2 weeks, 12 schools, 200 fruit trees, & hundreds of students planting fruit trees! With the ever-increasing rates of childhood obesity & diet related illnesses in children, it is critical to introduce our youth to the wonder & importance of fresh foods. Schoolyard orchards excite & fascinate students, & create the next generation of environmental stewards. This project will plant over 200 trees with Arizona students, bringing the beauty & bounty of fruit trees into the cafeteria & playground!
Today's youth are so disconnected from nature & from their food source, with screens & technology taking up their free time & processed, dead, packaged foods overflowing their lunch trays. Fresh fruit grown on trees just outside their classroom, on trees they themselves helped plant, brings back the simple joys of a healthy childhood. Just think of the memories to be made while plucking a ripe peach from the branch & enjoying it in the shade with your fellow classmates...
Orchards provide students with fresh nutrition & a chance to get outside into a cleaner environment while simultaneously teaching important lessons on sustainability & to become excellent stewards of our planet. Orchards will beautify neighborhoods, supplement school lunch programs, & provide educational opportunities on how to grow your own fruit & re-localize food production. Every tree planted will also diversify, beautify, improve the local habitat, & provide shade from the hot Arizona sun!
When fully grown, a single Fruit Tree 101 orchard will, on average, produce 7,800 pounds of oxygen, sequester 10,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, filter 300 pounds of pollutants from the air, and produce 2,200 pounds of harvest EVERY YEAR. Additionally, the orchards serve as a teaching grounds and tools for inspiring the next generation of environmental stewards.
