Trees For Our Children

Ok, I can understand how planting a tree helps the environment, but why plant trees in a cemetery? What’s so special in that?

Good question! Trees planted in cemeteries are safest for three reasons.

1. Cemetery land is only profitable when it’s undeveloped.

Cemeteries are resting places for our dead. They can’t remain that way if we build highway exit ramps, shopping malls, or an apartment complexes on them. Cemeteries need to remain green and verdant. The nicer, greener, and more verdant the cemetery grounds, the more business that cemetery can attract.

2. Cemeteries are safest from eminent domain land grabs.

Just recently the State of Michigan attempted a land grab on the Chapel Hill cemetery in southern Michigan for the purpose of building a highway exit ramp. It was soundly defeated though because people didn’t like the idea of a thousand cars driving through their mom and dads grave. I don’t either! Nobody I know does. It’s very hard politically to convince people to dishonor our loved ones that have passed on.

3. Cemeteries have large trust funds for the care of their grounds, including the trees.

Ten percent of all sales in a cemetery are put into a trust fund by law. When a cemetery has sold all of its grave plots the interest from the trust fund is used to continue to maintain the cemetery. The cemetery basically retires, and lives off the interest to pay a grounds crew to cut the grass, and care for the trees and buildings. It’s really a beautiful system, and I wish we used it with our taxes!

I hope you now realize the advantages of partnering with cemeteries for reforestation. Cemeteries love to partner with us because they get a “free” tree in effect to help with their landscaping, drainage, and soil erosion.

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—Heston Glenn

Now you can Plant Trees with the click of a button! As you can see, we offer a much easier option for getting trees planted!

—Tony Mantova

The staff at Trees For Our Children would like to thank The Articulate, an online magazine that focuses on issues effecting youth, for their courageous news coverage of TFOC’s latest news!

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A new website promising to help environmentally-conscious people reforest North America brings a welcoming alternative. Trees For Our Children (treesforourchildren.com) is the recent idea proposed by a loose network of active citizens who want to raise awareness about the need to plant trees.

The innovative website discusses the need for more forestland and asks for people to help finance the trees through the timber purchase and planting process. But rather than asking for vague contributions toward forestry goals and benchmarks that can at times be confusing, Trees For Our Children allows the customer to pay for an individual tree and experience the knowledge that their commitment helped with the global reforesting movement.

Trees For Our Children claims that global environmental concerns such as climate change, deforestation, and erosion can be countered by the simple act of planting more trees. An act, they say, which “produces oxygen, stores carbon, and promotes Green values.”

When asked about demographic outreach, site administrator Tony Mantova said that he hoped “to reach out to younger generations who may not have the time, either due to their collegiate or work schedules, to go out into their backyards and community forests to plant trees.” Mantova continued, “With our website, we can talk to these folks and encourage them to contribute to the green movement through online activism and participation!” Site administrators said they look forward to growing the website with new features like environmentally targeted blogs, research and news-feeds.

Trees For Our Children guarantees the safety and protection of its forestry efforts with the support of large cemetery properties that need trees for beautification. Site Administrators note that “trees that are planted by us [Trees For Our Children] are actually much more safer than those in the National Forests because you usually don’t hear about forest fires or logging companies destroying habitat on cemetery ground!”

Trees For Our Children hopes to continue growing and making a difference in the global effort to make our planet a better place.

—Tony Mantova

Trees For Our Children is pleased to announce that our hosting company, DreamHost, has gone carbon neutral! Read about it here!

We encourage other non-profits and businesses to do the same. It is shocking how many organizations, even a small number in the environmentally-aware community, run their websites with hosts that negatively impact nature!

TFOC encourages its readers to discuss the issue of “who hosts where,” on company blogs and corporate boards. Keeping the Host green is just one more way that we can work together to make a positive difference!

—Tony Mantova

Trees For Our Children partnered with our friend, Rangerette Kim, to take a tour of one of California’s best kept secrets, the “Redwood Curtain.”

Located 4 hours north of San Francisco, the Redwood Forests are a vision of majesty, ancient reminders of prior ages where the entire planet was covered in rich forests teeming with life. Most Redwood forests are protected from predatory lumber franchises, which remain a constant threat to their survival. But with consistent awareness and education, TFOC will continue to play a role in keeping America’s forests protected!

We would like to thank Rangerette Kim for raising our awareness about so much of what the Redwood Forest has to offer! (And for bringing it to you! ) Please take a few minutes and view the pictures below. Or, better yet, visit the Redwoods yourself!

These pictures were taken with a high resolution instrument, so we at TFOC posted links rather than let these majestic images get blurred by picture reduction! While it requires an extra click from you, we are positive that you will thank us!

Founders Tree

Standing at 379 Ft., the Founder’s Tree is the Tallest Living Tree in the world!

Star Wars Tree

The tree that knocked that stormtrooper off of his speed bike in Return of The Jedi!

Forest Floor

Ferns, flowering plants and clovers (some are edible and taste quite good! ) cover the Redwood Forest floor

Redwood Forest

Canopy Scene

A huge large uprooted stump is an everlasting memorial

A Wilderness Road

Fern Invasion!

I hope this wasnt a Redwood! A bear scratching post!!

—Tony Mantova

From the ancient Greeks to regionally-disadvantaged peoples of today, organically harvesting the bark from cork trees has created a sustainable way of life for thousands! (don’t worry, if properly done, the stripped off bark is replaced with a healthy new coat! No trees are harmed in the cork making process!

Trees For Our Children welcomes the efforts of organizations working to reforest the cork tree population. Please check out the story, courtesy of our friends at the WWF!

—Tony Mantova

From Tony:

I wanted to spend Earth Hour in quiet reflection, so I went home and turned off the lights.  The darkness was a welcome change.  By ending the usual, blustering hum of the lights that always seem to contribute to the noise pollution in my little DC apartment I was able to think about what’s really important.

In the ink-like darkness I found myself elevating to a new plane of consciousness and thinking about what it must have been like on our planet before evolution rocketed our species into the skyscraper, tear apart the planet business.  I thought back to the days of the cavemen, those early human creatures that saw the world as it once was.  I had to wonder how they felt.  What was it like to be in a small community that worked hard to survive and enjoy nature?  The communal feeling of working together and making a positive difference in those days surely had more appeal than eating potato chips, and watching mind-numbing TV on a soggy couch!

I had to wonder how many other conscientious globe-walkers were sitting in the dark having similar thoughts.  Despite the problems that wrack our world, I always try to remember that I am not alone.  Through the smoggy cities, there are people who turn off the lights and recycle in their homes.  Across the countrysides, there are people who use alternative sources of energy to power their homes.  And around the world, people are innovating and constantly creating better ways to fight global warming and buy our planet a little more time.

“It’s all about unity baby”.  Earth Hour forged a special bond that bound men and women in one of hour of contemplation, reflection and yes, action.  That was what made this year’s Earth Hour so beautiful and majestic.  We worked together through nonviolent means to represent not political parties or sports teams, but the interests of the world.

—Tony Mantova

Stan writes that when he first heard about Earth Hour, he became discouraged because he worked an evening shift at a department store. He was not sure he could participate, but where there is hope, there is a way!!

Stan mentioned to his manager that even though the store needed to stay on to serve the public, that maybe for Earth Hour (8-9PM), half the store lights could be turned on and the other half turned off! The manager agreed, and sure enough, the customers were curious to know who turned the lights off and a dialog started! With just some creativity and the courage to ask, Stan raised awareness about Earth Hour and brought it to average people who may have not heard about the movement!

Way to go Stan!

—Tony Mantova

Trees For Our Children would like to thank the Earth Hour team for leading the way in making a global difference yesterday! We will bring you stories about how the staff here at Trees For Our Children and our friends took part in the movement and added something positive to the environment!

We hope that this global-scale demonstration will start a serious dialog regarding the need to reduce carbon emissions, reforest the planet and fight global warming. Change begins with each human being doing their part.

So why not be part of the solution?! Think about how you consume energy in your daily life. Start asking the tough questions: Do I really need to use energy for this? Is there a better way to accomplish that?

Question everything and start making some changes!

—Tony Mantova