Richard St. Barbe Baker is being honoured this year! It is the 100th anniversary for the founding of the International Tree Foundation started by Baker. On July 22, 1922, the first dance took place in Kenya, Africa, founding the Men of the Trees (later changing names to the International Tree Foundation)
Richard St. Barbe Baker was also the very first honourary lifetime member of the World Wildlife Federation. Baker created many wildlife habitats by planting trees and conserving forests worldwide.
Honour Richard St. Barbe Baker’s Legacy, join the #CityNatureChallenge from April 29–May 2! Document Saskatoon’s nature in the free @inaturalistorg app by taking photos of wild plants and animals—and help contribute to the world’s largest #citizenscience event. More at FriendsAreas.ca
Later in the year, the Unity Museum is planning to host Paul Hanley, who wrote a biography on St Barbe. “We are presently planning a special centenary luncheon with Paul Hanley as keynote speaker, to be attended by many University of Washington students, members of Parks and Recreation and like-minded conservationists,”
said Zabine Van Ness.
His honour, W. Thomas (Tom) Molloy, O.C., S.O.M., Q.C., LL.B, LL.D. Lieutenant Govenor of Saskatchewan and Paul Hanley, author Man of the Trees. Richard St. Barbe Baker, the First Global Conservationist. By Paul Hanley Foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales Introduction by Jane Goodall, Paul Hanley author Man of the Trees: Richard St. Barbe Baker, the First Global Conservationist which includes a foreword by HRH Prince Charles and an introduction by Jane Goodall.Photo of Richard St. Barbe Baker
Courtesy: University of Saskatchewan,
University Archives & Special Collections,Richard St. Barbe Baker OBE, Hon. LL.D. F.I.A.L., For.Dip.Cantab., ACFRichard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, south west sector, in the City of Saskatoon, SK, CA before Volunteer Community Clean UP 2016 Paul Hanley Environmental Journalist, Personal Friend of Richard St. Barbe Baker
Celebrate 50 years! Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and George Genereux Urban Regional park were planted to trees in 1972, 50 years ago. Come out and say Happy Birthday!
Photo of Richard St. Barbe Baker Courtesy: University of Saskatchewan, University Archives & Special Collections, Richard St. Barbe Baker fonds, MG 71
Photo of Richard St. Barbe Baker
Courtesy: University of Saskatchewan,
University Archives & Special Collections,
Richard St. Barbe Baker fonds, MG 71
Dr. Richard St. Barbe Baker OBE (1889-1982) was arguably the first global conservationist, blazing a trail for contemporary environmental leaders such as Jane Goodall. He began his mission to save the world’s forests in 1922, when he started the first international ENGO, Men of the Trees, in Kenya. Baker was a visionary pioneer of concepts/practices such as sustainable development, agroforestry, agroecology, desert reclamation, fair trade, and ecotourism. Starting in 1931, he wrote thirty books about these ideas.
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063 Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map
Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail)
Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!
“St. Barbe’s unique capacity to pass on his enthusiasm to others. . . Many foresters all over the world found their vocations as a result of hearing ‘The Man of the Trees’ speak. I certainly did, but his impact has been much wider than that. Through his global lecture tours, St. Barbe has made millions of people aware of the importance of trees and forests to our planet.” Allan Grainger
“The science of forestry arose from the recognition of a universal need. It embodies the spirit of service to mankind in attempting to provide a means of supplying forever a necessity of life and, in addition, ministering to man’s aesthetic tastes and recreational interests. Besides, the spiritual side of human nature needs the refreshing inspiration which comes from trees and woodlands. If a nation saves its trees, the trees will save the nation. And nations as well as tribes may be brought together in this great movement, based on the ideal of beautifying the world by the cultivation of one of God’s loveliest creatures – the tree.” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker.
Photo of Richard St. Barbe Baker Courtesy: University of Saskatchewan, University Archives & Special Collections, Richard St. Barbe Baker fonds, MG 71
Photo of Richard St. Barbe Baker Courtesy: University of Saskatchewan, University Archives & Special Collections, Richard St. Barbe Baker fonds, MG 71
Richard St. Barbe Baker L.L.D, O.B.E. photo credit University of Saskatchewan. University Archives and Special Collections. Richard St. Barbe Baker Fonds MG71.
Paul Hanley author Man of the Trees: Richard St. Barbe Baker, the First Global Conservationist which includes a foreword by HRH Prince Charles and an introduction by Jane Goodall.
Renny W. Grilz, P.Ag. Resource Management Officer Meewasin Valley Authority
Transcription is as follows:
This is Paul Hanley, the guest speaker of the evening.
And we also have Renny Grilz from the Meewasin Valley Authority who has come to introduce him and say a few words about Paul Hanley other than what you already know kind of thing about him So I would like to introduce Renny to you then
Thank you Julia
Thanks everyone
So the wind has died down. Really good.
So thank you for the invite.
And I am Renny Grilz Resource Management Officer with the Meewasin, and Meewasin’s been involved with part of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area since the 80’s This half of the afforestation area falls under our conservation zone. We don’t do much direct management but we have been working with a lot of volunteer stewards like Julia and Jeff with the Fat Tire people and they’ve been doing a great job keeping this place clean and looking ship shape – So really appreciate that Thanks a lot Julia.
With Paul – Paul and I were here on a volunteer event four summers ago three summers ago. Julia had organized the event out on the west side of the Richard St Barbe Baker and cleaning up some of the garbage and it was amazing how much garbage we were finding and how much we pulled out, we had our truck and trailer and we filled it several times.
However what was interesting, was that as we started getting further back into the bush
we were starting to notice this area becoming more wild and more naturalized So this area was planted in about the ’70s – 1972. and what was interesting was that you start wandering through the afforestation area you could start seeing a forest eco-system forming. You know there’s evidence of woodpeckers. This spring, the nature society came out for a bit of a bio-blitz and they found yellow lady slipper which is an orchid and a rare plant and they found that over that way [pointing to the east side of the SW OLRA] I had one of my summer students come out afterwards and she found some more .
So when you think about the work that Richard St. Barbe Baker did – so he planted trees in the prairies – he planted trees around the world – and its more than just a tree, you know he created ecosystems. And this is a site that’s forming its own eco-system right on the edge of the city.
My first introduction to the site was in early 2000, when I was working for Ducks Unlimited and we bought the land right across the road – Chappell Marsh – and at that time it was an overgrazed pasture and there was a former mushroom factory there they used the old acreages there, they used to make mushrooms there – a mushroom farm. And also there was shotgun shells. So it was sort of a different feel to that site, and now you look at the site and its a beautiful wildlife theme- nature built itself there
So its interesting coming out to these areas and you explore them and you get a re-connection to the land and a re-connection to the forest.
With Paul and his work, Paul has been quite involved with Meewasin over the years, has been a strong advocate for Meewasin has written quite a few things about Meewasin, and we really appreciate it and we are all excited to hear about Paul’s new book.
Richard St. Barbe Baker, Meewasin has recognized him quite a few times in different things. We have plaques for him down in the river valley there’s a memorial as well, and I think his legacy will definitely live on especially in Saskatoon. With that, I will pass it back to you.
Thank you very much.
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, south west sector, in the City of Saskatoon, SK, CA before Volunteer Community Clean UP 2016 Paul Hanley Environmental Journalist, Personal Friend of Richard St. Barbe Baker, Baha’i representative, SOS Elms,
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area, south west sector, in the City of Saskatoon, SK, CA at the Volunteer Community Clean UP 2016
Public Health Nurse Presentation at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestaton Area, Saskatoon, Sk, CA 2016 Community Clean Up
Paul Hanley, this is someone who personally knew Richard St. Barbe Baker and now he has delved into a bit more of the biography and I’ll pass it over to you.
Thank you Julia, Thank you Renny,
So, it’s good to be here with you folks and Ill tell you a bit about Richard St. Barbe Baker in my new book,
I also wrote the 25 year history of the Meewasin Valley Authority,
St Barbe Baker did make a little appearance in that.
So this place is named after him and I guess he is kind of to me like a conservation super hero – starting in the 1920s, from about 1922 to 1982 when he died he was just on a world wide tour constantly traveling everywhere encouraging people to plant trees to save the planet.
I think possibly he was one of the first people to do that on a world wide scale, so that’s why I called him the first Global Conservationist.
So today, we think of people like Jane Goodall, and David Suzuki, and they are known everywhere for their work. He was the first person like that who was trying to raise consciousness among something like 100 countries he traveled. He started the first environmental non-governmental organization- it went global – it’s called the Men of the Trees its now the International Tree Foundation, and he started that in 1922 in Kenya. At one point it had 5,000 members in 108 countries. It was quite a legacy he started.
One of the things I find very interesting is the impact that he had on a number of people through little things that he did. So for example he would go and give little talks like this to people, and do radio interviews, and newspaper interviews, and some people heard those things and went on to make a great difference. For example there is a fellow named Tony Rinaldo and he was an Australian. One time he was with his father, and they were visiting a big farm and he noticed in the shed a great big pile of books, and on the top of this pile was a book called “Sahara Challenge” by Richard St. Barbe Baker and he picked up the book and it inspired him to become a forester. He went to Niger later and developed a whole new way of reforesting the desert, and working with the farmers there, they were able to reforest 12 million acres of the desert in Nigeria.
And Scott Poynton is another person with the same story, when he was fifteen heard a radio broadcast with Richard St. Barbe Baker – was inspired to become a forester, and started something called the forest trust, and what they did was they got the furniture industry to change all of their wood purchases towards sustainable forestry and now they’ve gone on to industry after industry working with them to change their practices towards sustainable wood management.
And there’s a number of stories like that.
One of the most interesting is a guy named Felix Finkbeiner and he started when he was nine years old he had a school project and he was supposed to write about the environment. he heard Richard St Barbe Baker and Nobel LaureateWangari Maathai who were both doing the same kind of work promoting tree planting and he wrote this paper and then he started an organization for children called Plant for the Planet. Over the years they have developed a whole program where they have child tree ambassadors and he is a really good publicist so he started working with people like Harrison Ford, Prince Ranier of Monaco, and they have this great campaign where they are standing there and have their hands over their mouth, and stop talking and start planting.
And these kids really got something going and now he is nineteen years old and his program has taken over the United Nations environment programs, tree planting effort, and he’s supposed to be planting a billion trees, and they changed the name to a Trillion Trees. And their goal is to plant one trillion trees There is about 3-4 trillion trees in the world, so now we are talking about a major tree planting effort here. They planted 15 billion trees so far and again inspired by Richard St. Barbe Baker.
So I find it really interesting how sometimes its the little things that we do have more impact than the big things that we do. So he tried in the 1950s to create a massive programme to reforest the Sahara Desert ’cause He believed that it used to be forest. He did an expedition through the desert, drove though it in a vehicle, found tree stumps in the middle of the desert and so on, so he started this campaign. And he said we should build a great green wall across the Sahel region of the Sahara but nobody would listen to him, they thought he was crazy. But today, they are planting a great green wall across the Sahara and some countries like Niger are doing a really good job of it.
So some of his ideas were way out there, at the time, and he was kind of like a voice crying in the wilderness, and people didn’t listen, but some of his ideas are taking hold and are happening around the world.
His organization Men of the Trees, which is now called in Australia, is called Trillion Trees as well.
They had, for example, the Guinness Book of World Records, for the most trees ever planted in an hour – 150 thousand trees – So they had this massive – all these students out to plant trees.
Just some of the impacts that have been felt.
Then, of course, there is his connection to Saskatoon.
When he was a young man he came here to decided to homestead and he came to Beaver Creek, He failed as a homesteader but he also became one of the first students at the University of Saskatchewan and was a lumberjack up at Big River which was at the time one of the largest sawmills in the British Empire, and he saw all of the bad forestry practices and became aware of them. That was one of the triggers he had for becoming a forester. He also spent a lot of time with people from Whitecap Dakota First Nation, which is not too far from Beaver Creek and he said a lot of his inspiration came from listening to their stories and so on. And throughout his life he was very connected with indigenous people. In Kenya when he went there, he became the first white person to become inducted into their secret society of elders in the Kikuyu tribe.
And he became very involved with the Maori and so on.
So basically from the time he was a little boy, just a little toddler, he was planting trees with his father who was a nurseryman, and he was here in Saskatoon in 1982 to plant his last tree, he was in a wheelchair, he got up from the wheelchair, and helped a bunch of children plant a tree which is now marked on the Meewasin trail right by the Diefenbaker Centre – his last tree- and a couple of days later he died, and he is buried in Saskatoon.
So anyways, that is some of his story, and I can answer questions, or talk some more, but its kind of cool.
That’s really awesome. I learned quite a bit of stuff I realized I hadn’t known about him before. That’s very awesome. Let’s say thank you to Paul. Let Richard Kerbes say a couple of words then if you guys want questions to anybody, either Renny, Richard or Paul you can ask them, but why Richard Kerbes is out, he is representing the SOS Elms Coalition. And I believe that one of the things when Richard St. Barbe Baker wanted to do on his last trip to Saskatoon was to try to establish a branch of the International Tree Foundation here, and SOS Elms Coalition is the advocate for the trees in and around Saskatoon. They are a bunch of foresters and grass roots people that have joined the group and so I’ll leave it over to Richard to introduce the SOS Elms Coalition and if you wish to say anything regarding Paul Hanley too.
Thank you Julia. We owe a lot to Julia. She’s the one who really brought the afforestation areas here to our attention. Because of course its a big job to try to educate on the urban forest, and this was a little corner that has been preserved and and more or less forgotten, and thanks to Julia for her efforts.
Its been many many community associations and green groups, a big group effort [from many wonderful community members, indeed].
Certainly in the spirit of St Barbe..
We started in ’92 which is about 10 years after St Barbe’s death, and he was certainly in our minds when we started- he was well known. One of our early members was Robert White – a friend of yours Paul – and on and off he was a great and important advocate and supporter for us, and he brought along quite a lot of help from the Baha’i community as well, and its unfortunate that Robert couldn’t be here tonight.
And I must apologize for getting here late, circumstances beyond my control.
In any case. We started as a citizen’s group to advocate for the American Elm in particular. We since broadened and covering the whole of the urban forest, both the planted trees and the wild trees in Saskatoon. In ’92 when we started, Dutch Elm disease had just entered into the south eastern corner of Saskatchewan and it was a contagion killing American Elm, and not much was being done by either provincial or municipal governments both places. So we took on this task We had a very dynamic president in our first five years. She literally traveled all over the southeast of the province to promote awareness and the need for action. And our efforts did lead to both the provincial government, and the City of Saskatoon really increased their effort for going into monitoring for Dutch Elm disease. It’s of course a hopeless case for the wild stands of Elm, but in our communities of Saskatchewan we have lost a lot of American Elm to Dutch Elm disease, but Saskatoon is very special, because we have only had one case here, it was probably a … fighting a … so that’s one feather in our cap but of course the battle is never over.
There is so many threats to our urban forest as if it wasn’t enough for natural threats like Dutch Elm Disease and other pests. We have several on our horizon. and things like the Cottony Ash Psyllid (Psyllopsis discrepans) which has been killing our Ash trees. On top of that, its a continual battle with various governmental authorities to regulate infill construction because its a good thing to have high density in the central part of the city, but the centre part of the city is where the old mature trees are as well.
Its a continuing job we have in lobbying. In any case, we have a number of projects we have carried out. The most recent is, we have a tree tour guide to the special and unusual or especially nice specimens of trees in the City of Saskatoon. So if any of you are interested, I am happy to give you a copy, And of course I am happy to take your name if you would like to join or join our mailing list or join – our membership is only $10 a year. You can have the satisfaction, as Julia has implied, we are here in the spirit of St. Barbe and Julia pointed it out to me – I didn’t realize that in his last visit here St. Barbe had specifically noted that for historical, for nostalgic reasons, since this is where he really started his appreciation of trees, that we feel kind of honoured, though its not official, that we are carrying on what he promoted his whole life to. So thank you very much.
Thank you Richard.
I think we have three awesome speakers here on behalf of National Tree Day, Paul Hanley is a great environmentalist and brings a lot of attention to environmental concerns, and he has done an excellent of Richard St. Barbe Baker, and Richard and the SOS Elms Coalition is doing a great job preserving our trees in the City of Saskatoon and surrounding area, and Renny representing the Meewasin Valley Authority, if it wasn’t for them this area wouldn’t be managed, and the river bank wouldn’t be a phenomenal place with all the trails and the Cranberry Flats, and Beaver Creek all that wonderful stuff, so lets give another big round of applause to all our wonderful speakers here today, and thank you all also for coming out, and I think what you come out – it turned out we didn’t have snow today, it turned out to be not too bad of a day, the wind has come down, and thank you all of you to appreciate National Tree Day, and to see the Afforestation Area.
And Paul when is your next showing, is that McNally Robinson?
So if anybody wants to hear a speech maybe a bit longer, and maybe inside, and would you have your slide show at that time.
Yes.
And at that time you would have a slide show.
And let people know about that. Spread the word.
Thanks for inviting me.
Thanks for coming.
Thank you guys for coming as well.
That book, I did a course on plants through the historical and social script of the plants and that book surfaced, and was given to the class so you can go and find the oldest tree in town, and the biggest tree in town, and there’s an address.
The average citizen has yet to learn the importance of Forestry…the man in the street does not know that the presence of Forests, in reasonably proportionate areas, is vital to human health and in order to stay the process of the disintegration of the surface of the land….Happily the solution of the Problem is at hand.” ~University of Saskatchewan,University Archives & Special Collections,Richard St. Barbe Baker fonds, MG 71
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SE 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063 Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map
Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail)
Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!
“I believe with Ruskin, that I must be just to the Earth beneath my feet, to the neighbour by my side and to the Light that comes from above and within that this wonderful world of ours may be a little more beautiful and happy form my having lived in it. “Richard St. Barbe Baker.
A transformational model that will help individuals, institutions, and communities make an eleven-billion world work for everyone—and the planet.
Ideas Transform the World.
Planet Earth, the World, is in our Hands
Ideas Matter.
Eleven Billion facebook and the book “Eleven” are written by Paul Hanley, winner of the Canadian Environment award and the University of Saskatchewan President’s Award for Non-Fiction 2015, via Saskatchewan Book Awards, for Eleven. Hanley has definitely compiled a timely book which faces the paradigm facing all of us individually as the global population reaches 11 billion by the end of this century.
Hanley reclaims the future, sows seeds for a new culture, and provides a model for positive change. What do greenhouse gases, climate change, health, 21st century culture, agriculture, environment conservation and protection have in common? “We are going to change so completely that future civilization will be barely recognizable. We are going to change because, faced with extinction, ‘our better angels’ will prevail.”P3. Eleven
One of the many, diverse stories in Eleven is about Sawadogo, The Man Who Stopped the Desert. This farmer, without any training at all, began pioneering farming techniques for agriculture, increasing farm productivity. Amazingly Sawadogo also created 20 hectares of forest…in a desert. These innovative techniques of “restoring vegetation has been shown to create climatic feedback loops that increase rainfall.” p.162 Eleven. Think of that ~ a desert with rain!!!
These concepts were also seen by Richard St. Barbe Baker. After completing his silviculture course in forestry at Cambridge University, St. Barbe was posted to Kenya, Africa. While there, he witnessed the devastation which agricultural methods were creating on the land. It was here that the first forest scouts “Watu Wa Miti” {Men of the Trees} were assembled and encouraged to make a solemn promise to do one good deed each day, plant ten trees, seedlings or seeds each year, and take care of Trees everywhere.”*
Just as Sawadogo recognized the effects of erosion, St. Barbe, also only turned around farming practices in Kenya with the Watu Wa Miti initiating the International Trees Foundation (formerly Men of the Trees) St Barbe says; “The great Empires of Assyria, Babylon, Carthage and Persia were destroyed by floods and deserts let loose in the wake of forest destruction. Erosion following forest destruction and soil depletion has been one of the most powerfully destructive forces in bringing about the downfall of civilizations and wiping out human existence from large tracts of the earth’s surface. Erosion does not march with a blast of trumpets or the beating of drums, but its tactics are more subtle, more sinister.”
St Barbe Baker wrote in Green Glory: The Forests of the World that “We advocate that all standing armies everywhere be used for the work of essential reafforestation . .. in the countries to which they belong, and that each country . . . shall provide expeditionary forces to cooperate in the greater tasks of land reclamation in the Sahara and other deserts.”
Hanley explains that “deforestation and forest degradation, through agricultural expansion, conversion to pastureland, infrastructure development, destructive logging, and fires accounts for nearly 20 percent of global [Greenhouse Gas] GHG emissions, second only to the energy sector, and more than the entire global transportation sector.” p. 168 Eleven.
However, just as St. Barbe and Sawadogo saw and recognized poor agricultural practices and put into practice innovative techniques to reclaim the environment, and bringing hope to people and communities, so too, does Hanley offer a way for us to wake up with innovative ideas. Paul Hanley knew Richard St. Barbe Baker personally. Hanley suggests, that, “This awakening world would necessarily lead to an ethical revolution that will help emerging generations build a new social-ecological order on a sustainable foundation.” P. 337 Eleven. How can we wake up, how can we change the world? Hanley offers hope, but not only hope, Hanley offers a well-researched model for progress, a methodology for all of us to get started to change the world outlined in his book Eleven.
Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi says “Every concerned citizen of this planet needs to read this book.” However, it may be best to go one step further, and say everybody, every citizen will gain insight and incredible opportunities to transform the world by reading Eleven. Hanley, environmental columnist for the Saskatoon Star Phoenix since 1989 has delved into global and environmental concerns, and in Eleven, Hanley provides more than hope. Eleven is an innovative solution and recipe for an enlightened social-ecological system for personal, local and global worldviews to survive. Not only to survive, but to live sustainably and well.
“You may ask, ‘…Why do I have to be at all concerned with those circumstances that have existed before I was born, and will most certainly continue to exist after I have taken myself out of this rather soiled and seedy world and have moved to other areas of consciousness?’
The only answer that can be given to such a question is that the world is a mirror and the more one polishes and cleans the mirror, the better one can see one’s reflection. …Does it not stand to reason that the elements that are used in this magnificent venture need to be kept in tip-top condition?” ~Emmanuel
“Trees worked for millions of years to make it possible for man to come on this planet. Yet man, who owns his presence on this Earth to trees, has been cutting, burning, greedily and recklessly. He has turned the forest into desert, until today we are faced not only with a timber famine, but with a food famine.” ~Richard St. Barbe Baker
Business, Technology, 21st Century Culture, Planet Earth
Let us turn back the clock…to the great wars, World War I and World War II. Outside of combat, war efforts had other ecological impacts. “Twentieth Century technology made forest destruction much easier than in Caesar’s (or William Tecumseh Sherman’s day)… European wheat demand in World War I led to the plowing up of about 6 million hectares of grasslands on the American High plains and in Canada’s prairie provinces. This helped prepare the way for the dust bowl of the 1930s. The British war effort in World War II consumed about half of Britain’s forests. McNeill.” How have we corrected and ameliorated these environmental changes and damages? What can we possibly do now? Hanley has an answer for ecological, environmental and agriculture futures in Eleven.
“The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.”~ James Allen
Is it true what Vaclav Havel says that “Modern man must descend the spiral of his own absurdity to the lowest point; only then can he look beyond it. It is obviously impossible to get around it, jump over it, or simply avoid it.” Or is it more probable as Rene Daumal says, “You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place ? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.” A glimpse into Eleven will surely allow everyone to know. To know a healthier world, a “united, just and sustainable civilization that encompasses everyone, including our extended human body ecosphere. P.372 Eleven.”
“ELEVEN is a call to consciousness. Only an ‘ethical revolution’ will allow us to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization. Paul Hanley proposes a transformational model that will help individuals, institutions, and communities make an eleven-billion world work for everyone—and the planet.” *
Emmanuel’s Book. A Manual for living comfortably in the cosmos. Compiled by Pat Rodegast and Judith Stanton. ISBN 0-553-34387-4. Bantam Books. New York. 1987.
Hanley, Paul. Eleven “eleven billion people will share this planet by century’s end. Adding 4 billion to an already overburdened world will force everyone to change everything.” Friesen Press. Victoria BC. ISBN 978-1-4602-5045-7 (Hardcover) ISBN 978-1-4602-5046-4 (Paperback) ISBN 978-1-462-5047-1 (ebook). 2014.
MacNeil,J.R. Ideas Matter: A Political History of the Twentieth Century Environment. “The grand social, and ideological systems that people construct for themselves invariably carry large consequences, for the environment no less than for more strictly human affairs. Among the swirl of ideas, policies and political structures of the twentieth century, the most ecologically influential were the growth imperative and the (not related) security anxiety that dominated policy around the world…By 1970, however something new was afoot.” From Current History November 2000, PP 371-382. originally excerpted from “An Environmental HIstory of the Twentieth Century World” New York. Norton 2000) by Current History Inc. reprinted with permission: Environment 2002/2003. Annual Editions. 21st Edition. Editor John L. Allen. McGraw-Hill Dushkin. ISBN 0-07-250682-2.
Van, Leon C. Le. Poems from Swedenborg Swedenborg Foundation Inc. New York. ISBN 0-87785-134-4. 1987.
Wildlife Montage. Red Winged Blackbird, White Tailed Deer Fawn, Garter Snake, JackRabbit, Mallard Ducklings, Black Crowned Night Heron
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city. 52° 06′ 106° 45′
Addresses:
Part SE 23-36-6 – Afforestation Area – 241 Township Road 362-A
Part SW 23-36-6 – SW Off-Leash Recreation Area (Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area ) – 355 Township Road 362-A
S ½ 22-36-6 Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area (West of SW OLRA) – 467 Township Road 362-A
NE 21-36-6 “George Genereux” Afforestation Area – 133 Range Road 3063 Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lot Web page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com Where is the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area? with map Where is the George Genereux Urban Regional Park (Afforestation Area)? with map
Please help protect / enhance /commemorate your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail)
Support the afforestation areas with your donation or membership ($20.00/year). Please donate by paypal using the e-mail friendsafforestation AT gmail.com, or by using e-transfers Please and thank you! Your donation and membership is greatly appreciated. Members e-mail your contact information to be kept up to date!
“St. Barbe’s unique capacity to pass on his enthusiasm to others. . . Many foresters all over the world found their vocations as a result of hearing ‘The Man of the Trees’ speak. I certainly did, but his impact has been much wider than that. Through his global lecture tours, St. Barbe has made millions of people aware of the importance of trees and forests to our planet.” Allan Grainger
“The science of forestry arose from the recognition of a universal need. It embodies the spirit of service to mankind in attempting to provide a means of supplying forever a necessity of life and, in addition, ministering to man’s aesthetic tastes and recreational interests. Besides, the spiritual side of human nature needs the refreshing inspiration which comes from trees and woodlands. If a nation saves its trees, the trees will save the nation. And nations as well as tribes may be brought together in this great movement, based on the ideal of beautifying the world by the cultivation of one of God’s loveliest creatures – the tree.” ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker.
“I believed that God has lent us the Earth. It belongs as much to those who come after us as to us, and it ill behooves us by anything we do or neglect, to deprive them of benefits which are in our power to bequeath.” Richard St. Barbe Baker
“We feel that our greatest victory remains to be won when man will realize his oneness with the trees, the creatures and with all living things, not ours to destroy, but to be handed on for the enjoyment of future generations.” – Richard St. Barbe Baker
Spring Trees Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
The angels,
Who are principled
In the science
Of all knowledges,
And that in such a manner
That scarce a thousandth part
Can be unfolded
To man’s apprehension,
Yet esteem knowledges
As nothing
In comparison to use.~Swedenborg
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. George Genereux Urban Regional Park. 