Tribute to the tree
Trees are the lungs of the earth. They filter the air, absorb CO2 and improve the quality of life in urban areas. The ElemenTree foundation wants to alert urban children to nature, specifically to the trees surrounding them. “A person who plants a tree believes in the future.”
Nature experiences at an early age often determine people's attitude towards nature. In urban areas youngsters spend little time outdoors and are therefore not really in touch with nature. It is the case, though, that in cities trees are an important part of nature.
The ElemenTree foundation in The Hague intends to increase the respect people and especially children have for nature through different tree projects.
ElemenTree focuses on educational programs for primary schools, initially in The Hague and Rotterdam. They also focus on companies and (semi-) government agencies which show an interest in planting trees out of a sense of social responsibility. ElemenTree wants to cooperate in tree-planting program with them.
Activities
ElemenTree offers primary schools educational teaching material which includes stories, animation films and games, research assignments around the school-yard and a guided tour in a city park.
Planting activities differ per group; pupils in grade five (nine to ten year olds) plant a tree in the schoolyard. Children in grade six, ten to eleven year olds, plant a group of trees. Grade seven (eleven to twelve year olds) plants several trees in order to make a real piece of forest.
Grade seven also makes GreenCourts, a green playground made of natural materials.
ElemenTree supervises the tree-planting program of companies and government agencies and prepares the planting process.
Support
Adessium Foundation supports the ElemenTree for the period 2007-2010. The financial contribution will be used for the project team, basic requirements such as office space and expenses such as hiring specific expertise.
Results
In 2008 ElemenTree developed the educational teaching material for the planting of trees by grades five, six and seven of primary schools. ElemenTree developed a booklet with ideas and examples of GreenCourts. The Hague and a housing corporation provided five locations for the GreenCourts.
End 2009 a total of 88 planting activities will have taken place with 65 groups of children in Rotterdam. In the The Hague area in the same period 262 planting activities will have taken place with 239 groups of children.