TIME: Almanac 1990/1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso/time/010989/01098900.042

Text File | 1990-09-17 | 4KB | 65 lines

NATION, Page 23

Planting Trees of Life

"I don't like the title Dreamer  . . . That tends to mean

nondeliverer"


    Andy  Lipkis, 34, a bearded, boyish, homespun half saint, knows
something about delivering dreams. His life is a demonstration in
respectable alchemy, creating gold from nothing. Inspired by the
belief that planting trees can reduce smog, protect the ozone
layer, feed hungry people and, when all is said and done and
planted, save the planet, Lipkis has become a global Johnny
Appleseed. The organization he founded 15 years ago, TreePeople,
is directly or indirectly responsible for planting more than 170
million trees around the world. At the center of TreePeople's
mission is the belief that people can save themselves by saving the
land.

    Lipkis' ideas about voluntarism have a certain earthy logic.
"Scientists define pollution as energy waste. Sewage is pollution
when you dump it in the ocean -- yet it's so loaded with nutrients
that it could enrich any soil it is put into," he explains. "It's
the same with humans. People have an immense amount of energy, but
for the most part it isn't being used. The result is a kind of
pollution: frustration, depression, rage, crime. Society needs that
energy, and nobody is making the connection."

    Lipkis' revelation came 18 years ago at summer camp, where he
planted his first smog-resistant trees.  "It was backbreaking work
that required all of our creativity," he recalls. "For me, it was
a life-altering experience." Lipkis went on to study ecology and
search for ways to encourage more people to plant more trees. "I
started a long process of trying and failing," he remembers, as he
sought to enlist public and private support for his cause. "Being
able to fail is a key to the volunteer process," he adds now. "In
their jobs, people aren't allowed to do that. The real joy of being
a volunteer is the freedom to express yourself without fear that
it will be held against you."

    Lipkis emerged from his trials and errors a resourceful man,
in the most literal sense of the word. Since founding TreePeople,
he has enlisted volunteers everywhere, from senior citizens' homes
to grade schools, to plant millions upon millions of trees. He has
persuaded nurseries to donate unsold seedlings they would otherwise
have destroyed. He has coaxed the California National Guard ("all
those empty trucks and planes sitting around") into helping
transport the trees. He once even persuaded Club Med to rescue and
care for two exhausted TreePeople volunteers in Senegal who had
fallen ill while planting fruit trees in famine-stricken African
countries. "I don't know how many bureaucrats have laughed us off
over the years," he muses. "Then one person says, `Maybe we can
help you.' That's vital to voluntarism."

    Nowadays, after a year of ecological nightmares, Lipkis is
promoting tree planting as the easiest solution to the greenhouse
effect, the buildup of CO2 that has environmentalists warning of
a disastrous global warming trend. Trees absorb as much as 48 lbs.
of carbon dioxide per year each. Guided by the success of Lipkis'
volunteer efforts, the American Forestry Association announced in
October a citizens' campaign to plant 100 million trees around the
country.

    Lipkis manages all this on an annual budget of half a million
dollars, raised entirely by donations. His "save our planet earth"
pitch is not merely fund-raising rhetoric. It has been his goal all
along. "Our message is so far beyond trees," he says. "If the idea
of voluntarism can be presented in the right way, I think it has
the potential for healing everything."