Faced with failing crops and a significant disability, a lot of us would admit defeat. But if there's one person who can teach us all a thing or two about not giving up, it's one of T4T's brightest stars: Rifai, an Albizia tree farmer. Albazia is a fast growing tropical tree that can reach a diameter of 30cm (11 inches) in just 5 years.

Rifai uses only his left leg to walk; his right leg doesn't work, and it hasn't since he suffered illness and high fever as a baby. Close up, you would, of course, notice his disability and see how it affects his day-to-day-life, but when we see Rifai out working in the fields, taking care of his land and his trees, we see only a hero.

A day in the life of a one-man-band…

Every day, he walks around half a kilometer to reach his place of work (we'll call it work, even though, for him, it's a passion!), and the first thing he does when he gets there is look at every single tree planted in the field, to see if it's growing well. He could employ someone else to do it, but for Rifai, seeing his Albizia trees mature is like watching his own children grow.

In fact, unlike many other farmers in the country, Rifai is very much a one-man-band, taking care of every step of the growing process. Ever since he started farming Albizias around 20 years ago, he's nurtured them from seedling to sapling, and protected them from bugs and other environmental factors as they've grown into canopied beauties bursting with pink flowers and seed pods.

The tough old days…

But it wasn't always like that… In the beginning, Rifai tried growing other forest trees -but the soil in his fields lacked nutrients, making the job near impossible. So he looked for a variety of tree that might grow happily on his land, and that's when he encountered the Albezia tree.

Rifai's problems didn't end there, however. When he first started growing Albezias, many seedlings were found dead, with yellow leaves and dry stems. And those that did survive until harvest season were given a low value, due to their slim trunks, which didn't match up to market standards.

Eureka!

But Rifai persisted, continuing to grow this particular species of tree whilst observing the effect of any changes he made on the way they developed. And eventually, his dedication paid off; he discovered the secret ingredient to growing strong and healthy Albezias! A secret that had eluded him and other farmers for a long time. In fact, all that was required was a bit of thinning out – a process which involves cutting short branches to maximize the diameter of the stem.

All for one, and one for all!

Rifai continued to work alone until 2013, when he joined the Trees4Trees planting program and began receiving Albizia trees donated by our sponsors and supporters. We know these contributions mean a lot to him – on both an emotional and a financial level (even if you know how to grow trees, it doesn't mean you have the resources required for doing it). He tells us he really appreciates the ongoing support and guidance he gets from Trees4Trees, too.

Naturally, we're very happy that Rifai benefits so much from Trees4Trees, but we have a lot to thank him for too. Never have we met someone whose passion for their work has helped them overcome so many obstacles. Rifai is a true source of inspiration and we're incredibly proud to work with him.

We all know that wood is a multipurpose commodity that is used for furniture, fuel, clothes, tissue, paper and so on. The high demand for trees has caused a serious problem: deforestation. It’s been a common problem since long ago and we are still cutting more than we are replanting.

Deforestation is still with us and it’s been in the news since the forests of Indonesia, Brazil and other tropical countries are burning each year. But do you know that there are also many “small deforestations” happening around us? They are happening near us all the time without us realizing it.

1. Homes everywhere

Have you ever wondered why you can see houses almost everywhere? If yes is your answer, then you are not alone. We can see homes are increasing just by seeing billboards in every corner of the city with ads for new homes.
There are several factors that affect this situation; one is the population growing year by year. The population data from Geohive.com shows that the world population grew 1.09% on average from 2014 to 2015, now more than 7.3 billion.
This situation of course, forces people to convert land into residences to live. If the land was covered by trees, then they must be cut, and this reduces the number of trees in the area.

2. The valleys are filling up

When you used to go traveling to the mountains, there would be trees or green plants as far as you could see. But now it’s a bit different. You may very well see those green areas taken up by houses, which shows that there’s not enough land in the city for everyone to settle down. This situation will probably cause some environmental problems in the future, including more deforestation, providing fresh water, strengthening the soil, and preventing flooding.

3. Where is the park?

“Why can’t I find a park in my city?”
We surely need a place for relaxation between our daily routine, school, work and responsibilities. The easiest and fastest place to go is to the park. But there are many cities where you can hardly find park. Then the only place we can go for relaxation is a mall or shopping center. If there are no parks where we can just sit and breathe fresh air, walk with pets, or do sports like jogging in the morning, we lose a big part of a happy life.

The world population is growing and putting pressure on natural spaces, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing we can do to save this situation and make a better living space. Awareness about the environment is needed and action should come from everyone and every house. We can plant some trees or grow a garden to create a green zone in every house. By doing this, the environment will be sustainable over time and will provide us and our animal friends a better living.

This action also should come together with support from the government to preserve green zones in the city. Let your local officials know that this is important to you and they should support more green parks in and around the city.

The world and nature have many places for you and your own adventure, and the way to get it is simply, by travelling. Who doesn’t love travelling? We can see beautiful places and know how it feels like to be there!
But what we are writing about is more than that. What we mean about traveling is not about just going there for a while, seeing the panorama and eating the cuisine, and then taking some selfies.
Travelling is a way to go to places you barely know, have new experiences, learn about the local community and its culture, nature.  What we are trying to say is experience something new! It’ll be fun, right?
Here are amazing places you can travel for your adventure in Asia.

1. Rinjani Mountain, Indonesia
It’s been known that this mountain is a real real real place to get your adrenaline pumping.
How come? Rocky ground, uphill trails, and rough terrain that need extra energy, preparation and fit body, especially to get to the top of the mountain. We are not talking about Mount Everest, but Indonesia’s second highest mountain, Mount Rinjani, that will show you super amazing scenery and great sensation of hiking.
It is located in Lombok Island, next to Bali, and has become one of people’s favorite both local and foreigners. This mountain is part of Mount Rinjani National Park, an ecosystem of rain forest and savana with more than 40.000 hectares of area. Rinjani has 3.726 m height above the sea. The unique thing about this mountain is Segara Anak, a lake with a beautiful waterfall in the east of the mountain. Rinjani park has other small mountains, Barujari and Rombongan, that are incredibly beautiful, especially at sunset.
Rinjani is also one of sacred sites for Hindu and Sasak tribe along with Mount Semeru and Mount Agung, mountains that their gods live in.
On your way to the top of Rinjani, you may see local animals and plants with lots of birds, monkeys, butterflies, strawberries, orchids and edelweiss. Rinjani will delight your eyes for its beauty from the beginning to the end of hiking. Most explorers – both local and foreign, believe that Rinjani has the most enjoyable hiking with dramatic panoramas.

2. Raja Ampat, Indonesia
Still in Indonesia, it is one of the best place for diving in the world – Raja Ampat. Located in West Papua and surrounded by 4 islands, Waigeo, Misool, Salawati and Batanta.
There is a myth that local people believe about Raja Ampat that always attracks travelers around the world. Because this myth is believed as the history of Raja Ampat. There are some stories according to some sources found, but generally, the myth starts with 7 eggs found by a woman. The 4 eggs hatched and became the kings for four main islands, Waigeo, Misool, Salawati dan Batanta. These four kings became the name for Raja Ampat. Ampat or empat means four, and Raja means King.
The other 3 eggs hatched and became a ghost that less story found about this, a woman, and a rock. A woman, named Pintolee, was found pregnant. To cover this, her 4 brothers sent her to an island called Numfor, today known as Biak. The rock alone, named Kupatnai, still was believed and treated as a king by placing it in a special room. Every year, the rock is bathed and the water will be used for a baptism tradition for Kawe tribe. Today, local people still respect the existence of the rock, so they build a house near Waikeo river as the place of worship.
Raja Ampat waters have been recognized as one of the top ten world’s best sites for diving and also as number one for the completeness of underwater flora and fauna at the moment. The water is still pure with green and blue color. If you dive into the water, you may see many species of fishes that are found only there, and many colourful corals. There are more than 1.320 of fish species and 540 hard corals, which means Raja Ampat has more than 70% of world’s total number of corals. The most amazing thing about Raja Ampat is it contains 600 small islands spread throughout the area. The water ecosystem in Raja Ampat is well known as one of the most exotic places and a good way to get an idea of this is in the film Edi’s Paradise 3. The movie mentions that Raja Ampat is the Ocean Amazon of the World.

3. Derawan Archipelago, Indonesia
Located in East Kalimantan. Derawan begins to be famous as World Heritage Site for UNESCO in 2005. This is because Derawan is a virgin underwater park with rare and protected species of fauna like green turtle, hawksbill turtles, whales, dolphins, clams, coconut crabs, mermaid fish, barracuda and dugongs.
Derawan has been a nice place to dive for local and foreigners. Visitors can see the beauty of its underwater world, many rare species of corals, with 460 to 470 of corals species.
One of the unique things about visiting this place is Derawan has a jellyfish lake named Kakaban. This kind of lake are only 2 in the world! In Derawan and Palau Republic – and Derawan has the highest number of jellyfish. You can swim with the jelly fish because they are stingless.

4. Chocolate Hills, The Philippines
One of the most interesting places in The Philippines. The Chocolate Hills is a geological formation from at least 1.2668 separate mounds spreading in all over Bohol Islands. The surprising thing about this place is that every mound is symmetrical and have similar heights, around 98-164 meter and covered by grass. No theories can explain how this place formed.

5. Cherrapunji, India
Located in the Indian state of Meghalaya. It is credited as being the wettest place on earth because it receives the most rainfall in a calendar month and in a year, with maximum amount of rainfall in a single year: 26,471mm (almost 87 feet) between August 1860 and July 1861 and 9.300mm (31 feet) in a single month, July 1861. Cherrapunji holds two Guiness World Records as the place that receives the most rainfall ever.
In general, Cherrapunji receives rainfall for 180 days a year, mostly for June to September. The rainfall mostly comes at night, so the visitors can enjoy the adventure of Cherrapunji without even getting wet. Cherrapunji is also famous for its living bridges. Over hundreds of years the people in Cherrapunji have developed techniques for growing roots of trees into large bridges. The process takes 10–15 years and the bridges typically last hundreds of years, the oldest ones in use being over 500 years old.

6. Luang Prabang, Laos
Beaches and mountains always offer us to experience the exoticism of nature. The same thing goes for a city with history and a strong culture. A perfect combination between local wisdom taking care for history that has been registered as World Heritage UNESCO.
Luang Prabang or Louanghrabang is a city in northern Laos. Its first name was Xiang Dong Xiang Thong, a capital city of Lan Xang kingdom. The question is, what makes this city so special for UNESCO and for most people to visit?
Luang Prabang is famous for its traditional architecture of buildings spread over the city and which are well taken care by locals. This harmony between local people, the way they keep the city and artefacts clean, green, and well managed for generations. This kind of treatment reflects inspiration how to give respect to heritage. This is why this site is creditec as World Heritage from UNESCO.
The richness of Luang Prabang architecture reflects the mix of styles and materials, the fusion of Lao traditional urban architecture with the colonial era. The majority of buildings in this city are temples, it makes Luang Prabang also known as the temple city.

7. Altai Mountain
A mountain range in Central Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together with 2 major rivers, Ob and Irtysh. The name Altai comes from the Mongolian word for ‘gold’ and ‘mountains’. Gold also is the color of the ground and the trees.
When you hike this mountain, the coolest thing about it is its mountainous terrain, high and rugged mountain ridged, separated by narrow and deep river valleys with the highest point named Mount Belukha. Hiking this mountain can be said as never-ending experience. Altai mountain supports diverse flora and fauna that includes 72 species of mammals and around 310 of birds.

So, those are 7 places that we think unique and amazing to travel to. Maybe, you can add 1 or more of those places in your 2016 resolutions, right?
 

Why trees, anyway? What makes trees are so important?
We all know that trees have many functions during their life and even after, not only for humans but also for other living things and whole ecosystems. It can be said trees are essential. Let us tell you why we think trees are important for our nature.

1. Trees provide oxygen
Trees are ones of many living things that produce oxygen which we and our fellow creatures need to breathe; humans, animals, fungus and even microorganisms. In the other words, we probably could not exist if there were no trees. The oxygen produced by 1 tree will sustain 2 people every day as long as the tree is alive. Trees produce oxygen in day time by the process of photosynthesis, a process that needs carbon dioxide and light from the sun to produce nutrients for the tree and oxygen. The nutrients will be distributed throughout the tree and oxygen will be released, we use it for breathing.

2. Trees clean the air
Trees absorbs pollutant gases such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxides and nitrogen oxides produced from transportation and other human activities by absorption through their leaves. The tree then breaks down the pollutants to nutrients for the soil.

3. Trees save water and soil.
Trees’ root systems take in water and then release it into the atmosphere. This is the way that trees maintain the rain cycle and keep the planet hydrated. Trees’ roots are also strong and hold soil to help prevent erosion.

4. Trees provide a canopy and a habitat
When groups of trees grow up to become a forest, they provide a home for many living things – biodiversity. Forests become the hosts in a symbiotic ecosystem. This amazing wildlife will enrich nature and of course, we – humans, are able to learn from them.

5. Trees and their benefits to many sectors
Besides the ecological value described above, trees also provide economic, social and science benefits. The wood we use for furniture and home building comes from trees. Even some use other materials for building materials, still most of us use wood for our homes and furniture. Our books and magazines, musical instruments, pencils and even clothes are made from wood! Those products have been produced by businesses for centuries and helping to employ people ever since. And don’t forget the fruit trees that provide nutrition for our healthy lifestyle.
Not all of us realize that trees improve our personal lives – especially in town. The streets, parks, and playgrounds are filled with trees that create a peaceful, refreshing and aesthetic places that you want to visit more often. We’d rather see these green zones than buildings everywhere, right?

Trees are essential, not only for us, but also to entire earth, and we just mention a few of trees’ benefits. If we lose our trees, slowly but surely, our planet will change and our climate become unstable. Global warming is the danger signal that we see now. The climate changes every year. Longer dry seasons and shorter rainy seasons. Even so, the climate becomes more severe and we frequently see flooding, especially in big cities. This is happening globally and people around the world are feeling the same concern about environmental damage.

Office is the place that working men and women spend 1/3 of their time daily, for five days every week. It’s the place where people are busy with their daily tasks. Here we give some green tips that you can do at work, so no matter how busy you are, you still can participate in helping to make the world a healthier place.

 

1. Go paperless when possible
Think before you print. Consider if the file should be kept digital or printed. This habit will reduce the use of paper. If you want to print some files to check or read, consider to reuse paper on the back side.

2. Use laptop than PC
Laptop use 50% of the energy used by a typical desktop PC. This will reduce the use of energy.

3. Maximize laptop/computer efficiency
Don’t just leave your laptop/computer when you are about to grab lunch or break time. Turn on sleep mode, it will reduce energy up to 50%. When you come back to use it, it will automatically wake up and be ready to use.

4. Save energy!
Turn off your office appliances like lamps and air conditioners when you are leaving or not using them.

5. Use public transportation
Consider to use public transportation like bus or train or ride a bike to reduce carbon footprint.

6. Get some green inside your office
Bring some green friends to brighten your office room. Choose plants that can absorb indoor pollution to refresh and keep the air pure.

Green lifestyle isn’t just something we do at home, we can spread this way of life throughout every aspect of our lives, that includes at school. We can teach our younger generation about simple responsible behavior to help our planet. Here we give some green advice about what to do at school.

1. Sort the trash
Children can sort the trash between organic or non-organic trash. This will help them to increase their environment awareness.

2. Clean the classroom everyday
Make daily schedule for students who are in charge to clean the classroom. This will help embed responsibility for each student about the environment in a small scale.

3. Do the 3R!
Children are often more creative! They probably have ideas to turn things into something more useful by doing the 3R’s. Use this activity for extracurricular activity.

4. Take them on a green field trip
It’s more effective to expose them to real experience by visiting some places where they can learn more about environment. Villages, conservation areas, or take them for camping.

5. Start gardening
Getting students involved in taking care of the school’s garden. This real activity will stimulate their mindset about environment in the future….it will also help them eat their vegetables.

6. Write something about nature
Encourage the students to write some topics about environment, and the result of their papers can be shown at school’s information board as their credit. This will stimulate their imagination and their intentions about the natural world they want for the future.