Richard St. Barbe Baker

Richard St. Barbe Baker OBE ( born October 9, 1889 in Beacon Hill, Hampshire, United Kingdom, † June 9, 1982 in Saskatoon, Canada ) was a British forester, environmental activist and author. St. Barbe Baker sat down worldwide for reforestation and founded the Community of Men of the trees that act as International Tree Foundation today. The patronage of the international reforestation company took over Charles Mountbatten -Windsor, Prince of Wales. For his contributions to nature and environmental protection St. Barbe Baker was admitted to the Order of the British Empire in 1978.

Life

Early years

Richard St. Barbe Baker was born in 1889 as son of the pastor John Richard St. Barbe Baker and his wife Charlotte Purrott. His father ran a small nursery in St. Barbe Baker helped from an early age. 1909 St. Barbe Baker moved to Canada in the province of Saskatchewan, where he studied at the University of Saskatchewan theology. Besides, he wrote articles for various newspapers and worked in a lumberjack camp. St. Barbe Baker was increasing soil erosion on cleared areas and he began to be interested in forestry. In 1912 he returned to England and continued his theological studies at the University of Cambridge continued. 1914 St. Barbe Baker was drafted into the army and fought in World War I, among others, as a sniper in France. After several serious injuries St. Barbe Baker was discharged with the rank of captain in the military service. He went back to Cambridge and then studied forestry.

Work in Africa

1920 the graduated forestry scientist as an employee of the British Colonial Office to Kenya and saw the great problems of the clear-cutting of forests for the Kenyan population meant. In 1922, he founded a first nursery. Chief Josiah Njonjo translated St. Barbe Baker's concern for the men of the Kikuyu tribe. Convinced of the need for reforestation, the Kikuyu and St. Barbe Baker founded the Community Watu ma Miti (English: Men of the Trees, dt: Men of the Trees ), which had the reforestation goal. 1924 left St. Barbe Baker Kenya and went back to England, where he also introduced the Community Men of the trees. In England, he dealt with the religion of Bahai, which he also took as a result. That same year, St. Barbe Baker returned to Africa, this time to Nigeria. There he worked until 1929 on the conservation and reforestation of forests.

Work in Palestine and America

1929 was called to Palestine to start a reforestation program in the desert there St. Barbe Baker of High Commissioner of Palestine, Sir John Chancellor. Within a short time he established 42 nurseries and a Palestinian section of the men of the trees. He succeeded St. Barbe Baker, to implement a national tree planting day, which is celebrated every year according to the present.

St. Barbe Baker visited America and the Muir Woods National Monument on the west coast in the early 1930s. The Muir Woods National Monument similar redwood forests should soon be cut down to serve as a building material in the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge. St. Barbe Baker founded because of the Save the Redwoods campaign, raised funds, wrote newspaper articles, and talked on the radio about the worth protecting trees in California. 1939, 12,000 acres of large State Park was built, protected the trees.

Later life

St. Barbe Baker undertook in 1952 and 1964 major expeditions into the Sahara and there collected scientific data. He lived for a time in New Zealand and England and has lectured at numerous schools, traveled to different countries and campaigned for his concern. At the age of 92 years St. Barbe Baker died on a visit to his old university in Saskatoon.

Publications (selection)

  • Men of the Trees - In the Mahogany Forests of Kenya and Nigeria; 1931
  • Among the Trees; 1935
  • Trees - A book of the Season; 1940
  • The Redwoods; 1943
  • I Planted Trees; Lutterworth Press: London and Redhill, 1944
  • African Drums; 1945
  • Sahara Challenge; 1954
  • Kabongo; 1955
  • Dance of the Trees; 1956
  • Sahara Conquest; 1966
  • Richard St. Barbe Baker, Findhorn (ed. ): My Life, My Trees. Forres, 1985, ISBN 0-905249-63-1.
Plant nursery Integrated Authority File
743587
de