The Treevolutionary

Blog Entry by Megan Petrous, Greenpop Marketing Coordinator

Attention all photographers and Greenpop supporters!

Ramsay Media in collaboration with BoE Private Clients is launching a photographic competition in hopes to raise awareness for a number of issues that affect all South Africans. The campaign, Picture the Change, essentially asks the public or media to submit a photo they believe depicts the change they hope to see in the world. The person with the best photo will receive R300 000 worth of media space that will go towards raising awareness for the cause of their choice. Furthermore, the winner will receive a SANParks-sponsored four-night stay in any one of its 21 parks.

We are asking any photographers who support Greenpop to please submit a photo or series of photos on our behalf. Some ideas could be any photos that were taken on our plant days, reforestation fests, or other events, as well as any photos that are relevant to the greening of South Africa.

For more information, check out the Picture the Change website by clicking HERE.

Blog entry by Charlotte Brinkmann

Hello Treevolutionaries!

We are always eager to find out about creative and adventurous ideas, now we heard about something truly amazing: 

Our good friends of Food With A Story will go on The Real Food Trip this year to find out about all kinds of Food stories South Africa has to offer. Traveling across the country from the Western Cape to Limpopo and into Mozambique, they will be visiting farmers and exploring Food culture, giving people who grow and produce our food a voice by photographing and filming all their experiences along the way. All of this is meant to encourage consumers to be aware of their food, showing sustainable production methods to educate about the options we have in our daily choice of purchase, as well as to stress the importance of this awareness facing the question of food security in the future.

We love the idea, check it out and support them via IndieGoGo!

Article by: Katie Williams

“I name this tree Twiggy” squealed four-year old Anna excitedly. For Anna and her father, Anton Cartwright, Heritage Day 2011 began differently from the norm. Leaving Cape Town’s leafy southern suburbs, they headed to the under-greened community of Manenberg. The smoky-scented promise of a braai lingered in the air, but, first, a challenge: to help plant a thousand trees.

On Greenpop’s “Day of a Thousand Trees” an army of 500 volunteers descended on the proudly Manenberg community centre. Speeches, a stirring rendition of the national anthem from Red River Primary’s choir, and a unique “plant dance” had us singing, dancing, laughing, stretching and voicing our enthusiasm to get out into the community. Volunteers then dispersed to twelve locations across the township to plant indigenous trees and fruit trees.

After a short demonstration at Talfalah Primary School, team members started on the task: moving trees, mixing compost, shaking fertiliser, planting, then watering, naming and decorating the tree. Around the edge of a windswept playing field we created a border of indigenous thorn trees. The saplings were small but the effect of their presence was huge –each symbolising the care and love of its planters and hope for the future.

It was hot, tiring work, but for Anton, co-founder and coordinator of Promoting Access to Carbon Equity (PACE), one of the event’s sponsors, the day symbolised several important themes of his NGO’s work: poverty alleviation, community development, offsetting carbon emissions and bringing the carbon market to South Africa’s townships.  

“The greenhouse gases absorbed by these trees are used by companies and individuals to off-set their emissions”, explained Anton, who founded PACE to facilitate these types of transactions. “They pay for the trees and in exchange they get to claim the CO2 absorbed by the trees, but this is only a small part of a much more important exchange that involves bridging communities and investing in a shared future.”   

1,000 trees were successfully planted in Manenberg on Saturday, and volunteers celebrated with a braai, music and a speech from the minister of human settlements.  

On Sunday, we learned of the death of Wangari Muta Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of the Greenbelt Movement. The news is poignant for Greenpop volunteers. In Maathai’s lifetime, 40 million trees were planted across Africa, promoting biodiversity and creating jobs, especially for women. Maathai recognised the importance of trees, in helping “to heal the land and break the cycle of poverty”, and yet somehow being so much more than that.

In the first year of its “Treevolution”, Greenpop has planted 8,000 trees. Each tree is a symbol of hope and transformation. From a fragile sapling grows a vibrant organism, giving shade, aesthetic pleasure, and even fruit.

On Saturday, joining the “Treevolution”, we realised that planting trees was not so much about the sapling, but about the community. We were joining a cross-cultural movement, offsetting carbon emissions, meeting new people, and greening an underprivileged area. And, as Anna commented while heaving her over-sized spade into the soil, we were also “having so much fun”.