RETREET BLOG

RETREET BLOG

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

SUNDAY SHOW & TELL
vol.24

Happy Sunday!

This week, we share some bicycle and tree entries from the Guinness Book of World Records. Think you could best any? Also, a beautiful film about Tohoku, the region in Japan hit by the 2011 tsunami, its people, and their relationship to nature. Finally, in celebration of International Day of Forests, 9 facts you should know about forests and trees. Don't forget to click the links!

FROM THE GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS:

LONGEST DISTANCE CYCLING BACKWARDS

LARGEST CYCLING RACE

MOST VERTICAL METERS RIDDEN IN 48 HOURS

MOST TREES PLANTED IN 1 HOUR

MOST TREES PLANTED IN 12 HOURS

MOST DANGEROUS TREE

FACT ABOUT FORESTS AND TREES.

SUNDAY SHOW & TELL
vol.23

Ukraine has been in the news a lot in recent weeks. Did you know it is home to The Red Forest, a swath of trees destroyed by Chernobyl that is now a wildlife refuge for endangered species? If you find that story captivating, be sure to peruse the list of ten amazing tree tales including the Japanese Miracle Pine, a computer game that fights tree disease, and the most dangerous tree in the world. Before you go, let us introduce you to Elly Blue, the woman who says cycling is the key to a healthy economy.

RETREET IN THE NEWS! We received a nice mention for our work in the wake of Hurricane Sandy in the March/April issue of Orion Magazine. Click the link below to read the article.

THE RED FOREST IN UKRAINE

TEN AMAZING STORIES ABOUT TREES

ELLY BLUE

SUNDAY SHOW & TELL
 vol.22

This week, we present some sweet links recently sent to us by RETREETers Robert and Patrycja. We hope you enjoy them!

Click the pictures below to see:

an image gallery of Patrick Dougherty's mind-blowing nest houses made of living trees;
the sad story of the world's loneliest tree, The Tree of Ténéré, that grew 250 miles away from its next of kin;
a pictoral history of the bicycle.

Thanks for sharing folks!

LIVING TREE HOUSE

THE WORLD'S LONELIEST TREE

PICTORAL HISTORY OF THE BICYCLE

SUNDAY SHOW & TELL
 vol.21

Google has teamed up with a number of environmental organizations to create Global Forest Watch, an interactive tool that both details the 500 million acres of forest that has been lost since 2000 and sends out alerts whenever further deforestation occurs. Click the link below or visit www.globalforestwatch.org to see more.

Then, learn about arborsculpture, the craft of training trees into useful and artistic shapes as they grow. On the flip side, check out some beautiful sculptures of trees created out of twisted strands aluminum wire.

Before you go, check out the clip from NBC about our most recent project, Trees for Cleburne!

GLOBAL FOREST WATCH

ARBORSCULPTURE

ALUMINUM WIRE TREE SCULPTURES

TREES FOR CLEBURNE!

SUNDAY SHOW & TELL
 vol.20

Take a virtual forest bath with images of some of the most beautiful trees on Earth. Then, check out a proposal from the George Mason University 2014 Cameron Rian Hays Outside the Box Competition that presents a vision for protected intersections for bicyclists. What do you think? Finally, meet Akira Miyawaki, the director of the Japanese Center for International Studies in Ecology, who is taking an all-natural approach to disaster prevention: growing a 40 million tree Great Wall of Forest.

Take a forest bath! (PHOTO GALLERY)

Proposal for a Protected Intersection for Bicyclists. (VIDEO)

The Scientist Who Has Planted 40 Million Trees as a Tidal Wave Shield. (ARTICLE)

SUNDAY SHOW & TELL
 vol.19

With the Winter Olympics in full swing, we wanted to share some links to quirky Russian stories about bikes, trees, and communities. So, click the links below to see:

A chainsaw-powered bicycle;
Some BMX cyclists jumping off the roof of a 16-story building;
The tale of a family who survived in the Siberian wilderness for 40 years without contact with the outside world;
More about the Taiga Forest, the largest terrestrial biome on Earth, in which 29% of the world's trees live.

If you want to learn more about life in the Taiga, check out Werner Herzog's documentary Happy People: A Year in the Taiga. In the meantime, enjoy the games!

Chainsaw Bike!

Russian Roof Jumping.

Surviving Siberia.

The Taiga Forest.

SUNDAY SHOW & TELL
 vol.18

102-year-old Robert Marchand astounded the crowd that gathered in Montigny-le-Bretoneux, France, to watch him beat his own centenarian record by riding 16.7 miles in an hour. What a beast!

Speaking of 102-years-old, that's the same age as the SS Ayrfield, a transport ship used in WWII that is now home to a floating forest in Homebush Bay, Australia. Beautiful!

If you think that's cool, check out the nearly 1,400 acre forest Jadav Payeng of India planted over 34 years in his community, a few saplings every day. Now home to wild elephants, rhinos, tigers, and deer, not only is the forest named after Jadav, it has earned him the official title "Forest Man of India."

102-year-old cyclist Robert Marchand.

102-year-old Floating Forest in Australia.

Jadav Payeng, the "Forest Man of India."

SUNDAY SHOW & TELL
 vol.17

Many of you are probably just sitting down to enjoy the Super Bowl, consistently the most-watched television broadcast of the year and the impetus behind the second largest day of food U.S. consumption, right behind Thanksgiving.

Did you know that the NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Committee sponsored the largest MillionTreesNYC planting to date and that it took place at Rockaway Community Park, right down the street from the sites of NYC reTREEt and Sandy Anniversary Planting? Have you seen the custom bicycle the mayor of Seattle will send to the mayor of Denver if the Seahawks lose? Click the links below to learn more, and read about the NFL's community efforts throughout NY/NJ leading up to this epic event.

If you are not that into football, consider going for a bike ride. You will rarely find clearer streets.

Happy Sunday!

Super Bowl Tree Planting in The Rockaways

The Super Bowl Bicycle

One World Super Huddle

SUNDAY SHOW & TELL
 vol.16

Nine generations of craftsmanship lead a Japanese shipwright to create some of the most beautiful bicycles we have ever seen. His main material is Honduran mohagany, and each custom-fit ride takes about $20,000 and three months to assemble. Think those are impressive numbers? See how a forest changes over fifteen months through 40,000 photos. As a parting thought, when your own time ends you might consider becoming a tree, with Bios Urn!

SUNDAY SHOW & TELL
 vol.15

Which came first, the rain or the rain forest? You might be surprised. Into DIY? Check out the cardboard bicycle project. Finish up SS&T with a look at how Hamburg, Germany plans to have a city without cars within 20 years. Talk about bike friendly!

Be sure to click the images below...