In a town destined to be constantly dug up and completely destroyed by intensive mining, this action, while it may not change its future, has brought some cheers and action.

 

Fortune follows the brave, they say. But luck also follows the brave fighters for clean air in Serbia. Neither the gloomy and cold morning in Bor and Kosjerić, nor the sudden cancellation by one school and the change of a planting location in Smederevo could disrupt the planned reforestation carried out by activists in these three cities on December 1, 2022, as part of the Trees of Friendship regional initiative.

The weather in Bor did not prevent the brave staff of the Technical School from carrying out the action in accordance with the plan. Add to that the fact that there was an ongoing teachers’ strike, and we can say that the action was successful. A total of 20 maple, birch and thuja trees were planted at first, with the remaining seedlings to be planted later with the support of this school’s students. The snow came in the afternoon, as a reminder of how lucky we were to get the things done before the storm.

In a town destined to be constantly dug up and completely destroyed by intensive mining, this action, while it may not change its future, has brought some cheers and, most importantly, solidarity among the people.

On this occasion, the Association for the Development of the City of Bor would like to thank the Bor Technical School for its active participation in the initiative and for providing public space for greening. Without them, this action would have been doomed from the very beginning.

Strange winds are blowing in Smederevo. Two schools have registered to take part, one with 25, the other with 20 selected seedlings, but one of them, without any explanation, decided to withdraw just one day before the actual planting! Fortunately, the selected site and the people who were interested in reforesting it quickly reorganized and prepared holes for 20 seedlings in the area of ​​the future park of the Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired.

This is how pine trees, pančić spruces and spruces found their place in the new green areas of our city. The “Dositej Obradović” elementary school and the aforementioned association provided locations and organized the planting. The event at the school had national television coverage from RTS  and the green team of Smederevo was expanded with new enthusiasts ready to join forces in the future actions.

The organization Pro.Tok21 can boast that it has now planted a total of more than 300 trees in Smederevo in the last 3 years, 80 of which through the two cycles of the Trees of Friendship campaign! Such actions encourage the further popularization of the planting trend and greater involvement of people in greening the public spaces.

This year, 30 maple seedlings were planted at the “Poligon” location in Kosjerić. The association K-town Group has been organizing various types of actions for years with the aim of solving Kosjerić’s enormous environmental problems. This year, help came from the Municipality of Kosjerić and JKP Elan, with the goal of waging a joint fight for cleaner air. The team, small but well-selected, successfully completed its local mission in the frames of the regional Trees of Friendship initiative.

 

Group of authors from Pro.Tok21, Association for the Development of the City of Bor and K-Town Group, Serbia