Clan plants Alvarinho oak at Amarante Secondary

This Monday, the Clã went to the biodiversity class at Escola Secundária de Amarante and planted an oak tree (Quercus robur) in the establishment’s playground to mark the International Day of Biodiversity. Next to the tree, a plaque with a QRCode was placed that allows the user to access information on the species via mobile phone.

The initiative was part of a partnership between the Secondary School, City Council, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests and CoLAB Forestwise (Collaborative Laboratory for Integrated Forest and Fire Management).

Manuela Azevedo, Hélder Gonçalves and company literally put their hands in the ground to boost the growth of one of the “big” native trees that have existed in our country for thousands of years and whose wood, for example, is one of the best to age wine in the Harbor.

“I knew very well [meter as mãos na terra]in fact I am a girl from the countryside and I had the privilege of being born and raised in a village close to Vila do Conde”, she began by referring to JN the lead singer of Clã. harvesting things from the earth is a present thing.”It was very tasty, digging a little hole to put our Alvarinho oak in this school”, added Manuela Azevedo.

Minutes earlier, in a meeting with students in the auditorium of Secundária de Amarante, the urgency of everyone contributing to saving the planet was stressed. As far as Clã is concerned, the band says it is committed to reducing the ecological footprint of the concerts they play from north to south of the country. For example, they bought canteens to reduce plastic (bottles) and promote water conservation, eliminated meat consumption and reduced the amount of food in the buffets (to avoid food waste) and, whenever possible, the musicians and their staff take the train to concerts. By road, only the equipment and instruments will go.

“I think it’s best not to lose hope with the will to continue fighting to inform the youngest. Doing things like these. Planting a tree here, another there, is the path pointed out by David Attenborough in the documentary ‘A life on our planet’ and that I still remember today on the trip to Amarante”, contextualized Manuela Azevedo.

Rogério Rodrigues from CoLAB Forestwise appealed to young people to “see in the forest the professional path to pursue, where there is 100% employability”.

teach the elders

José Luís Gaspar, mayor of Amarante, highlighted the work that the municipality has carried out on the banks of the rivers, namely in combating and replacing weeds with indigenous trees, and called for everyone’s responsibility. “We planted thousands of native trees and many were stolen, and this is not a responsible posture”, he pointed out, addressing students so that the new generation can be a new force in the defense of biodiversity by teaching the older ones.

It should be recalled that this initiative by Escola Secundária de Amarante began in 2019 with Blind Zero sponsoring the planting of an Freixo Duarte D’Armas tree – a clone of the ash tree that is an ex-libris of Freixo de Espada à Cinta. In 2021, it was the GNR who, celebrating 41 years of career, offered 41 trees to be planted in the municipality, each named after a song by the Porto trio.