As we have done every year since 1990, the international Earth Day 2019 takes place on 22 April. This year, together with our partner, OneTreePlanted, and many volunteers, we are planting around 5000 trees in the US state of Colorado!
Earth Day 2019 - NIKIN joins in!
As has been the case since 1990, International Earth Day 2019 will take place every year on April 22. The aim of "Earth Day" is to strengthen appreciation for the natural environment, but also to encourage people to rethink the way they consume.
This year, together with our partner, OneTreePlanted, and many volunteers, we are planting around 5000 trees in the US state of Colorado! We are delighted to be part of this and to give something back to the earth.
We will keep you up to date with this blog and report daily on what we experience during our time in Colorado. You can also follow us on social media, where we regularly share our impressions with you. (Instagram: @nikinclothing , Facebook: @nikinclothing)
Day: 1: April 17, 2019
06.40 a.m. Meeting point at Zurich Airport. We reach the city of Denver, in the centrally located US state of Colorado, around thirteen hours later without any major difficulties. At the hotel, we are welcomed by Matt Hill and his crew from OneTreePlanted, with whom we will be planting several thousand trees at the foot of the Rocky Mountains on #EarthDay2019. After a cheerful dinner at a local brewery, we soon hit the hay and recharge our batteries after a long day. We are excited to see what awaits us in the coming days!
Day 2: April 18, 2019
Refreshed and invigorated, we make our way to downtown Denver where we meet with Matt Hill, founder of OneTreePlanted, and his entire crew to talk about past and future projects. Like us at NIKIN, Matt's team has grown over the last year and over 1.5 million trees have been planted worldwide!
We then use the free afternoon to lose ourselves in the streets of the 700,000-strong metropolis in the heart of the United States. Glorious spring weather draws people outside - so it's no surprise that Coors Field, the home of the local baseball team, the Denver Rockies, is packed. A new experience for most of us, a great experience that even ends with a win for the home team. Tomorrow we're off to the place where we will plant around five thousand trees on April 20, together with OneTreePlanted and many other volunteers.
Day 3: April 19, 2019
At 7.30 a.m., after a half-hour drive, we arrive at the aforementioned tree-planting site, a gigantic area in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The now barren and rocky area was not always so lifeless. Around nine years ago, a forest fire that had been started for ecological reasons and was actually controlled degenerated, completely destroying a large area of forest and leaving thousands of burnt tree stumps in its wake. After several years of recovery, the time has now come to breathe new life into this dead area with fresh seedlings.
After visiting the tree planting site, we drive through the seemingly endless expanses along the Rocky Mountains to the place where the soon-to-be-planted seedlings have grown from small saplings to strong young trees - the Colorado State Forest Nursery. Zach, who is actually a trained chef, now runs the nursery, which grows several million seedlings every year and supplies them to tree planting projects across the USA. He shows us around the greenhouses, explains how the seeds are planted correctly and how nature is imitated as closely as possible in the nursery - so that as many strong seedlings as possible grow in as short a time as possible, which can then be handed over to nature.
In the afternoon, we visit the local "New Belgium" brewery and enjoy pleasant hours in the summer temperatures, getting to know our friends from OneTreePlanted better.
Day 4: April 20, 2019
As the sun rises, we make our way to the previously scouted tree-planting site above the town of Boulder, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. Preparations are soon complete and the first tree-planting volunteers arrive punctually at 10 am. Around 400 helpers are expected, from young to old, various partner organizations of OneTreePlanted but also many locals who have found their way to the tree planting site. Some of them are not planting trees for the first time - someone explains that he has already planted over 100,000 trees in his life.
Around 5000 trees are being planted today - in ten years' time, a forest will have grown there again. But first the young "Ponderosa Pines" have to be carefully planted in the previously dug hole. Trees are planted for five hours under a scorching sun. Tree experts have marked some of the seedlings with a chip so that they can return in one, two and five years to see how the planted trees are doing in their new environment. The return of the forest will automatically improve air, soil and water quality and provide new habitats for rare wildlife such as the "cougar" cat. Of the 5,000 trees, some were most certainly sponsored by our customers.
Cool and motivated people, wonderful weather and a common goal make the Tree Planting Event a complete success and an unforgettable experience. It simply feels good to give something back to nature and it's also so much fun!
Day 5: April 21, 2019
Our trip to OneTreePlanted is slowly but surely coming to an end. We really enjoyed the great time with OneTreePlanted and are sure that these days have strengthened our bond with our tree planting partner even more. Many personal conversations and the mutual exchange give us a good feeling for the further cooperation with OneTreePlanted. We look forward to many more joint projects with OneTreePlanted! THANK YOU GUYS!
1 comment
Thank you guys! What you are doing is just great!