Nature and planting trees, it is said, or I believe I have read, that everyone should plant a tree once in their life. There is also a beautiful, motivating picture. This article is about how planting trees shows children from an early age how important it is to take care of nature.
I was recently shown this article from ORF on Facebook, from 1974, which is more than 50 years old. Pupils at a school in Ober-Grafendorf bought trees with their own money and planted them. The video is below.
Planting trees as an intergenerational project
While you can criticize the method that the children had to spend their own money on it, I actually think it's good because it shows them that sustainability doesn't work for free, I think it's especially important that the pupils see how trees are planted and what effect it has. To gain this perspective on how important trees and nature are for us.
Unfortunately, this school project itself has been forgotten, and yet 50 years later the trees stand where they were once planted.
Do we perhaps need a school subject or project week where pupils have to deal with the topic of nature and tree planting? I think it would do young people a lot of good to remember and see what generations before them have done and to see the results today.
For example, it could be structured in such a way that the schools document this work with the classes every year and every year the class that does such a project week reads from the book how the pupils thought before, quasi historical records. To show and motivate the pupils that this is intergenerational work.
My experience
You can't imagine that a thin seedling of a tree will grow big and strong, and yet I have experienced it myself.
Just over 10 years ago, my grandfather, who recently celebrated his 80th birthday, planted an apple tree in my family's garden. It was small and I never thought it would grow big, but 10 years have passed and it has been producing more and more apples for about 5-6 years.
Today I am grateful that he planted this tree with us, this small seemingly insignificant decision to plant a tree that needs care in the beginning and will eventually be big enough to bear apples.
This experience would be particularly important for growing children, for life, that everything in life takes time, that nothing great can arise from nothing and that even great things start small.
I am certain that I want to plant a tree with my future children to pass on this seed of knowledge.
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