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What is Arbor Day?
Arbor Day is a holiday in which individuals and groups are encouraged to plant and care for trees. Arbor Day originated in Nebraska City, Nebraska, United States but is also celebrated by several other countries. In Japan, a similarly-themed Greenery Day is celebrated. Algeria The national tree planting day (Jour de l'arbre) of Algeria is on October 25. AustraliaJuly 28 is National Tree Planting Day for schools throughout Australia and 30 July is National Tree Planting Day for the rest of the Nation.BelgiumInternational Day of Treeplanting is celebrated in Flanders on or around 21 March as a theme-day/educational-day/observance, not as public holidays. Tree planting is sometimes combined with awareness campaigns of the fight against cancer: Kom Op Tegen Kanker.Cambodia National Tree Planting Day is on June 1.Central African RepublicNational Tree Planting Day is on July 22.EgyptTree planting day, arbor day, is on Jan. 15.GermanyArbor Day is on April 25. First celebration was in 1952.IranNational Tree Planting Day is on March 5.IsraelIsrael celebrates Tu Bishvat, the new year for trees, on the fifteenth day of the month of Shevat, which usually falls in January or February. Originally based on the date used to calculate the age of fruit trees for tithing as mandated in Leviticus 19:23-25, the holiday now is most often observed by planting trees, or raising money to plant treesJapanJapan celebrates a similarly themed Greenery Day, held on April 29th. Although it has a similar theme to Arbor Day, its roots lay in celebration of the birthday of Emperor Hirohito.KenyaNational Tree Planting Day is on April 21.LesothoNational Tree Planting Day is on March 21.Republic of MacedoniaMacedonia celebrated Tree Day on March 12, 2008. It was declared an official non-working day, and over 2 million trees were planted. The holiday was declared in honor of reforestation following the devastating Macedonian wildfires of Summer 2007.MalawiNational Tree Planting Day is on the 2nd Monday of December.NamibiaNational Tree Planting Day is on September 7.NetherlandsSince conference and of the Food and Agriculture Organization's publication World Festival of Trees, and a resolution of the United Nations in 1954: "The Conference, recognising the need of arousing mass consciousness of the aesthetic, physical and economic value of trees, recommends a World Festival of Trees to be celebrated annually in each member country on a date suited to local conditions"; it has been adopted by the Netherlands. In 1957 the National Committee Day of Planting Trees/Foundation of National Festival of Trees (Nationale Boomplantdag/Nationale Boomfeestdag) was created. On or around 21 March (the first day of Spring) or sometimes on or around 21 September (the first day of Autumn), threequarters of city school-children and others plant trees. In 2007 the 50th anniversary will be celebrated with special golden jubilee-activities.New ZealandNew Zealand's first Arbor Day planting was in Greytown in the Wairarapa on 3 July 1890. The first official celebration took place in Wellington in August 1892, with the planting of pohutukawa and Norfolk pines along Thorndon Esplanade. Born in 1855, Dr Leonard Cockayne (generally recognised as the greatest botanist who has lived, worked, and died in New Zealand) worked extensively on native plants throughout New Zealand and wrote many notable botanical texts. Even as early as the 1920s he held a vision for school students of New Zealand to be involved in planting native trees and plants in their school grounds. This vision bore fruit and schools in New Zealand have long planted native trees on Arbor Day. Since 1977 New Zealand has celebrated Arbor Day on June 5, which is also World Environment Day, prior to then Arbor Day, in New Zealand, was celebrated on August 4 - which is rather late in the year for tree planting in New Zealand hence the date change. What the Department of Conservation (DOC) does for Arbor Day: Many of DOC’s Arbor Day activities focus on ecological restoration projects using native plants to restore habitats that have been damaged or destroyed by humans or invasive pests and weeds. There are great restoration projects underway around New Zealand and many organisations including community groups, landowners, conservation organisations, iwi, volunteers, schools, local businesses, nurseries and councils are involved in them. These projects are part of a vision to protect and restore the indigenous biodiversity and create healthy habitats where native animals can live.People's Republic of ChinaArbor Day (植樹節) is on March 12 to commemorate the passing of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the Chinese revolutionary, in 1925. In 1981, the fourth session of the Fifth National People's Congress adopted the "Resolution on the unfolding of a nationwide voluntary tree-planting campaign". This resolution stipulated that every able-bodied citizen between the ages of 11 and 60 should plant three to five trees per year or do the equivalent amount of work in seedling, cultivation, tree tending or other services. Supporting documentation instructs all units to report population statistics to the local afforestation committees as the basis for workload allocation. Moreover, those failing to do their duty are expected to make up planting requirements, provide funds equivalent to the value of labour required or pay heavy fines. Therefore, the tree-planting campaign is actually compulsory, or at least obligatory (that is, an obligation to the community). The "voluntary" in the title referred to the fact that the tree-planters would "volunteer" their labour.South Africa Arbor Day was celebrated from 1983 until 1999 in South Africa, when the national government extended it to National Arbor Week, which lasts from 1-7 September. Two trees, one common and one rare, are highlighted to increase public awareness of indigenous trees, while various "greening" activities are undertaken by schools, businesses and other organizations.South KoreaArbor Day (Sikmogil, 식목일) was a public holiday in South Korea on April 5 until 2005. The day is still celebrated, though. On non-leap years, the day coincides with Hansik.Sri LankaNational Tree Planting Day is on October 15.TanzaniaNational Tree Planting Day is on January 1.TaiwanArbor Day (植樹節) was once a public holiday in the Republic of China (Taiwan) on March 12. It commemorated the passing of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the Father of the Republic of China, in 1925.UgandaNational Tree Planting Day is on March 24.United StatesThe national holiday is celebrated every year on the last Friday in April; it is a civic holiday in Nebraska. Each state celebrates its own state holiday. The customary observance is to plant a tree. On the first Arbor Day 1 million trees were planted. VenezuelaVenezuela recognizes "Día del Arbol" on the last Sunday of May.
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Walking Not talking, can
one man make a difference?
One day, at the age of 27, John Francis
decided to take a break from talking. He was surprised at how much he
learned that day. He decided not talk another day. And another... (This
continued for 17 years). In 1971, the day two oil tankers collided and
spilled half a million gallons into the San Francisco Bay, John Francis
resolved to stop driving and riding in motor vehicles.
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