Jonathan's Website
GoGreen Man Movement
(Children’s
Forestry Project)
Project Description
The GoGreen Man Movement is a project that adopts the belief
that U.S. elementary schools should maintain, or have nearby,
tree nurseries. These nurseries would be for the purpose of
educating and enlightening children in an effort to impress the
importance and care of the environment by both children
(students) and their parents.
In this project, school children gain hands on experience by
planting and nurturing tree seedlings under the guidance of
their teacher/s. The children would be critical participants in
maintaining the tree nursery.
Once the seedlings have reached a sustainable maturity, they
will be planted at home or on suitable land, having an agreement
with the landowner.
The understanding of how to care for trees would be added as
part of the school curriculum and would include, but is not
limited to, games and environmental comics. These would
highlight the importance of individual participation in
environmental action.
International cooperation with similar schools around the world
is encouraged in order to capitalize on the global aspect of
environmental action.
Background Information / Problem
While there are many excellent programs in use to combat
environmental problems, there do not seem to be any actively
involving children. It is imperative to educate children in the
importance of caring for the earth, for the sake of their
future.
Jonathan Lee (GoGreen Man) has developed a keen interest in
environmental activism. It is his desire to have children in
the U.S. and around the world be made aware they need to do
their part in cleaning up the environmental mess they will be,
and have been, left with. It is his hope to have every child
plant at least one tree every year to combat deforestation by
natural and human causes. “One
child; one tree; one year” is Jonathan’s
GoGreen Man Movement slogan.
A pilot project in Mississippi, in cooperation and partnership
with the Mississippi Urban Forestry Council, could be the model
for the rest of the United States. Upon successful
implementation, the project could be expanded throughout the
rest of the country.
Project Detail / Objectives
Involve children in environmental conservation efforts.
·
Educate children in how to create a healthy environment.
·
Provide educational instruction and materials for environmental
education
·
Enable hands on experience in an effort to entrench the
knowledge gained in the educational instruction.
Involve teachers, parents and others in order for children to be
active in their environmental role.
·
Encourage and motivate teachers to impress on children the
importance of tree planting and conservation.
·
Inform and educate, where necessary, parents so they can
encourage their children to be a part of the solution to
environmental problems.
Adopt government policies that encourage and pave the way for
the primary students’ roles in environmental conservation.
·
Recognition by the government that children’s involvement in
environmental matters is progressive and proactive.
·
Encourage national and local politicians to create and enact
laws that provide for tree conservation around the nation.
Where will they plant trees?
-
School campuses
-
City land (parks, green spaces)
-
State land
-
Federal land
-
Private land (with cooperation and permission from the
landowner)
-
Their homes
-
Areas damaged by hurricanes or other natural disasters (i.e.,
Hurricane Katrina – severely damaged the LA and MS Gulf Coast)
Why is this necessary?
According to Achim Steiner, the
United Nations Environmental Program Executive Director,
"We have but a short time to avert damaging and economically
debilitating climate change. The solutions are numerous and, as
many economists say, affordable when
compared with the costs of complacency. The goods and services
provided by forests are worth billions if not trillions of
dollars to the global economy. Forests are natural and
economically important ‘sinks’, sequestrating carbon from the
atmosphere and locking it away in trunks and branches. Globally,
forest cover is at least one-third less than what it once was.
It is time to reverse the trends, it is time to act."1
(emphasis added)
Jonathan Lee agrees with this belief. He has said that,
The most important thing is planting trees. Every time you
plant a tree it sucks a lot of CO2 that cars emit and
it gives us our oxygen that we breathe. That’s the main thing
that I’m focusing on. …I go school to school to tell them that
we can plant trees together. So each child can plant one tree
per year.
What are the benefits?
There are too many benefits to this urban forestry project to
list them all, but a few are:
-
Environmental education
-
Trees near houses create shade (energy reduction)
-
Clean air (reduced CO2)
-
Natural habitat for wildlife
-
Aesthetically pleasing
1
http://www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign/Statements/exec.asp
What will be funded?
-
Book publishing
-
Educational materials
-
Training
-
Nursery equipment/materials fee
-
Salary/wages
Detailed funding for the project will be discussed further with
the various states’ Urban Forestry Councils.
In
Conclusion
We believe giving the children a chance to learn about trees and
their impact on the environment through hands on training and
experience will give them pride in their achievements. This is
the true meaning of education.
Thank you for supporting this bill idea - the GoGreen Man
Movement (Children’s Forestry Project). As Jonathan always
says, “Let’s help save the world together!”
This idea was thought up by Jonathan. He was helped by his
parents and the MS Urban Forestry Council. Thanks to them and
the City of Ridgeland, MS.