On International Day of Forests
Although a few days have passed since the first jointly organized National Tree Planting Day, we are still filled with boundless joy because everything went perfectly.
When we compare our previously formulated plans with the numbers we have gathered now, we can confidently state, even based on data:
we have achieved the desired goal, it was a great event, a collaborative effort of both women and men!
On this day, a total of 12,645 volunteers carried out 96,557 plantings at 285 locations across 196 settlements in Hungary! Such a large-scale environmental action has never happened in our country before!
We are very grateful and happy. On behalf of the 10 Million Trees team, we sincerely thank everyone who participated or contributed!
WHAT’S NEXT?
From the experiences of the 10 Million Trees initiative over the past nearly six years, we know that after such an important and satisfying milestone, we quickly start to ponder:
what’s next? What should we do, what will be the next step?
We haven’t even recovered from the fatigue of preparing for the National Tree Planting Day, but one or two new tasks have already appeared on our radar. The reasons for the establishment of 10 Million Trees and for initiating the National Tree Planting Day unfortunately still persist.
The climate disaster is here. Hungary is suffering from a terrible drought.
We will have to take broad steps again for the survival of our approximately 100,000 saplings. We need to figure out and organize how to water our saplings. This stems from the responsibility we have for having planted them.
It has long been my secret wish that we, who act for a better tomorrow, for a more livable world, and for the preservation of our children’s living conditions, expand our work related to tree planting and reforestation, giving it a much broader, universal content.
LET’S CREATE FOREST-HUNGARY!
Learning from natural, healthy forests, we Hungarians must also become a forest. A forest where the young can grow protected in the shade of the old tree. Where a multitude of small animals can find habitat in the bodies of old, aging trees, and fungi and moss can settle on their trunks.
Where the diverse shrubs and tree species leaning towards the understory, supporting, helping, and complementing each other, form the community of the forest. Among their leaves, pollinating insects, butterflies, squirrels, and birds can live, while at night deer, elk, or foxes curl up at their feet.
In which, if a storm, an infection, or warming attacks one plant species, others will soon step in to take its place, thus ensuring that the entire flexible and adaptable plant network remains forever intact.
FOREST-HUNGARY
This is the kind of Forest-Hungary I envision, learning from the trees, from the wisdom of the forests. Figuratively, and taking the analogy seriously. And therefore, I would like us to take the first step towards creating Forest-Hungary right away.
We are many in the national community of 10 Million Trees, and we have multiplied during the hundreds of plantings on National Tree Planting Day. However, we need even more kind-hearted and creative individuals for Forest-Hungary.
We need adults who embrace this message, and later, children, schoolchildren, and students who will grow alongside the trees. Those who will enthusiastically collaborate for years. Those who participate with us in the collection of the smallest life essence of forest life, seeds and acorns, in spring and autumn, and then in their distribution, care, sprouting, and nurturing.
SEED-SPROUT-PLANT-HOMEFOREST
A seed carefully hidden in a pot of soil will sprout after a few weeks if we keep the soil moist. The shoot emerging from the seed breaks through the ground and begins to grow.
It is our task to nurture this seed, and then the sprout, into a young plant. We can do this even with several pots of future little trees, thus turning our balcony, terrace, porch, or corridor into a forest initiative.
A cherished home forest like this will adorn our surroundings for three, at most four years, after which, on National Tree Planting Day, or at one of the 10 Million Trees plantings—just like a drop of water starting from the source eventually reaching the sea—the young plants will be placed in their permanent locations, where the little trees can begin their lives, growing for many decades, even centuries.
LAND AND SEEDLING
Two things are necessary for the dream of 10 Million Trees—and our shared dream—to come true. A planting area where we can plant our seedlings in a professionally managed manner. And seedlings with which we can fulfill the expanding commitment of National Tree Planting Day year after year.
As the people of Hungary sprout, nurture from seed to seedling, and then plant the 10 million trees in their final locations in nature, we ourselves will also change.
We will become better. More insightful. More adaptable, more cooperative, and from being quarrelsome—just like the silently active trees of the forest—we will become supportive of each other. From nature lovers, we will become lovers of ourselves and our fellow citizens. In a few years, we will rise above today’s social and ecological problems, and many of us will create that green wilderness, which we call:
FOREST-HUNGARY
We would like to invite all well-meaning compatriots to this common program, this activity aimed at Life. Anyone—individuals, friend groups, choirs, football teams, workplace communities, school classes, religious groups, anglers, or yoga practitioners—who feels enthusiasm to participate in this would honor us by indicating their willingness and registering at 10milliofa@10milliofa.hu
With hope for continuation and once again thanking you,
Iván András Bojár
Cover image: László Paál: Depths of the Forest, 1873, Hungarian National Gallery
