Trees

Okay, here it is. I’m an environmentalist. All my life, I have dreamed of planting trees. Big, broad-leafed, benign and beautiful. Every day, even as a small kid, I would watch adults shake their heads and mutter at the landslides, the floods and earthquakes, asking themselves, while nervously comparing graphs and print-offs, ‘What can we do about this, hey?” And I would whisper…. “Plant trees!”

Trees are the tap in the sink. They are the anchor of dirt and sand, of water and life. They allow the alchemy that fosters life. They dignify the poor and homeless, they shelter and feed the insects, the bees, the birds and the sap suckers. Trees give us wood, warmth, shelter, beauty, perfume, love and joy. Their renewal is our strength. Their survival is our biggest blessing and our only hope.

I want to grow up, to plant trees, to bless the earth, to save it from extinction. This, I have always wanted to do. And I think I have just decided to make a start.

We are planning to travel to see my sister this summer. And we had hoped to take a second week and travel to Italy. Depending on what the travel agent can discover about three legged trips – to the Hague, to Italy, then home – that might still happen. Now, what if that money we spent could be passed to an environmental charity to plant trees? Maybe not all of it, maybe just what it would have cost to ship me to Sorrento and back….what if all that money was given over to buying a bit of the Amazon, or joining “Trees for Life” and setting up a monthly pledge? What if?

I have always assumed that I had to be settled, somehow….middle-aged, well off and secure before I trigger my grand plan, set off on my trek to reforest the earth. The time is now. Why wait? What am I waiting for? For God to give me permission? Goodness, S/he is really begging for help, so hardly needs to give me permission. More a case of just deciding, then. So, here we go!