PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Plettenberg Bay became a little greener over the past week after about 300 trees were planted as part of the Greenpop Eden Festival of Action.
The festival kicked off in Plett on 25 June and will take place across the Eden district until July 15.
During the winter months the Greenpop Festival of Action brings people together from around the world to “learn, connect, give back and get active” and for the past six years the event had taken place in Livingstone, Zambia. This year, however, it is being hosted along the Garden Route.
Hive of activity
According to organisers, the festival will involve three weeks of planting trees, rehabilitating ecosystems, clearing alien vegetation, setting up recycling systems, painting eco-murals, hosting sustainability workshops and a variety of other celebrations.
Spokesperson Patty Butterworth said Plett had been a hive of activity, in stark contrast to the manic activity during last year’s fires that swept through the area.
“This time the action was more relaxed and involved hoes, picks and spades as high school children from around the country came together with local school children and the broader community to plant hundreds of trees,” Butterworth said.
Creating for tomorrow
The planting day was held at Olive Hill, which will soon be the new home of the Raphaeli Waldorf School.
Butterworth said the site was chosen as it was a burnt property that lost all the shelter and windbreak of trees. These trees were all alien species and therefore a decision was taken to replace those with indigenous trees. “These were chosen to create a nurturing, beautiful and biodiverse forest line for generations of children to come.The school will take on the care and guardianship of these trees as part of their mandate to develop an environmentally exemplary school, while at the same time servicing the local community as an inclusive place of learning.”
All in a morning's work
The day involved planting 300 trees in one morning and participants included youngsters from the age of two to 20.
“All the trees were in the ground by lunchtime. It felt good to come together for a common goal and showed how much can be achieved when we add all our small actions together for the greater good. Yes, the trees planted will bring the birds, bees and butterflies back to the area and provide the oxygen we all breathe and what could be more important than that, but for everyone who was there a seed was also sown – the sense of how our small positive actions added together can achieve great things.”
Plettenberg Bay locals gathered to help plant 300 trees as part of the Eden Festival of Action which kicked off in the town on 25 June.
The Working on Fire (WoF) team was also in attendance and this time their bright yellow truck was not used to douse flames, but rather for watering freshly planted trees. The GvH Landscape team added their muscle power and expertise to the mass tree planting and refreshments were provided by Le Fournil and AquaV.
1 000 more trees
There will be two more main planting sites, at the Nature Reserve in Knysna, which will receive attention on 6 and 13 July, and Heartland School of Self Sufficiency in Elandskraal, where planting was to take place on 4 July with another planned for 11 July. A thousand trees will be planted at each site. Two workshops – an Introduction of Biomimicry by Sue Swain, and an Introduction to Permaculture by Philippa Mallac – will also be held at Peace of Eden on 12 July.
Organisers say Eden was chosen for the festival this year following the impact of the wildfires from last year and how the fires were exacerbated by uncontrolled spread of alien plant species in the area.
The general consensus is that, alongside immediate rebuilding efforts, long-term efforts need to be focused on regeneration through introducing ecosystem services, removing alien vegetation, planting indigenous vegetation and catchment management.
The GvH Landscaping team provided muscle and expertise during the first Eden Festival of Action planting day in Plettenberg Bay on 25 June.
Want to help plant 1 000 trees?
Greenpop’s Eden Festival of Action is now fully under way and we have a couple of open volunteer days and sustainability workshops we will be holding for locals who are keen to get their hands dirty and involved:
- 5 July: Sedgefield beach – cleanup
- 6 July: Featherbed Nature Reserve, Knysna – reforestation
- 9 July: Goukamma Nature Reserve, Knysna – alien clearing
- 11 July: Heartlands School of Self Sufficiency, Elandskraal – reforestation
- 11 July: Pledge Nature Reserve, Knysna – Weeding Wednesday
- 12 July: Peace of Eden, Rheenendal – Workshops
- 13 JulyReforestationFeatherbed Nature Reserve, KnysnaOpen Day RSVP: http://bit.ly/EdenOpenDays
Workshop Bookings: http://bit.ly/EdenWorkshops
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