Primedia Outdoor is creating waves of consciousness by taking their commitment to a healthy and sustainable quality of life to new levels. To achieve this they recently formalised a partnership with social enterprise FTFA, South Africa’s first social enterprise to address sustainable development through climate change action, food security and greening, with a strong focus on environmental and global warming awareness and education.

Primedia Outdoor, an outdoor billboard media company, has given their ongoing pledge to start to develop three permaculture food gardens in KwaZulu Natal, Gauteng and the Western Cape and to plant at least 100 trees every month for disadvantaged schools and community centres across the country, often in barren, dusty landscapes. 

 

Trees have always been very important to Primedia Outdoor, who have never cut down a single tree in order to set-up one of their billboards. 

 

“In light of the criticism that can shadow outdoor advertising, embarking on this partnership with Food & Trees for Africa marks the start of a long term goal to offset the carbon footprint of Primedia Outdoor on one hand, and establish a clearly defined framework in which to facilitate the upliftment of needy communities on the other,” according to Seshnee Naidu, Marketing Manager for Primedia Outdoor. 

 

The company acknowledges that green is the way forward and recognizes the benefits of measuring its’ carbon footprint, mitigating their environmental impacts and planting and conserving trees to offset carbon emissions, thus ultimately improving our environment.” 

 

In order to cascade awareness of the value of greening and sustainable development further and through their core business, Primedia Outdoor will facilitate the participation of staff and clients in this greening initiative by presenting them with tree certificates on their birthdays. These certificates acknowledge their part in this effort, as well as to gift a tree to a needy community, planted on their behalf by Primedia Outdoor.

 

The first three months worth of trees have been planted at the selected beneficiaries in the Gauteng, KwaZulu Natal and Western Cape provinces. This rollout of trees will continue monthly for the rest of the year. The three food garden sites have already been selected by Primedia Outdoor and the process of beginning the gardens is underway.

 

“2012 is our green year!” says Naidu. “It is paramount that all and any contributions toward this end lead to effective and sustainable results.”