I'm doing my very best to start a
movement. Most people who are likely to be interested in joining will
already be actively involved in the business of it, and won't need to
change any thing they do in order to further its aims, as they will
be their aims too. I've thought long and hard about this, talked with
scores of people who are busy making the as-yet unformalised
objectives a reality, I've read all sorts of magazines, books and
on-line articles and discussions that contribute to my idea and I've
travelled as much of the countryside as I could, envisaging the
effects of what I'm considering, enjoying the work that has already
been achieved by people who feel the same urge to 're-plant the
world' as I do. Conservationists already do it. So do farmers, town
and city folk, travellers, tourists, council staff, school children,
prisoners, the list is almost endless. Anyone who plants a plant is a
potential candidate for membership to this movement. They need do no
more than they do now, but they might be inspired to increase their
planting, be it tree, shrub, flowering annual or vegetable, whatever
it is they do now toward improving our various environments with
growing things from the plant world.
I firmly believe that a combined and
conserted effort to grow more plants will benefit everyone. It's a
simple premise and one that's easy to make a reality. Planting things
is not difficult. Tens of thousands of us do it already. Those who
don't can quickly learn from those who do. The benefits of
increasing the number of plants around us are many and I don't think
I need to list them. The problems we face, as individuals and
communities, of food quality and availability, and the enjoyment we
can get from our surroundings, no matter where we live, can all be
alleviated through plants. This is the basic tenet of the movement
I'm proposing. Become engaged in planting and all of us will benefit.
Do more planting, I propose, and do it in places that are unplanted
as yet. Join other planters. Encourage those who haven't yet
discovered the benefits of growing plants of all sorts, to give it a
go. Start a nursery, no matter how modest, at home or at work. Sow
more than you can mange and give them away to people who don't yet
have the skills needed to grow from seeds, pip and cutting. I don't
mean to be directive. You are welcome to do whatever you wish and if
I never hear about your activities, it doesn't matter one whit,
though it would interest me a great deal if you were to let me know,
but if you do believe that a unifying 'banner' under which all
planters can 'virtually' gather, you might like to align yourself
with me and others of our persuasion. I've settled on a logo to
represent the aspirations and attitude of this 'brother and
sisterhood' of growers. It's more a stamp than anything, a wood-cut
from Europe's past: the Green Man, a figure that represents the
vigour of the vegetative world and posessing an atitude of vigour and
vitality that I hope will become typical of those who adopt him as
their 'mark'.
Here he is:
My proposal is simple; that anyone
wanting to align with this initiative, receives a Green Man sticker,
and puts it somewhere where they can see it and be reminded that
there are others out there in the environment, planting for a
purpose, and who want to be actively replanting an environment that
has been treated less than ideally.
For my part, I intend to make these
stickers available to who ever wants one, write articles around any
developments that might arise as a result of this simple act, ask for
and action any ideas people might have regarding this 'movement' and
pour energy into growing the ideas I've outlined here, so that the
number of people planting and the number of plants planted, grows and
grows.
You are welcome to contact me through
which ever medium you like. The most effective is email, and my
address is:
rguy10@actrix.co.nz
