Hands of the Future

This week's theme at i heart faces is titled "Hands on Fun" so I knew I had the perfect image, especially since this week, they made an exception and you did not have to include a face.

This image was shot at my son, Oslo's birthday party. We planted a Bermuda Cedar tree, the island's endemic and national tree, in honour of his 5th birthday. Instead of giving plastic party bags filled with treats that are bad for the kids' tummies and teeth, and plastic trinkets that will end up in the Pacific, we gave the children their own cedar trees to take home to plant in their gardens. Check out this post to read the story about the generous contribution of all those cedars.



Before putting the cedar in the ground, I did a little speech about why we were planting these trees. I was a bit worried that the children would find it tedious with poor Oslo's crazy hippie mum banging on about the environment again, but it was quite the opposite.

The children were all so excited to be a part of this practical way to make a difference to climate change that they all tumbled to their knees and patted down the earth around the baby tree. It was a bit tricky capturing the moment as there were so many kids snuggled next to each other lovingly pressing down the soil, but I actually think that their blurred arms and hair in the foreground adds to the emotion of the image.

And the best bit about blogging about the tree planting and "party trees" was that a wonderful organisation, Plant for the Planet, has since contacted me and asked me to be a representative in Bermuda for working towards their goal of 1 million trees planted in each country, though Bermuda may be a bit small for that sort of number. The organisation is a student initiative where children fight against climate change and for climate justice. I am really looking forward to getting involved somehow and sharing the tree love. Please check out their site as well to see how you can get involved in your community.

And before that, don't forget to head over to the i heart faces blog to see the other lovely entries and perhaps share some hands of your own.