01-03 Trees and Bats

Who would believe planting trees in Fiji would help preserve Flying Fruit bats. I have seen them up close and they have wing spans of three feet and weigh up to three pounds. And the concern amongst the population was that so many of the natural fruit trees that fed the bats had been cut down to make room for settlements.
When I visited Fiji in 1980, as a stopover to Australia, it was my first real insight into the economics of reforestation. Fiji had planted a million trees. There were hard wood trees like mahogany, which would be an export item. And, naturally, lots of tropical fruit trees were planted not just for the people, but for the bats.
From a political perspective, the program had wide support because of the jobs that were being created throughout the islands. What was so interesting is that once you embark on reforestation for economic purposes, you are in the tree planting business for ever. Jobs became permanent.
Anyways, there was no problem with the locals sharing fruit with the bats, because bats were a tasty local food source. The photo shows a fruit bat, one of many species, having a nap close to some yummy papaya.
What I saw in Fiji is a global story. Plant trees and protect bats in Fiji, jaguars in Brazil, pandas in China and deer in Ontario.
The world has come a long way since 1980, and reforestation is now recognized as one of the most beneficial initiatives to combat climate change. Why? Because trees take in carbon dioxide and give out oxygen. And the other benefits have to do with protecting shorelines, holding moisture in soil, protecting the diversity of plant and animal life, and stuff like that.
I lived in a sugar maple forest area for 15 years and became an expert on woodpeckers. But I was too lazy to collect and produce my own maple syrup.
How spectacular it was to see the major corporate and government players at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January 2020 agree to planting a trillion trees over the coming decade to fight climate change.
I have a different take on tree planting. We need something that will unite the nations of the world. Something that will restore faith in our democratic institutions, at a time when the issue of nationalism vs. globalism is tearing us apart.
I saw real societal unification during WW2 when children across Canada lined up to see their favourite cowboy on Saturdays with a can of bacon fat. “Hey mom, is it full yet?” Our government was collecting fat for producing bombs and tin for producing bronze. And every Friday we lined up in class to buy our 25 cent victory stamps. “Hey dad, it’s Friday, I need my quarter.”
Let’s use tree planting as something that is not just good for communities, but good for societies and the world. And, even more importantly, we have an activity that can be outside of partisan politics. And remember something we learned during wartime. Get the kids involved. They can be scary when mobilized.