profit organizations, such as:
Nature Conservancy*–$2 per tree planted, $10 minimum donation https://support.nature.org/site/Donation2?df_id=19888&19888.donation=form1
Seas of Trees*–$2 per tree planted, $6 minimum donation https://www.seasoftrees.org/
Then go to our Facebook group and tell us what you did https://www.facebook.com/groups/1300724636779058/
Where to get free trees: You can often find seedlings in cities or suburbs under or near maple or pine trees, that grow naturally. These are trees that will normally be mowed down as weeds.
I don’t know how far this project will go. Let’s see what happens.
Love to our earth!
P.S. Please remember to regularly and adequately water your baby tree during its first summer.
* We are not endorsing any particular tree planting charity. Please do your own due diligence.
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