Misha had the idea for Greenpop after racking up 360 000 air miles while doing an advertising job with Rowan Pybus. They wanted to offset their carbon footprint but couldn’t face just handing over money – they wanted to get their hands dirty. Misha gathered like-minded individuals and started a campaign which aimed to plant 1000 trees in one month and get as many people involved as possible.
The idea took off and after the initial month, it was evident that there was a huge need and his idea turned into something much bigger – he founded Greenpop with Lauren and Jeremy.
Misha has an industrial design and media background with a passion for appropriate technologies and a systems approach to solving problems. He spent 6 months driving from Cape Town to London on the ‘Doing it for Africa’ project which profiled NGOs on the continent, was a producer for the fundraising event ‘Night of 1000 Drawings’ and has been called a ‘human doing’ by friends for his anything-is-possible approach to life.
misha@greenpop.org
After studying law and education, Lauren walked, worked, waitressed, bussed and hitchhiked through an interesting mix of countries and continents looking for adventure and inspiration. She spent two years as a high school teacher and then explored a variety of careers including a venture in online education.
In the quest to find something that felt right, she gave writing and editing a go. At the time, magazines were starting to include ‘green’ sections and Lauren began exploring. She loved writing about all things green, but needed to be more hands on and reconnect with her education roots.
On the 1000 Trees campaign, Lauren’s writing skills helped get the word out about a bunch of friends starting some sort of a treevolution. When the initial month ended and it became clear that the project had to go on, Lauren co-founded Greenpop and has now found what feels right. She directs Greenpop’s marketing and communications, educates, strategises, plans, plants, writes and learns lots everyday.
lauren@greenpop.org
Jeremy received a Bsc Honours in Property Development & Finance at the University of Cape Town with the intent of a career in asset management. But with a desire for adventure & armed with his Yachtmaster’s license, he found himself on a superyacht, visiting over 20 countries in 2 years, exploring dream destinations, evading pirates, discovering life and understanding the damage that can be done in pursuits of things that are bigger, better & faster. To stay sane, he spent hours in his cabin refining his music.
Returning to Cape Town, Jeremy re-connected with long time friend Misha and got involved with the campaign to plant 1000 trees. Realising that the cause had a bigger purpose, both personally and for the broader community, he co-founded Greenpop with Misha and Lauren.
Jeremy lends passion and power to the project, as well as structure through academic training. Jeremy’s music has taken off as fast as Greenpop has, and he spends his days working on Greenpop, and his nights as Jeremy Loops. jeremy@greenpop.org
Bevan is Greenpop’s consulting Nursery Director. He is a horticulturalist, lover of unusual plants and avid mountain hiker. Bevan is going to Zambia to assist with our tree growing operations there in partnership with Zambezi Nkuku and will be an integral part of the Trees for Zambia project.
Marleen is Greenpop’s Sales/Corporate liaison and Project Developer. She works predominantly on the Trees for Zambia project having lived in Livingstone and worked on a variety of volunteer projects. She loves photography and has a passion for the African continent and conservation education.
Sydeny is Greenpop’s Bead Crafts Manager. He makes, markets and sells our Tree Rings which represent real trees that Greenpop plants on the buyers behalf. Sydeny also does bead work with abused women as a form of therapy, comes to plant trees regularly and is passionate about creating meaningful gifts with his crafts.
Kelvin is Greenpop’s Nursery and Vegetable Garden Manager. He has serious green fingers and is also a lover of literature. He writes poetry and short stories and his dream is to write a book about the possibilities of the African continent.
Rowan is Greenpop’s Video Guru. He owns Makhulu Productions (Greenpop’s film media partner) and conceptualises, produces, films and consults on Greenpop’s video content. Rowan is an artist at heart and sees life in beautiful pictures. He has a passion for providing a platform to expose South Africa’s good news and everyday heros.
Kyla is a filmmaker for Makhulu Productions, Greenpop’s film media partner. She films, edits and masters our planting and event videos and joins us on many a planting mission. Kyla studied Journalism and is an expert in telling people’s stories.
Devin is Greenpop’s GIS mapping specialist. He developed our Tree Map and works on our GPS system to map and record all our trees. He studied GIS in Canada and has worked on high profile and innovative mapping projects. Devin also throws top class events in Cape Town and is the ultimate ‘can do’ man.
Julia is a Greenpop Treevolutionary and works on our volunteer projects, events, planting days and much more. She is a passionate eco-warrior, energy saver, tree lover and has a keen interest in sustainability economics.
Ashlea is a Greenpop Treevolutionary and works on our events management. She has had an amazing ability to plan her own entire wedding while also taking on the mountain of work that is Greenpop events. She also plants lots of trees and loves being outdoors.
Konrad is a Greenpop Treevolutionary and works on our monitoring and sustainability model, ensuring that our schools are contacted regularly and that trees are being cared for well. He is also a sharp journalist and reporter in the making.
Julia, Tessa and Ruth are Greenpop Treevolutionaries and work on our schools programme which sees well resourced schools buying trees and coming out to plant them at schools with less resources. This programme facilitates much-needed social bridging among South African youth. These three treevolutionaries are also inspiring Marimba players and have a band called TouchWood.
Wade is a Greenpop Treevolutionary and one of our logistics planners and doers as well a regular plant day assistant. He’s always ready to mission around and help get the project done to see a greener, happier environment.
Stephen is a Greenpop Treevolutionary and works on our tree monitoring programme, checking that the trees are being cared for and making sure that our tree survival rate is kept as high as possible. Steve is also studying engineering and loves riding his bicycle around town.
Ever since I joined Greenpop on the tree #1000 planting day last year I’ve been impressed by the work Greenpop does. So here I am now, straight from Hamburg, Germany, with my bags full of excitement and a never-stopping drive to contribute, keen to learn as much as I can while planting and loving trees.
Brigitte is a Greenpop Treevolutionary and one of our tree monitors. She also cooks up a storm to keep tummies full with healthy food on Greenpop training days at Kirstenbosch. She was just as capable cooking in a makeshift forest kitchen to keep 100 hungry tree planters happy at the Greenpop Reforest Fest.
Viv is a Greenpop Treevolutionary and is working on our education programme for schools. She is passionate about teaching using creative methods so that children have fun, experience the learning and retain the knowledge.
Mike is Greenpop’s web designer of our new amazing website. He also has incredibly green fingers and a home vegetable garden to behold.
Kream Web is the studio of freelance web developer Emanuela Castorina. Her knowledge, passion and patience helped us produce a great site. Kreamweb
© 2011 Greenpop