Bundled up in a rain jacket and donning a wide-brimmed straw hat, Dr Akira Miyawaki stood in front of 32 potted, twig-sized seedlings, each accompanied by an image of the mature tree it would one day become.
“I’m going to give you some of the 32 species’ names,” he explained to the employees of a Toyoda Gosei automotive parts plant in Lebanon, Kentucky, US. The trainees listened attentively. “It is very difficult to remember all 32, but please try to remember three or four. This is an American beech,” Miyawaki said, passing around one of the young trees. He encouraged everyone to feel the seedling, to use all of their five senses to get to know this plant that would become an integral member of the forest community they were about to set in the ground.
“The tree-planting …
Original title: The ‘mini forest’ revolution is here – and coming to a town near you
