Blogs

On a brilliantly sunny, early fall day, I ambled south along an empty, paved, mixed use path towards the lake. I could hear the roar of the breakers on Lake Ontario before I could see the golden glint off the surging waters beneath a huge weeping willow tree. I kept following the path that lined the shoreline until I arrived at a vast field where several exhibit stations were arrayed, the first of which, One Million Trees Mississauga, told me I had arrived.

The race is on! Starting October 5, participating schools in the York Catholic District School Board are competing to get trees and shrubs planted in their communities. In the spring, LEAF launched its Youth EAB Ambassador Program in eleven elementary schools; this fall, the program continues with new schools taking part in the contest.

A call to consciousness: to become conscious of life, the life that surprises you, the life you have to look around and inside of yourself to find; lift a leaf and you will find it!

I had a childhood filled with the urban forest. My daily interactions with our neighborhood trees were many and varied, and over the years my love of them has grown to a deeper understanding and appreciation.