Carolyn Cooper defends the Earth in his latest column for Jamaica’s Gleaner.
Last Monday was Earth Day, and one of the big issues environmentalists took up is the foul problem of disposable diapers. We really do have to go back to the good old days of reusable cloth diapers. Remember those bright white nappies on the clothes line, fluttering in the breeze?
Today, Saturday April 27, 2003, when Arbor Day is celebrated throughout the world, a group of Virginia Tech students went to Toms Creek Park to plant trees. This was the third group at this place, but the fourth to take part on this year’s Arbor Day activities. Here are the links for earlier ones: April 26, April 25, April 20
On this post you will find a local-paper slideshow featuring our students in Arbor Day.
We began promptly at 9AM with a review of the purposes behind this project. In short, they are to encourage civic duty and to aid in learning about other social ethos, particularly as it is with the Haitian combites. Then we went through the planting instructions, and set the goal of planting at least 4 trees per group. We did not sing, as people in some combites do, but we talked a lot, and while a few arrived sluggishly, as if they had dragged themselves out of bed, in about half an hour, they were all energized.
Just after an hour, most groups had planted way more than four threes. So, we began closing down, and as we got ready for the group-picture, two students attempted to carry a water bucket on their heads, as women in Haiti and in other parts of the world, commonly do. They idea was of putting ourselves in the position of others and appreciating the value of water and its transportation. Of the two that tried, only one was able to balance the water bucket on her head.
Afterward, we went for breakfast together, and we closed down with a discussion about the value of free time versus hands-on labor (“cleaning after yourself”). This was done in the context of what pro-slavery writers and abolitionists debated throughout the entire Americas during most of the 19th century. We reflected on how this same issues are part of our current social and political discussions.
This is the second group planting trees at Toms Creek Park. The new tree samplings are now being spread about on the hill where we want to attract wild life and stop the erosion. We began with a small talk about the purposes of this event, an introduction to the combite and instructions of how to plant the new trees. We divided the volunteers in groups of two, and each planted about 4-7 trees per group. As evidences of the old dumping ground today we found two golf balls, a brush and other left overs of the trashy past.
Arbor Day at Toms Creek Park I
These are some of the photos of the group that broke ground on the hill behind the baseball/softball diamond at Toms Cree Park (which has also the Dog Par). This entire park used to be a dumping ground. We found glass and other articles evidences of the trash that covered the place before. The small trees we planted will take a few years to grow, but they will help stop the erosion, would increase the green foliage and will help bring the wild life back to this specific spot.
