ecobites.com

Making your life greener - one bite at a time.

Arbor Day is a nationally-celebrated observance that encourages tree planting and care.

Raise the flag, strike up the band, make Arbor Day fun.With the following ideas for a Great Arbor Day Celebration. Plus dates for Arbor Day Around The World...

What is Arbor Day?

Founded by J. Sterling Morton in Nebraska in 1872, National Arbor Day is celebrated each year on the last Friday in April.

National Arbor Day is the last Friday in April, but many states observe Arbor Day on different dates according to their best tree-planting times
http://www.arborday.org/arborday/

  Good Ideas for a Great Arbor Day Celebration

Raise the flag, strike up the band, make Arbor Day fun. Make it memorable. Organize a fun run. Make it a real event. See if a local business will donate prizes. Have a poster contest, or a poetry contest. Get the local PTA to sponsor a children's pageant or play. Check out the Arbor Day Play, where the statue of J. Sterling Morton comes to life to tell the children how he "authored" this special holiday. Organize and train volunteers to help you carry out Arbor Day ceremonies in your schools.

Get people excited. Show them things they've never seen before. Tell them things about trees they've never heard.

Fill the air with music. Have an Arbor Day concert of songs about trees, or with tree names in their titles.

Get people into action. Ask a civic or service group to promote a paper drive to gather paper to be recycled and save a tree. Use the proceeds to buy a special tree to plant in a park or other special public place. Ask a local radio station to sponsor a tree trivia contest and give away trees to winners. Conduct a tree search. Ask people to find large, unusual or historic trees in your community. Tell people to take a hike--a tree identification hike--and have girl scouts or boy scouts act as guides.

 Dedicate a forest, or a tree, or a flower bed in a park, and make it an occasion to talk about stewardship. Get a local nursery or garden center to hold an open house or field day. Organize an Arbor Day Fair.

 Get people together. Encourage neighborhood organizations to hold block parties and get their members to adopt and care for street trees in front of their homes. Pass out buttons. Give away trees.

 Celebrate Arbor Day in a personal way by planting a tree yourself. It is an act of optimism and kindness, a labor of love and a commitment to stewardship.

 Anyone can do it. Start a tree seed in a cup, or a seedling in a pot. If you have no place to set it out later, give it to someone who does, and then watch it grow together. Find a place to plant a seedling or a sapling or the largest tree you can handle alone.

 Arbor Day Around The World

Arbor Day is celebrated in many countries around the world. Here are some highlights:

 In Australia, Arbor Day is in June, with the National Tree Day falling on the last weekend in July. Arbor Week falls at different times around Australia:

Western Australia—June
Northern Territory—Nov
Queensland—May
South Australia—June
New South Wales—July
Victoria—May
Australian Capitol Territory—Sept
Tasmania—Oct
In Brazil, Arbor Day is September 21. Dia dos Arvores used to be held on June 7th, but was moved to September 21st to coincide with the beginning of spring in the Southern Hemisphere. In Araras, Sao Paulo, it has been continuously celebrated since the first Festa das 'Arvores on June 7, 1902.

Barbados has National Arbor Day as an annual event on September 22.

Bulgaria's National Forest Day is celebrated during the first week of April.

 In Canada, Maple Leaf Day falls on the last Wednesday in September during National Forest Week. Some provinces celebrate their own Arbor Day:

Ontario has Arbor Week from the last Friday in April to the first Sunday in May.

 
Nova Scotia celebrates Arbor Day on the Thursday during National Forest Week, which is the first full week in May.

 
China celebrates Arbor Day or Tree Planting Day as a public holiday on March 12. It commemorates the passing of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the Father of the Nation, in 1925.

 The Commonwealth of the Northern Marianna Islands (CNMI) celebrates Arbor Day on Oct 1 every year. The Governor of the CNMI traditionally does a Proclamation of Arbor Day on the last week of September. Celebrations generally extend into an Arbor Month throughout the month of October.

German Arbor Day, Tag des Baumes, is celebrated on April 25.

Guam has Arbor Day on the second Tuesday of October.

 Holland celebrated the 50th Dutch National Tree Festival on March 22, 2006.

 Iceland has Students’ Afforestation Day.

 India celebrates the National Festival of Tree Planting.

 In Israel, Tu Bishvat or Tu B'Shevat, New Year of the Trees, is celebrated on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat.

Japan has Greenery Day, Midori Noni, or Greening Week. This is usually in late April.

Jordan's Arbor Day is January 15.

Korea celebrates Tree-Loving Week in early April.

Malta celebrates Arbor Day on January 15 every year.

Mexico celebrates Dia del Arbol (Day of the Tree) or National Tree Day in July

Namibia first celebrated Arbor Day on October 8, 2004.

New Zealand celebrates Arbor Day on June 5, which is also World Environment Day.

Philippines celebrates June 25 as Philippine Arbor Day.

Puerto Rico celebrates Arbor Day on the last Friday in September.

Scotland's Scottish Branch Arbor Day celebrated March 20-21, 2004 in Argyll.

South Africa celebrates Arbour Week from September 1-7.

Spain has Fiesta del Arbol (Tree Festival) on March 26, the anniversary of the day in 1895 when King Alfonso planted a pine tree near Madrid.

Togo has Togolese Arbor Day.

Tunisia's Tree Festival Day is November 9.

The United Kingdom celebrates National Tree Week at the start of tree planting season in November. It is organized by the Tree Council. They also celebrate National Tree Dressing Day on the first weekend in December, which is organized by the environmental charity Common Ground Trees.

In The United States, National Arbor Day is the last Friday in April, and each state celebrates its own Arbor Day according to the best planting time.

The U. S. Virgin Islands celebrates Arbor Day the last Friday in September.

Western Samoa Arbor Day is the first Friday in November.