War, war, war and the environment. November 6 is the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. Environmental consciousness and ethics really began in the 1960s.
Consider the combat and the battlefields of World War I, the lack of water in Gallipoli, and the overabundance of water in flooding trenches in Mesopotamia.
Visualize the craters, and trenches, the flattened ecosystem. Consider the forests ravaged for the war effort, and how many timber reserves were decimated- either destroyed or consumed. Reducing remaining forests, now weakened, and a shell of their former vibrancy, now falling to disease, and pests. The soil devastated from artillery craters drastically altering surface hydrology.
The intense destruction of the environment with huge oil fires in the Persian Gulf War. The drowning and extinction of millions of hectares of cropland with the removal of dikes on the Huangh (Yellow River) in the Japan-China war (1937-1945)
Or the devastation impacting the eco-system with the bombers flattening Berlin, and Tokyo at the end of World War II. The animals, ecosystem, flora and fauna impacted by the craters which bombers afflicted Vietnam with.
Intense environmental destruction. The testing of nuclear weapons destroying the ocean, without regards for the environment, and then the subsequent use of such weapons on land and life on land.
Now visualize this.
Paul Hanley mentions that Richard St. Barbe Baker advocated for the use of armies. “In two books—Sahara Challenge and Sahara Conquest—he proposed that the world’s standing armies, 20 million strong, be redeployed as tree planters who would “attack” the desert in a military-style tree- planting campaign.” This tree planting initiative would indeed be a way for the countries of the world to come together on Saturday November 6 which is the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.
Wangaari Maathai knew Richard St. Barbe Baker. Professor Maathai received the Nobel Peace Prize for the Green Belt Movement – actually planting trees in the Sahara Desert.
So, for Saturday November 6 on the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict sign up for the film at 1:00 pm CST (UTC-6) about Richard St. Barbe Baker, and the extraordinary means he took global action on conservation and humanitarian actions. Then plant a tree. Nay, not just one tree, plant several trees, plant a forest.
Poster https://kvisit.com/8wE/l-0G
Informational PDF https://kvisit.com/8wE/x-0G
Brochure / Pamphlet https://kvisit.com/8wE/q-0G
Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/184304960097
Aspen Films Website https://aspenfilms.ca/foa/
Website https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com/the-legacy-of-saskatoons-secret-forest/
Richard St. Barbe Baker Global Conservationist and Humanitarian tree planting on the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict “Who plants a tree loves others than himself” Richard St. Barbe Baker. For the love of trees. Tree Planting Song
“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.”
— Richard St. Barbe Baker,
Green Glory:The Forests of the World, (1947)

For directions as to how to drive to “George Genereux” Urban Regional Park
For directions on how to drive to Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
For more information:
NEW P4G District Official Community Plan
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
Blogger: FriendsAfforestation
Tumblr friendsafforestation.tumblr.comFacebook Group Page: Users of the George Genereux Urban Regional Park
Facebook: StBarbeBaker Afforestation Area
Facebook for the non profit Charity Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. FriendsAreas
Facebook group page : Users of the St Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Twitter: St Barbe Baker Charity Twitter:FriendsAreas
Please help protect / enhance your afforestation areas, please contact the Friends of the Saskatoon Afforestation Areas Inc. (e-mail / e-transfers )
Donate your old vehicle, here’s how!
Support using Canada Helps
Support via a recycling bottle donation
United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
- Use the UN Decade’s Visual Identity
- Make it your own
- Spread the word about the UN Decade
- Let’s Bring Back Forests
- Let’s Green Our Cities
““Be like a tree in pursuit of your cause. Stand firm, grip hard, thrust upward to the sky. Bend to the winds of heaven and Learn Tranquility..”
Richard St. Barbe Baker