Sunday, May 06, 2007

My Greenest Week Ever

Since childhood, I have been a very green person. Choosing smaller vehicles over larger, walking over driving, planting trees, relocating grown up trees rather than cutting them down, etc. has been my way of life. The biggest kick I ever got was when we (I along with my father) uprooted 20 foot 4-5 year old trees and planted them elsewhere. And we did this almost every year.

This past week, however, was my greenest ever. I think, that my green deeds have never been better than this, even after all those years of moving trees around like people do with their furniture.
It all started with the Arbor Day last Saturday. I along with a friend of mine got 2 trees and 4 plants that we evenly distributed between us and planted in our homes. This was a free tree giveaway from our city government. It was my second year in a row when I did this and first ever when I encouraged someone else to do the same. Last year, we planted 2 trees and 2 plants in our house. To my heart's content, the line of people out there to take advantage of free tree giveaway was larger than I had expected and almost double that of last year.

As if it was not enough, the very next day I got a mail from a company that sent me a Meyer Spruce sapling, very nicely packed, in a mailing tube. This was the first time ever that I saw and got a tree in a mail. I think this is a very fascinating concept and hope that it becomes a trend - gifting trees; somewhat like gifting flowers.

Later in the week I was scheduled to attend a yearly gathering of my company, which I was looking forward to for the last few months for very many reasons. None of those reasons was related to the environment. The first thing that happened as I reached the venue not only surprised me but also made me appreciate my employer a lot more than what I did in the past. After the initial sign-up all the guests were given a tote bag for shopping, so that we can avoid using plastic bags. It was a big satisfaction to realize that some of my co-workers feel strongly about the environment, like I do. Actually, now I am convinced that that they are quite ahead of me in the sense that they not only talk and think about it but follow it up with action that sends a message to hundreds of other like minded people. Kudos to them for taking the bold step of spending money to get these bags and handing them out.

I already started thinking about how the week was by far the best and the greenest for me. There were absolutely no signs of what was yet to come. It was again a novelty for me - a tree in a box. Yes, one of my other co-workers had this bright idea of handing out trees to all of us. What better and more convenient than to give it out like any other gift; in a small box. Yes, in this 2in x 2in x 2in box is a decidious tree. It's the majestic and the beautiful Red Maple. It's hard for me to be away from home and moreso now since I can't wait to see this Red Maple in my backyard.

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