A Million Trees

Tucson Clean and Beautiful is on a mission to save the environment, by planting 1,000,000 trees, one at a time.

Volunteers meet at a predetermined location where they sign in and are assigned to a group, given gloves and a lovely reflective mesh vest with the logo printed front and back.  Almost promptly at 9am each group picks up 2 shovels, 1 rake, and two 17 pound steel digging bars.   

They carry the equipment to their first home, where 2 trees and 1 bag of mulch await.  The homeowners' only task: soak the planting area the night before the event.

This sounded like a perfect community service event for the Cornell Club, and the Board's most competent member organized it all.  Relevant and enticing emails arrived at appropriate intervals.  She made sure everyone had everything and knew where to be.  She couldn't have done a better job.

We thought this was the kind of thing that younger alums would enjoy, that it would lure reluctant joiners into our midst.  We were wrong.

There were several families with school age kids in attendance last Saturday, but none of them were with our group.  Aside from a father and high school daughter who have attended other events over the years (and were for some reason assigned to another group) the rest of us comprised a team.

On the 15 minute walk to the site, carrying those full size tools over uneven ground (who knew Tucson had alleys?) and a lot of pavement, were four Cornellians and a Team Leader (pictured above, in the overalls, on the left).

Three of us receive Social Security checks. We let the 2 younger women carry the digging bars.  My too-tall-to-be-drafted friend in his 80's got the rake with the very long handle, I picked up the lightest shovel, and we set off on our adventure, using our tools as walking sticks.

We arrived at a corner lot with a 10' skeleton anchoring one corner.  There was an X painted on the ground, and a yellow OK from the power company, indicating that it was safe to dig.

As I said to the Leader - when I plant a tree my yard guys bring their jack hammer and I watch, then I fill the hole overnight to be sure it will drain.  Not only were there no yard guys, there was neither a jack hammer nor any evidence that water had ever touched the land.  

My tall friend and I removed a shovel or two of loosened soil before we took a video call from HoneyBunny in a little bit of shade.  She was bemused by Grandpa's absence and a stranger's presence.  Some Peek a Boo and silly faces soon made things right, and we chatted as the youngsters did the heavy lifting.  

I spread half a bag of mulch around the base of the tree the youngsters had planted and thought we were done.  The  Leader announced that we were going on to the second of the three homes assigned to our Team.  My tall friend and I finagled a ride back to the parking lot, agreeing that, in the future, moral support was going to be our contribution when physical labor was required.

I do many things.  Imitating a jack hammer is no longer one of them.  I can't really feel too bad about that.