A bit of activism makes the world a better place
Cameron and the trees
Originally uploaded by blmurch. Saturday morning I sleepily and quickly woke up at 9:45. I was supposed to meet up at the South American Explorers' Club at 10:00. I was late and hopped in a taxi. As I neared the club I got a call from Ellen who said that she knew where people were meeting up at 11:00 and that she was at a cafe. Giving the driver a new destination I sighed in relief and joined Ellen for a much needed cup of coffee. At 10:40 we hopped in another taxi and met up at Alicira Perlini's apartment building. She is the "climate change expert" for the Fundación Argentina de Etoecologia. The rest of the gang were there and came down to meet us. We walked a couple of blocks to buy stakes for the trees and then walked to the river front. It smelled. It smelled like sh*t (sewage for the polite people out there). Was there a sewage plant nearby? No, it's the river. Let me repeat that. It's the river. I could not believe it. It was horrible. The smell wasn't constant, but the whiffs were more frequent than I would have liked. It's amazing what people will get used to. I couldn't imagine living there, but people do.
Ellen digging
Originally uploaded by blmurch. We picked up the trees and ONE shovel. There were fifteen people or so. That wasn't going to work. The Americans asked around for more shovels from the locals and came up with two more shovels and a hoe. Yay. We set to work clearing the tree squares in the sidewalk of garbage. We took turns with the shovels digging one hole after the other. The earth we dug in the first hole was beautiful. It was rich, dark, dense, moist and full of earthworms, reminding me of the earth in my backyard in Bolinas. I tried not to kill the earthworms, and picked up most of them. They wiggled around and squirmed back and forth. The hole was pretty easily dug and the tree went in alongside a stake and then they were tied together with string. My first bit of local activism here in Buenos Aires!
Kids who helped plant the tree
Originally uploaded by blmurch. I went to the other side of the street and started digging another hole. This one wasn't so easy. The earth was harder and full of broken bits of glass and brick. I did more picking than digging. This tree square in the sidewalk was right next to apartments and the locals were out in force wondering what the hell we were up to and who we were. One guy commented that it was the foreigners who were improving Argentina and not the Argentines. Interesting comment. It's just one instance of this and I know that there is local activism here, but it is also a bit sad. I was given juice and told one family why we were planting trees, why it's good for the environment and how they help suck up CO2 and give O2 for us to breathe. They pointed across the river to the factory and talked about the pollution that is produced by it and the cars. One of the young girls, Noel, helped me plant the tree and I am hoping that she might take some ownership of this tree in front of her apartment. The mom told me how the street is filled with children playing football in the afternoons. Hopefully the trees will survive.
I took a bunch of photos and am hoping that the participants will see the photos and enjoy them. It was great to document the process as well as participate. It feels really good to have done something positive for the environment and educate people a bit and leave that little corner of town a bit better than we found it. I'm hoping that I can help out the fundación more in the future.