Yokohama to hold tree-planting ceremony

Nov. 5, 2007

The Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. will hold a tree-planting ceremony on Nov. 11 at its Hiratsuka, Japan, factory as part of its "Yokohama Forever Forest" project -- a long-term project being carried out as part of the Yokohama Rubber Group's environmental preservation activities.

Local residents and employees of the Yokohama Rubber Group and their families -- about 3,500 people -- will plant 30,000 trees that day.

The company points out that if forests are created around factories and similar facilities, they will absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They also will contribute in other respects, including safety and recreation.

Over the coming 10 years, the Hiratsuka factory, six other Japanese plants and 11 plants at overseas affiliates will plant a total of 500,000 trees, creating about about 25 acres of new forests.

Professor Emeritus Akira Miyawaki of Yokohama National University will supervise the planting, which will be followed by various events including a discussion on stage between Tadashi Tateuchi, a noted automotive journalist, and Ukyo Katayama, a former F1 driver.

Dr. Akira Miyawaki is a biologist known for the concept of "potential natural vegetation," which is vegetation that is most suitable to the native area and habitat, supported by the existing conditions of location in the absence of any human intervention.

He has guided more than 1,500 tree-planting efforts both domestically and abroad, having thus helped in the planting of 30 million trees.