National Tree Day at Kangan Batman TAFE
17 July 2003
Staff, senior management and students of Kangan Batman TAFE are joining forces to green up Australia by planting 100 indigenous trees and shrubs at the institute’s Broadmeadows campus as part of the National Tree Day on Thursday 24 July.
National Tree Day is a community tree planting initiative organised nationally by Planet Ark, Toyota and AMP Foundation.
“This tree-planting is part of our commitment to providing a clean, green environment for staff and students alike at Kangan Batman TAFE. In June, as part of the World Environment Day, many students and staff rolled up their sleeves to plant many trees and shrubs at the Broadmeadows campus,” says Kangan Batman TAFE Director John Parish.
“The aim of our National Tree Day activity is to get our students and staff together to plant trees and shrubs that are native to the area. The trees will be planted at the Broadmeadows campus with the aim of revegetating an area that currently has no trees at all,” Mr Parish said.
The main National Tree Day is on Sunday 27 July, but organisations or individuals are able to organise the tree planting activities on a day that best suits their needs. The trees that will be planted at Kangan Batman TAFE on 24 July will count towards the final National Tree Day results tally.
Last year’s National Tree Day attracted more than four times more volunteers than the Sydney Olympics. 225,000 volunteers took part on the day. Over 2 million trees were planted at nearly 3,000 sites around Australia.
“Activities such as these help raise awareness of environmental issues to our staff and student body. Kangan Batman TAFE is strongly committed to providing an environmentally friendly study and workplace for our staff and students. Last year we became the first Victorian TAFE institute to attain ISO 14001 Environmental Management System certification,” Mr Parish said.
Just some of Kangan Batman TAFE’s environmental initiatives include: paper recycling at all its six main campuses; the use of LPG in fleet vehicles; composting of food waste from the student training restaurant - Richards Restaurant - for fertilizer for the Horticulture Department’s gardens; and the recycling of metal vehicle components, tyres and batteries at the Richmond and Coburg automotive training campuses.
When/where: The planting will take place near the walkway entrance to the Transport & Logistics Training Centre, Broadmeadows campus, Pearcedale Parade, Broadmeadows, from 12-2pm on Thursday 24 July 2003.
Some interesting tree tips and trivia:
- Since European settlement, Australia’s forest cover has reduced from 69 million hectares to 41 million hectares.
- Trees first appeared on Earth long before the dinosaurs did – about 400 million years ago.
- Trees are the largest of all living things – some species can grow 100 metres tall and weigh 600 tonnes.
- Trees combat the greenhouse effect and slow the effects of global warming. They soak up carbon dioxide and give out oxygen for us to breath.
- Car owners need to plant seven trees every year to counter the greenhouse emissions of their cars.
- Trees improve water quality by acting as a filter to unwanted nutrients and pesticides.
- Many trees can outlive humans and some are more than 1000 years old.
- Eucalyptus trees are Australia’s most common tree species and can grow upto 500 metres .
Information obtained from Planet Ark website at www.planetark.com/treeday.
