RETREET BLOG

RETREET redefines disaster relief by engaging communities to replant lost trees.


 
SUNDAY SHOW & TELL
vol.98

What to do when you run out of potential green space in an urban environment and still want to plant more trees? Create a floating forest! Jeroen Everaert, a resident of Rotterdam who runs an art production company, has been working with the city to establish trees in unused harbor space. Quite the installation piece!

THE FLOATING FOREST OF ROTTERDAM (article)

THE FLOATING FOREST OF ROTTERDAM (article)

In celebration of Black History Month, we share the following story. Few know of the all-black 25th mobile infantry, a group of incredibly tough men who rode 1,900 across the US on bicycles in 1897 in order to test the new device as a potential mode of troop transport. The story of their adventure is incredible, to say the least.

BLACK BICYCLE CORPS (article)

BLACK BICYCLE CORPS (article)

A man in Seattle, whose close relations call The Human Shovel, transplants unwanted trees using nothing more than a shovel, pickaxe, and antique truck. Over the past five years, Bernie O'Brien has saved hundreds of trees from the bulldozer. Noble work indeed.

SEATTLE TREE TRANSPLANTER (video)

SEATTLE TREE TRANSPLANTER (video)

 


 
SUNDAY SHOW & TELL
vol.58

Cycling culture creates jobs: hundreds of thousands of them. According to a new study commissioned by the European Cycling Federation (ECF), 7.4% of Europeans use a bicycle as their preferred mode of transportation, and two bicycles are sold for every car. In fact, some even point out that the number of jobs created by cycling in Europe (655,000) is larger than the number of jobs created by the largest three American automakers, Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler, combined (510,000).

BICYCLES MAKE JOBS (article)

BICYCLES MAKE JOBS (article)

Koen Olthuis, a Dutch architect, has dreamed up a series of floating pillars of sea trees that would serve as a wildlife habitats in coastal waters next to the world's largest cities. These layered habitats, intended to be inaccessible to humans, would be skyscraper-sized refuges for flora and fauna.

SEAT TREES (article)

SEAT TREES (article)

Then there's the Impossible electric bicycle, which folds up into a snazzy object that can fit into a backpack. This new design is incredibly light and durable, capable of taking a 180-rider up to 15 miles. Check out their Kickstarter page!

THE IMPOSSIBLE ELECTRIC BICYCLE (video - Kickstarter)

THE IMPOSSIBLE ELECTRIC BICYCLE (video - Kickstarter)