Spring has sprung. And in Lesmurdie, Western Australia, the wildflowers are again out in profusion. Play this six minute video for a glimpse of the 87 wildflowers that bloom in Willoughby Park, all of them in close-up! Bear in mind also that this park is little over half an acre in size and all its […]
Why, in the 23 years since the first Rio Conference on Sustainable Development, are we still clearing tropical forests, threatening the existence of Orang-utans, Rhinoceroses, Sumatran Tigers, dispossessing indigenous communities, and employing child labour? Clearly the guidelines governing our international trade have been inadequate. The systems of certification by which we hoped to protect the […]
Men of the Trees WA establish world record Men of the Trees in Western Australia have established a new world record for the most trees planted simultaneously (and in one hour). Thanks to the help of 1978 volunteer planters and their sponsors, 100,450 trees were planted in one hour at Whiteman Park on Friday 25 […]
Whilst reforestation of over-cleared agricultural land has always been the focus of Men of the Trees in Western Australia we have maintained the view that if trees capable of producing non-sacrificial crops can be grown then we should consider them as an economic alternative to simply replacing the ‘bush’. A tree which was tried some […]
All you need is a chain saw. When I bought my block in Lesmurdie 51 years ago the first thing one did was clear the land. It was termed ‘improvement’. Today, with double the global human population and our knowledge of how we are changing the planetary climate does it still make sense? Do millions […]
The second week in November turned out to be ‘National Recycling Week’ in Australia. I don’t know who thought that one up. It was promoted in Lesmurdie (where I live) and through Men of the Trees where on Monday 10 November a Recycling Workshop was held. Recycling has always been part of my nature. It […]
Cargill joins TFT – palm oil industry reaches a tipping point Scott Poynton, who helps the world’s industries clean up their supply chains, has signed up Cargill Ag, the US’s largest importer of palm oil, to become a TFT member. This means it will work to trace its palm oil back to plantation and work […]
One way to save an acre of wilderness from dying by neglect is to catch on camera the often fleeting, often tiny, wild flowers that live there. Then show the pictures to everyone you know! In the heart of Lesmurdie’s residential area, with a shopping centre car park on one side and a primary school […]
Just 35 years ago this radio interview with Richard St Barbe Baker went to air on the ABC Science Show. Robyn Williams saw the gems in a rough unedited tape I had sent him. He cleaned it up and put it to air. His felicitous choice of opening with Vaughn Williams Fantasia on a Theme […]
In my view there were two men who did most to stabilise the climate, protect forest, and preserve the homelands of indigenous peoples through 2013. They are Scott Poynton and Hugh Locke. Scott’s work is enabling international companies to clean up their supply chains, to cease exploiting the remaining forests of our planet and the […]