Forest Row students and AOC UK plant trees for Earth Day!

LONDON, United Kingdom — On March 25--AOC UK employees partnered up with students from Forest Row Home Schooling Network, forming a team of 16 volunteers to plant trees in honor of Earth Day. International Earth Day, held March 20 this year, is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the earth’s environment.

Loaded up with tool boxes and a packed lunch, students and AOC employees trekked out into the Ashdown Forest. High-spirited and eager to start the day’s activities, the group huddled round while Adrian Leaman, director of Wholewoods Environmental Arts Organisation, gave a demonstration on the ancient old tradition of coppicing, a natural method of sustaining woodland areas. The dedicated team then started building fences around the coppiced trees to prevent wild deer from eating the roots, which would ultimately stunt the trees’ growth. After a hard morning’s work, the group feasted on a well-earned, delicious, organic lunch prepared by local farms.

Next was the activity the group had been waiting for, the planting of sweet chestnut trees! Mr. Leaman said, “There is nothing to be gained by planting a tree that will have to be cut down if it has been poorly sited. It is important to plant the right type of tree in the correct area at the correct time of year, in order to sustain the tree’s growth.”

Following Mr. Leaman’s careful instructions and working in pairs, the group planted a total of 40 trees in Ashdown Forest. “It was more involved than I thought,” said Robyn Sinclair, AOC UK employee. “The tree root can actually die quite quickly if it is left exposed to dry out. It is important to plant the root as soon as the hole has been dug.”

After finishing their activities and feeling extremely proud of their achievements, the tree planters packed up the equipment and made their way back to Windy Ridge Cottage.

nters packed up the equipment and made their way back to Windy Ridge Cottage.
Mr. Ahmed M. Alzayyat, managing director of Aramco Overseas Company, commented on the event: “It is not only imperative that our generation look after the Earth we live on but educate the world’s future generations on the importance of caring for the environment. Planting trees today will ensure people around the world can enjoy the positive effect they have on the environment in years to come.”

Mr. Alzayyat wrapped up by saying, “Thinking globally and acting locally has never been more timely or important. Saudi Aramco recognizes the important contribution made by trees to the environment and is committed to the responsible and sustainable guardianship of this resource in all our areas of operation across the globe.”

About Earth Day:
“The first Proclamation of Earth Day was by San Francisco, the City of Saint Francis, patron saint of ecology. Designating the first day of spring in 1970 — March 21 — to be Earth Day, this day of nature’s equipoise was later sanctioned in a proclamation signed by Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations, where it is observed each year. Earth Day was firmly established for all time on a sound basis as an annual event to deepen reverence and care for life on our planet.“http://events.londinium.com/2009/02/26/earth-day-20th-march-09/

Some tree facts:
“Each tree planted ‘offsets’ your environmental impact by ‘breathing’ in about 1 ton of CO2 emissions over its lifetime of 100 years. It is estimated that the average person needs to save about 7,000 kg of CO2 per year. So planting just seven trees each year is one strategy for achieving this.” http://www.carbonfootprint.com/plantingtrees.html