Tree by Tree - Plant-for-the-Planet

Of course we also show the adults what we
intend to do and what we have recorded
on our school posters. We ask them to
support us with the implementation of our
plans.
In the end, each participant receives a
certificate which decorates him or her
officially as an educated Climate Justice
Ambassador. With this certificate we
promise to be involved with Plant-for-the-Planet
once a month (as discribed on page 92 , starting with the easiest project and
ending with for example: rural district
How Natalia from Poland became
involved
1,000 trees).
In addition to the certificate and our
We first heard about Plant-for-the-Planet during a meeting of our
Ecology Club at school in 2008. Two students, Zaneta and Sofja, had
At the UNEP
Children
Conference in
Plant-for-the-Planet t-shirt, all brand new
just come back from representing Poland at the UNEP Children and South Corea
Ambassadors receive a bag with many
Youth Conference in Norway. There were a lot of kids there, around 2009 after
materials. Joining in is great fun and we
children can get further involved within
our families and in our schools! One
can be sure: if you participate in one
Academy you will be ready to take on
700, from over 105 countries! Zaneta and Sofja told us about a
German boy in short lederhosen (leather overalls) and how he said
that he wanted to plant lots of trees in his country. We didn’t know
it at the time, but this was Felix. He was elected to the UNEP Children
Board and the girls remembered him well – because, despite being the
Felix´s sentence:
„Everybody who
wants to plant a
million trees in
their country,
come up on the
anything after that.
Since Plant-for-the-Planet
smallest and the youngest of all of them, he always seemed to have
something important to say and he was very convincing when he spoke.
stage.“
was established, more than
One year later my friend Milena and I travelled to the UNEP Children and
14,000 Climate Justice
Youth Conference in South Korea, where we saw a presentation by Felix.
94 Ambassadors have been empowered in 211 Academies.
When I heard him say at the end of his speech, “Everybody who is going
95
With our Academy concept we gained experience in 23
to plant a million trees in their country, come up on stage!” I thought at
countries and we know: it works. That´s why we now want
first: I absolutely want to plant a million trees in my country … but is this
to implement our Academies in all countries. Therefore,
even possible? Then I saw how many other children were joining Felix on
we will open offices in ten new countries year by year.
the stage, and I thought to myself: we kids can do it together! In Poland
there are certainly quite a lot of kids at my age who will join in and help
tackle this goal, so I stood up out of my chair and headed to the stage
too.
All Ambassadors and Future
Lobbyists receive a “Tree-
Shirt”. That’s a t-shirt made
from Tencel-wood-fibre, which
is biologically harvested by
Austrian firm, Lenzing, and
then woven into a t-shirt in
Germany.
Academy for Future Lobbyists: Here you will
learn how you can prepare yourself for negotiations,
how to lead them, and how to react to
objections. You will learn that negotiations begin
with “no”. Young people, who have already led
successful negotiations with the powers that be
will share their experiences with you.
Since then we have already achieved an unbelievable amount and I am
even more convinced that we are eventually going to reach our ultimate
goal.
Natalia