Volunteers in the Romanian city of Timisoara are using an app to locate and water saplings planted by the local authorities. Their mission: to make caring for urban trees everyone's responsibility.

Timișoara

In Timisoara, Romania, a group of volunteers known as the Green Twin Project is supporting the city's efforts to green urban spaces by watering newly planted trees. The initiative began when IT specialist Andrei Bora noticed that, despite the city's planting of hundreds of trees, many saplings were not receiving enough water due to climate change, budget constraints, and staff shortages.

The Green Twin Project has grown from a small group of friends into a larger community effort, aided by a custom app that tracks which trees need watering and when. The app allows users to scan QR codes on trees for information and awards points for watering, encouraging civic engagement. Local authorities have welcomed the project, highlighting its positive impact on the environment and community.

Romania: The Green Twin tree-watering movement of Timisoara

An old Romanian proverb says that to lead a fulfilled life, you have to start a family, build a house and plant a tree. But no one ever talks about what happens to the tree after it's been planted. Even though it's autumn and it rained for three days, the soil is still dry and it needs as much water as possible. IT specialist Andrei Bora lives in the western Romanian city of Timișoara. In recent years, Andrei began noticing that the city was becoming greener. This is because the local authorities have planted hundreds of trees in recent years. However, due to climate change, budget constraints and staff shortages, they're not able to water the saplings as often as necessary. So Andrei decided to do something about it. At first, Andrei's friends joined him just for fun, but soon, the Green Twin Project was born. Graphic designer Tunde Maier saw their posts on social media and decided to join in. Over time, the initiative grew from being an after-work hobby into almost a part-time job. For the authorities, the work done by the Green Twin volunteers is a great help. We appreciate such initiatives and they are a source of hope. They show the commitment to the community and the concern for the environment, especially in the summer, which has become hotter and drier. Ionel Morginan has been involved right from the word go. Together, he and Andrei designed the Green Twin app, which shows the location of the trees and, in real time, whether they've been watered or still need to be. We want to put QR codes on the tree, so that any passerby can scan the code and see the data about who gave it, who is responsible, what species, what it is called, when it was planted and so on. Everyone can see where the trees are, when they were watered last time and then you can take a walk near the house. We really want to make it a game and make it cool and fun. In some respects, the app already resembles a game. If you water a tree, you get points. But this isn't the main reason why people use the app. There was a civic spirit in me, which was a bit latent. It was sleeping. Probably because we are busy with our daily activities, which don't leave us much time to relax. And I realized that this can be very relaxing and you feel very good after you help. And the Green Twin team really does help the trees, the city and the environment in general. But its mission doesn't end there. This could well happen. After all, their budding tree-watering movement has already, quite literally, borne fruit.

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