Green Group discussion

From Wikipedia:

The Man Who Planted Trees (French title: L'homme qui plantait des arbres) is an allegorical tale by French author Jean Giono, published in 1953. It tells the story of one shepherd's long and successful singlehanded effort to re-forest a desolate valley in the foothills of the Alps in Provence throughout the first half of the 20th century. The tale is short—only about 4000 words long. It was written in French, but first published in English.

From Wikipedia:

The story itself is so touching that many readers have believed that Elzéard Bouffier was a genuine historical figure and that the narrator of the story was a young Jean Giono himself, and that the tale is part autobiographical. Certainly, Giono lived during this time. While he was alive, Giono enjoyed allowing people to believe that the story was real, and considered it as a tribute to his skill. His daughter, Aline Giono, described it as "a family story for a long time". However, Giono himself explained in a 1957 letter to an official of the city of Digne:

"Sorry to disappoint you, but Elzéard Bouffier is a fictional person. The goal was to make trees likeable, or more specifically, make planting trees likeable."

In the letter, he describes how the book was translated in a multitude of languages, distributed freely, and therefore was a success. He adds that, although "it does not bring me a cent", it is one of the texts of which he is most proud.

From Wikipedia:

It was adapted as an animated short by Frédéric Back and released in 1987. It earned a number of awards including an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

Frédéric Back, OC CQ (April 8, 1924 – December 24, 2013) was a Canadian artist and film director of short animated films. During a long career with Radio-Canada, the French-language service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, he was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning two, for his 1981 film Crac and the 1987 film The Man Who Planted Trees.

Here on Youtube is the Oscar winning film. Enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTvYh...

I just found it on my library system and reserved it--sounds wonderful

The video I posted in Post #4 has poor sound quality. I think this one is better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYlsI...

My book has a forward by Wangari Maathai, a Nobel Peace Prize winner. She recognizes that environmentalism is key to national and planetary security. When we take care of the world, we take care of ourselves.

It has been said it takes five years to plant a tree: the time required to plan, plant, and take care of it until it is established.

I will include some groups working to protect forests. Here is American Forests. Lots to explore here:

https://www.americanforests.org/explo...

Arbor Day Foundation:

https://www.arborday.org/

United States Forest Service:

https://www.fs.fed.us/

TreePeople:

https://www.treepeople.org/

Trees for Life:

https://treesforlife.org.uk/

EUFORIC: European Urban Forestry Research and Information Centre:

https://urbanforestrysouth.org/resour...

The Green Belt Movement:

http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/

Started by Wangari Maathai:

http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/wang...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wangari...

https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_priz...

by Wangari Maathai

by Wangari Maathai

Thanks Jimmy for letting us know about this work. I will be checking it out soon !!

Thanks Jimmy, sounds like a worthwhile read.

I hope it inspires people to plant trees.