Last weekend I got to participate in one of my favourite activities: planting trees.
Every tree planted, anywhere in the world, is beneficial to every single person on the planet. They provide almost everything in our lives without asking for anything in return. Trees give us the oxygen we breathe and absorb the dreaded carbon dioxide from the atmosphere whilst filtering harmly toxic chemicals out of the air. Trees naturally manage water flow to help prevent flash flooding, a problem the UK suffers catastrophically from every year and keep the soil fertile and nutriet rich. Trees provide the greatest levels of biodiversity on earth and are home to untold numbers of living organisms and trees provide the oil in our cars/trains/planes and the plastics that everything is seemingly made from these days. Without trees, it’s safe to say, there would be no humans.
So I spent 6 hours of my day, along with 156 other volunteers, digging holes in the ground and burying small saplings of a variety of fruit, nut and other indigenous varieties as part of an edible forest project in West London by charity Trees for Cities.
With the current climate of hate, fear and suspicion that permeates modern politics and news like a parasitic virus, the most heartwarming part of the day, along with the delicious Indian food, were the people that all came together to make the world a slightly better, healthier place. There were Muslims, Hindus, Christians and Jews. There were blacks, whites, browns and even several greater spotted gingers. People came as far and wide as Mauritius, India, Wales, Scotland and Poland, all with the same mindset.
Don’t let our politicians divide us for their own gain, when we work together, no matter of sex, race, colour or religion we can achieve much greater things than we can alone. I was reminded of this in a wonderful way last week.
A Dash of Ginger Bitters 