Greenpop is a simple yet brilliant idea in celebration of greening. Our first treemendous goal is to get 1000 trees donated and planted in under-greened communities in and around Cape Town during September. The campaign will continue after September with a drive to get as many trees donated as possible and Greenpop will continue to plant these trees in tree-needy communities of the Western Cape.
Greenpop have identified community-based projects and underprivileged schools around the Western Cape in need of some serious greening.
Leaders from the communities are thrilled with the prospect of having trees donated to them and have agreed work with Greenpop and maintain the trees after they’re planted. It’s only R50 per tree and donation can be made from anywhere in the world. People with South African Bank accounts don’t even need a credit card. More tree beneficiaries are being contacted and assessed all the time.
When you or your company buys one or, hopefully, a forest of trees, Greenpop will send you a treemail with your digital certificate (no paper, of course) that lays out the GPS coordinates of where your trees will be planted. For those of you who are a little more hands on and want to plant your own trees, sign up as a volunteer (We need as many committed volunteers as we can get).
As well as all the mass tree planting that’s begun, Greenpop hosts a number of exciting events across Cape Town to raise awareness and get everyone involved in greening our common ground. These days see kids from less fortunate communities coming to The Treehouse that they set up at the Woodstock Industrial Centre. Here, with the valuable help of our creative and marketing partner, Write on Africa, we enjoy a creative day filled with art, painting, green education and a healthy lunch. We then take the children on an educational walk in the Newlands Forest (some of them have never been into a forest or near so many trees before). Watch our videos of the past two Treehouse days here and here.
In an attempt to put the Greenpop message out there, we have also hosted some creative activations. We popped up on Long Street and at the Neighbourgoods Market to do a tree-selling and tree-talking day.
We also did a really cool reverse graffiti piece on Kloof Street with creative partner, Write on Africa.
How it started
Our motivation to plant this seed started when Misha Teasdale and Rowan Pybus of Makhulu Productions were employed to make a documentary of an event called the Football Junior Masters. This meant they had to fly around the world extensively. In fact they accumulated over 80 flights and racked up just short of 400 000 air miles - not great for the environment, we’re sure you agree. It left them feeling responsible for some of the mess in the air up there.
So there was a choice. They could buy a bunch of trees and offset all the miles and feel good… or they could use that money to bring together all the wonderful tree-loving people of Cape Town, raise a treemendous amount of awareness and sufficient funding to create a campaign that has a legacy, that greens and beautifies areas to improve quality of life, that offers shade for people and homes for animals. In short, a treevolution!
For the past month, Greenpop has been really busy. They have hosted pop-up activations on Long Street and at the Neighbourgoods Market to raise awareness and talk about greening. They’ve also held two Treehouse Days where we brought children from Masiphumelele and Khayelitsha to the Woodstock Industrial Centre for a day of painting, poster-making, tree talking and a healthy lunch. They then took the kids on an educational walk in the Newlands Forest. These days will be ongoing. They have just been approached to do a Treehouse day with a well-off and less-fortunate school together.
Planting days so far
Sunday 29 August: the first Greenpop pre-September planting day at the Sosebenza Centre for Peace in Masiphumelele. The kids from the youth centre and the Greenpop volunteers got their hands really dirty, clearing an area previously used as a litter dump, turning the soil, and planted trees.
Wednesday 1 September: Arbour day. Greenpop planted 15 trees at Ithemba Pre-school in Vrygrond and another 15 trees at Sunrise Creche in Vrygrond.
Friday 3 September: Greenpop planted 18 trees at Masikhululeke Creche in Joe Slovo Park. A team from Protea hotels joined us to plant the trees they had donated through our site.
Saturday 4 September: Greenpop planted 20 trees at the Vrygrond Community Centre and 10 trees at Capricorn Primary school. Some of the school children and community members got involved and everyone left with a smile.
Monday 6 September: Greenpop planted 10 trees at Inshinga Primary School and 1 tree at Bonga Primary School, both in Gugulethu.
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