INTRODUCING THE WONDERFUL WORLD TREE PLANTING FESTIVAL

Photo: A Happy Crowd Of Covered Tree Planters In Deserts Of Inner Mongolia
When we planted trees (100,000) in Inner Mongolia (China) earlier this with the Japanese organisation, Make The Heaven, we decided to increase everyone's tree planting activities. So along with Make The Heaven, and the other organisations who participated in Inner Mongolia, we've created a new super organisation: The Wonderful World Tree Planting Festival (WWTPF).

Photo: A Happy Konomi With Trees

Next month the organisation gets it's official launch with the One Yen Campaign. One yen is the equivalent of one US cent; a small amount of money indeed. We intend to collect a lot of those one yens and each and everyone will put to the growing and purchasing of trees. Not a yen will be spent on administration or even the cost of planting the trees. Administration costs will be met by corporate donations and individual sponsors, tree planting expenses will be raised by volunteers willing to pay for the experience of planting trees with local people, in lands that are arid, and, or suffering from the impacts of desertification and global warming.

The other organisations involved in The Wonderful World Tree Planting Festival can call on the support of thousands of Japanese people. Beginning next month One Yen Stations will be established throughout the land at such places as supermarkets, book-stores, schools, you name it. These One Yen Stations are the places One Yen Rangers, individuals who collect the One Yen donations, deposit the coins received from the public. Each One Yen Station will identified by a poster displayed in the window. Each One Yen Ranger will be identified by supporting documentation.

Athough the Wonderful World Tree Planting Festival has not yet been officially launched, tests have been conducted on the One Yen Campaign that prove that Tentsukeman's predictions of raising one million dollars in the first year for the purchase of trees might not be far off the mark.

Japanese people like simplicity and participation. Everyone can now participate in the planting of trees with the One Yen Campaign. Japanese people also like to know that their hard earned money is being put to where they want it to go; in this case planting trees. Japanese people also like fun. We do too. It's displayed in the name we chose for our organisation: The Wonderful World Tree Planting Festival. Everybody likes a festival. Our aim is to show that environmentalism and protecting the planet can be a happy blast shared by all.

Photo: Wonderful World' Founding Member, The Walking Treeman Leads A Happy Procession Of Tree Planters Around A School In Inner Mongolia.

Why do we think WWTPF will be a success? The founding members have almost a hundred years of environmental and social work between them. Our staff are tried and tested environmental campaigners. Our volunteers are active. Two years ago Tentsukeman, a well known Japanese comedian and the founder of Make The Heaven, expressed the desire to get an environmental, simple household solutions newsletter, into every Japanese home (30,000,000). In just a few months this goal was reached through the active support of thousands of volunteers and corporate and media donations. Some of those same volunteers got together to share a concert, just two weeks before the trip to Inner Mongolia, their donations paid for the 100,000 trees that were planted. Our volunteers are also willing to pay for the experience of planting trees in foreign lands.

The first projects of the Wonderful World Tree Planting Festival are tree plantings in Inner Mongolia (April 2009) and South Africa (September 2009).

Paul Coleman, President of The Wonderful World Tree Planting Festival