TREES: THE LUNGS OF THE EARTH

Upcoming projects...

*George Child and Family Welfare non-perishables distribution (June/July)


*21For21 tree plantings continued






For more information and to keep up to date on projects and initiatives follow the @missearth_sa and @danickariehl twitter handles or contact me directly to get involved danicka_morningstar@yahoo.com

George Child and Family Welfare

George Child and Family Welfare (GCFW) is an organisation in the Garden Route that has been serving the community of George since 1926. Over the years they have been a lifeline for thousands of children and their families.

Thanks to their gracious Patron, Mrs Plattner, many great things have happened since their establishment. GCFW continues to grow and expand carrying out work in various communities. The patrons along with many sponsors, volunteers and donors are having a direct impact on many lives in the poorest communities. GCFW cares for 5 creches in and around George as well as many other schools, homes and care establishments.

I commend The George Child and Family welfare for the continued good work that they do and thank them for guiding my hand to schools within our community most in need of

tree planting initiatives and non-perishable item distributions that will be happening in the near future.

Better kids for a better planet!

People always talk about leaving a better planet for our kids, but what about leaving better kids for our planet?

People always talk about leaving a better planet for our kids, but what about leaving better kids for our planet?

There is absolutely no debate when in comes to what came first, the unhealthy state of the environment or the human race who now live in a lesser quality biosphere.

Our Earth was made perfect. Perfect n all it's glory, strength and mite. Balanced and dynamic in just the right way to survive and nourish the needs of it's occupants. But with over 7 billion inhabitants, many of which often live in delicate situations and give in to push factors like crime and pull factors like city employment and the result is a high volume of people finding themselves living in small areas of economically rich land. The tendency is to then rid these areas of their natural resources and in doing so, strangle the environment. Being a breed of survivors, hunters and gatherers we extend out horizons and continue to use and exploit the next available thing on a continual basis.

Why do we do this? As much as the animal instinct to attain is alive in us, human beings are protectors and nurtures too but it seems that there has been a generational gap where this love has not been awakened in many people.

Hoping for a good, yielding planet for our kids is not enough. We need our kids to want a better world to live in and frankly, our world needs a future generation of better kids living in it if there is hope of returning it to it's glory.

Are your ducks in a row?

Barking Mad: How are positive social results are achieved through community buy in.?

This is a question that I have out much thought into over the past few months as I have been challenged through new schools of thought and the debate between personal gain and social responsibility. As is often the case I have found most of my answers to these questions in the most unlikely of places, the Garden Route SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).

How did I find answers to such weighted questions at a simple animal shelter? By realising and applying a mind set that the workings of any ideal are in fact built upon the same, basic principles. A goal, a vision, a good reason and I emphasise good, and a thorough plan of action that will result in the desired effects thought up in steps one and two, vision and mission. My explanation of good being that of which the results will create a positive social outcome that outways the negatives. Good is not always easy, but good is right.

The Garden Route SPCA is a GOOD place, and for an animal shelter to run as effectively as this one does, there has to be a sustainable level of social buy in. Whether you visit the local mall on a Tuesday or the famous weekend farmers markets on Saturdays, all Georgians are acustomed to see familiar and new faces supporting our fury friends and it works! A visit to the Garden Route SPCA presently surprises you with views of mostly empty cages, trimmed lawns and many a proverbial happy pig in poop, as well as an actual one!

When social buy in occurs on a sustainable level, there are positive, lasting effects.
The patrons and of the Garden Route SPCA believe in and support our SPCA that such a negative thing, the abuse of and homelessness of animals has become a social example to many people of how easily good work is done. As human beings we are a breed inclined to growth, expansion and advancement and if a small, sleepy town can buy into the welfare of it's animals why can we not, as a country unite and buy into the interests of many a cause as one united sustainable engine of change and reform!.

Make an effort to visit your local SPCA, you may just leave feeling a little inspired!

Teaching the ground staff at Lawaaikamp Creche in the Eden District the right way to plant indigenous trees

Green dreams

http://www.georgeherald.com/news.aspx?id=51022&h=Students-dream-of-21-trees-for-21st

http://www.georgeherald.com/news.aspx?id=53011&h=Tree-dream-for-21st-may-grow

Advice from a tree

Leaf and leave

How not to plant a tree

There is only one right way to plant a tree and yet there is an exponential amount of wrong ways to plant a tree. If you get it into the ground, in one piece, standing upright ie. roots down, leaves above, you know that you have done something right.. right? But how right?

Planting a tree and taking the necessary steps to ensure it's growth and development is in many ways a similar to the incubation of a virtuous breed of people. Growth and new life is an inevitable part of the cycle of life. For both the homo sapien species and our leafy friends, starting from the ground up is a prerequisite. The roots of any great tree to be is the foundation upon which all else relies. Get things wrong at this level and we'll be deep (excuse the pun) in turmoil. Strong roots are developed through correct placement and selective nourishment.

Just as we plant a tree in ground that is solid but forgiving, our lives should be based on ideals that hold true to honour and virtue but allow for forward thinking, unrestricted growth and Independence. Like the synapses in the human brain, each fibrous root ending represents a single link in a chain of functions that extend outward and result in both tangible and intangible changes in our physical world and external environment.

What we feed our human souls moulds and impels the extent of the role which we will play in our immediate and ultimately global community and environment. Violence, spite, jealousy, greed and corruption makes for many rotten trees in our metaphorical yard and rot is often a contagious infliction. Unfortunately in the world of today, these bugs have bitten many a man. Despite this, all hope is not lost. Just as trees are self regulating, cleansing entities, the heart of good men and woman are too. Men and woman who's roots are deeply layed in the rich soils of education, good leadership and philanthropy have the ability to change the dire state of our ailing world. Just as a tree breathes in the bad, makes work of it and exhales life blood: uniquely positioned people of green being have the ability to make a difference and stand tall as ambassadors of growth and goodness. Cultivating a breed of people and collection of communities based on love, respect for our natural world and communality will result in a blossoming of growth and possibility is all branches of life.

The fruits of these labours may be hard earned in times of hardship, drought or flood but with roots dug deep, the trees of change will continue to stand tall, produce change and encourage a world where people and trees are not so different, but rather uniquely the same and equally important.