Indonesia is a developing nation. They have a lot of challenges to deal with, not the least being their lack of infrastructure. It’s nearly impossible to walk to work (although I persist, to my friends’ horror). Enormous buildings and cars are big status symbols. In the midst of the turmoil, people and trees quietly contribute to a cooler, calmer environment. Both are kind to a fault.
In the spring of 2010, I was volunteering at a LEAF table when someone from the neighbourhood approached me. She had noticed that the newly planted trees along St. Clair Avenue West were dying. Riding past that night, I saw examples of trees that had died brutal deaths: their trunks had imploded in the cold weather. I went home and wept.
