30 years ago, the founders of TreeFolks hatched a simple plan and it worked
“In December 1988, six friends crouched around a bonfire on a large farm near Cedar Park. Austinites Ken Gaede, David Kettler and Mark Dameron were part of that small party celebrating the winter solstice.
Global warming came up, as did the widespread destruction of the rainforests. Yet the conversation among those huddled around the campfire, who came of age in the 1960s and ’70s, moved inextricably from world affairs to local action.
“We were ruing the loss of trees from all the construction around town,” says Kettler, who recently retired from a roofing company that bears his name. “Bulldozers knocking things down left and right. We agreed that there was not much we could do about it. But at least we could each plant one tree.”
That’s what they did.”
Click here to read the rest of Michael Barnes’ article on the Austin American-Statesman’s website.
