What comes across your mind when you think about April? Besides being a nice month to go on a picnic, it is also a wonderful time to plant a tree during this month. Yes, we have a tree day in April! April 5 is a holiday when people are encouraged to plant and care for trees. It originated from Nebraska City, Neb., United States in 1872. J. Sterling Morton is the founder of Arbor Day. The first Arbor Day was celebrated on April 10, 1872. People planted approximately 1 million trees during that day. Since then, the campaign spread to the many other states in America and Canada. As time passed by, Arbor Day became popular in other countries. Many people in the world share the spirit of the day.
The first Arbor Day in Korea started last April 5th, 1946. Last 1961, Arbor Day had been designated as a national holiday. However, it was removed from the list of official holidays in 2005 because of the new working hour rules designated for the public servants. As a result, Arbor Day is no longer a national holiday in the country. However, Korea Forest Service did not stop celebrating the Arbor Day. The government has been holding special events to raise awareness of the Arbor Day. For example, the government distributes free seeds to the people who want to plant them.
Planting trees is not merely for celebration. It is now one of the most important assignments for us. Our environment has been destroyed by human activities for a long time now. If you watched 'Crying of Amazon', you can see numerous trees which were cut down by greedy human who doesn't care about the environment. Lack of trees can cause serious natural disaster like floods, droughts, landslides and global warming. Evidence shows that natural disasters or calamities occur every year worldwide. This is very alarming and it serves as a wakeup call to us all. It is a timely reminder for us all to pay attention to the environment. As we celebrated Tree day, let us be reminded to think about the nature. This year, 2011, was designated as the International Year of Forest by the United Nations (U.N.). Your little effort of planting trees can save the earth. It sounds hilarious. But it is true. Why don't you go to plant a tree on Tree day?By Cho Ho Soo, Jang Hana from GEO Class 3-5 (Professor Tom & TA Jinah)
