Earth’s climate is changing.

Kids need to know what is happening, why, and how it will affect them in the future.

 

 

This drawing competition was offered to kids (4 – 14) to help them take action to slow climate change. Fifteen Trees  offered to PLANT ONE TREE for everyone who entered a drawing. Over the course of the 2 month competition, 2629 drawings from 33 countries were  submitted. And that mean’t, we had to go out and plant 2629 trees!

We had some financial help from 78 generous people who chipped in to purchase a tree from our Chuffed Campaign. A sincere thank you to all of you. And a special mention to Fabian Dattner from Dattner Group Pty Ltd for her personal contribution to this project of ours. 

 

 

Site A | Kel Shields Flora Reserve, Bacchus Marsh | 1,000 trees

With the help of the tree planting crew at Grow West, 1,000 #kidscareaboutclimatechange trees were planted in the Kel Shields Flora Reserve at Bacchus Marsh, VIC. These trees have been planted to help regenerate this ecologically fragile landscape. The Western Volcanic Plains are the third largest volcanic plain in the world. The volcanic plains extend 350 km west from Melbourne, almost to the border of South Australia, forming a belt roughly 100 km wide and covering approximately 20,000 square kilometres. Unfortunately due to urban sprawl and farming, Victoria has lost over 90% of its grasslands.

 

 

The ongoing tree planting project at the Kel Shields Flora Reserve is hoping to address this loss of habitat by rejuvenating 10,000 hectares of land. This will be achieved by connecting the Brisbane Ranges National Park, Werribee Gorge State Park and Lerderderg State Park through a mosaic of restoration works on private and public property. In the interests of biodiversity, 46 different species were planted. These species ranged from Drooping Sheoak, Grey Box, Sweet Bursarai, Wattles such as Lightwood, Golden, Gold Dust and smaller trees such as Tree Violet, Fragrant Saltbush and Grey Everlasting. 

 

 

This district is home to the Red-backed Kingfisher, Tawney Frogmouth and birds of prey such as the Nankeen Kestral, Brown Falcon and Wedge-tailed Eagle. When we plant trees we are also planting future homes for some of these tree dwelling birds.

 

Site B | Meredith | 1,443 trees

Bruce McMullen from Land for Wildlife, planted out some of your trees at Meredith, VIC with some help from his friends. Land for Wildlife is a government initiative that helps landholders nurture biodiversity and provide links between nature reserves, allowing for wildlife movement and genetic interchange. On his property, Bruce has koalas, echidnas, wrens, honey eaters, eagles and magpies to name a few.

 

 

The trees and shrubs planted were a mixture of gums, bottle brushes, black-woods, sweet bursaries, paperbacks and hakeas. Over time, they will develop into a self-sustaining ecosystem that will entice all the native birds, lizards, mammals and insects back onto the land.

 

 

 

Site C | Pakistan and Singapore | 186 trees

Ten children in rural Pakistan led by scientist Humera Iqbal drew trees, then pledged to plant and protect one tree each to help cool the Earth.  After this pledge, they each carefully planted a tree suited to their local growing conditions.

 

 

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And if all this tree planting isn’t great enough, all drawings have become part of a giant (7m X 5m) banner that will be visiting iconic forests around the world. Forests in Australia, Indonesia, Brazil, Amazon, Southeast Asia, the USA and Canada. Follow @marjettalp and @15.trees.au to see photos of your drawings as they travel the world.

 

 

This drawing competition has been organised by Marji Puotinen, a WA research scientist with a passion for science communication. It is being supported by Colleen Filippa, founder and director of Fifteen Trees.

Writer – Colleen Filippa