Plant 3,000 trees in Africa

EARTHKEEPERS CONFERENCE

“It is not about saving the planet – the planet will survive – it is about saving humanity"

The Earth-keepers conference, an ecumenical conference on Poverty and the Environment posed this question. Faced with the enormous challenges of climate change and environmental degradation, caused by a culture of consumerism and greed, is it time for us to re-examine our theology in order to understand what God is saying to us?

The conference was an initiative of the Dutch Reformed Church, Uniting Reformed Church  and the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. The first day was held at the Sanlam Head office and the second at the Square in Pinelands, being hosted by four churches- Methodist, Presybterian, Anglican and Dutch Reformed. The conference was made possible by generous sponsorship from Safcei and Sanlam.

A highlight of the conference was the partnership between churches. On the Sunday an Anglican bishop preached at the Dutch Reformed Church, a URC minister at the Anglican church, a Lutheran at the Presbyterian Church and a DRC minister at the Methodist Church.

100 Trees were distributed to all participants and a tree was planted at St Stephens Anglican Church in honour of the event.

Bishopscourt is the home of the Archbishop of Cape Town. He realised that the property was breeding alien vegetation which was beginning to spread to other properties. These aliens spread quickly and are often water-guzzlers!

So a meeting was called of the local community to explain to them what these aliens are the the problems that they cause. There was a lot of interest and many people came to the meeting and a lto of interaction took place.  This was followed by a session of getting your hands dirty as they were pulled up and replaced by indigenous plants and trees.