You probably don’t know a whole lot about Macedonia—but as of last week, the small country in the Balkans may have a new reputation as the greenest nation on earth.
You probably don’t know a whole lot about Macedonia—but as of last week, the small country in the Balkans may have a new reputation as the greenest nation on earth.
On November 19th, thousands of Macedonians were bussed out to various sites around the country and supplied with seedlings, thanks to a generous plan by native opera singer Boris Trajanov. Thanks to Trajanov’s country-wide campaign, Macedonians planted six million trees around the country in one single day.
“Our goal is to make Macedonia “greener” and make people more aware of the needs of this planet,” Trajanov told Reuters.
One of the volunteers, a mother of two named Silvana, agreed that Trajanov’s mission was an important step in preserving the planet. “Just as we take care of our homes, we should take care of our planet,” she said while boarding the bus. “We have no other place to live, that’s why I’m going”.
Trajanov’s goal is to spread the tree-planting program across the entire Balkan region in 2009—and maybe, one day, the world.
“If Macedonia, a country of two million people, can plant six million trees, we can only imagine how many trees can be planted in other, bigger countries,” he said.