但旅行并不符合他一贯所持的环保理念。在南非开普敦（Cape Town）的家中，他总是回收再利用，骑自行车，而不是开汽车，并试图做一个他所说的“有觉悟的消费者”——一个会考虑他所购买的产品背后的道德问题的人。

因此，在几年前，当他为了一部影片穿越12个国家旅行360,000公里后，他计算出了飞机燃料的环境成本。从计算中得知，他必须为此种植约600棵树。他将这个数字凑足1000棵，并动员朋友们为他抽出两个月时间帮他种树。他说：“我喜欢说服人们做他们通常不愿意做的事情。” 一旦开始种树，他们便意识到这比他们所想象的更有趣、更容易。

蒂斯代尔的想法一点点起步，而且有一个扩大影响的有效计划。

第一个月，他和他的伙伴们合作筹集资金，并提高公众对他们称为Greenpop的项目的认知。他们在繁忙的交通路口出售内置种子的卡片，上面写着“请加入植树革命”。他们通过“清除涂鸦”项目（“reverse graffiti” projects，通过清洗肮脏的市内墙面而创作的文字和艺术）扩大影响。他们穿着超级英雄斗篷、踩着滑板和滑板车在高峰时间繁忙的车流中穿行。他们吸引了远在挪威和美国的公司企业的注意，还有DHL等全球性公司为树苗提供资金，并动员员工成为志愿者。

在第二个月，他们种植树木，一边种一边学。最开始在西开普省(West Cape) 马斯弗梅勒勒(Masiphumelele)种植的五棵树用了四个半小时。而到月底的时候，他们已能在五个小时内种植300棵树。

该项目引起了极大的兴趣，结果他们比原先的1000棵树的目标多种了800棵，其他团体也都渴望参与进来。蒂斯代尔说，这原本是一个短期活动，“我们本打算种一千棵树，然后回到我们的本职工作中去。”

然而，他们将Greenpop继续进行下去。企业赞助商开始负担树木和种植者的费用。在启动以来的五年中，Greenpop已经在学校、医院、社区中心和其他城市地区，以及南非、赞比亚和坦桑尼亚各地的农场种植了57,000余棵树。

一些与Greenpop合作的公司承诺将他们的生产活动与植树联系起来。这些公司承诺每卖出一定数量的产品就种植一棵树。Greenpop将所种树木的GPS坐标发给他们，这样他们就可以制作树木地图。一些公司将说明他们已经种植了多少千棵树的证书展示出来。蒂斯代尔说：“这是一个公司可以例举的实实在在的好事。”

蒂斯代尔说，Greenpop已经参与了赞比亚和坦桑尼亚的植树造林工作，并且有一个“整个非洲大陆的项目数据库”。今年七月，Greenpop将举办第五届“赞比亚行动节”（Zambia Festival of Action）。该活动采取了大型音乐节的形式，但重点关注生态教育。蒂斯代尔说：“我想改变有关环境保护论的文化。这不仅仅与树有关，而是关系到将人们联系起来。” 

Misha Teasdale logged a lot of air travel working in documentary films.

But the travel didn’t square with his concern for the environment. Back at home in Cape Town, South Africa, he always recycled, rode his bike instead of hopping in his car and tried to be what he calls “a conscious consumer” — someone who considers the ethics behind the products he buys.

So a few years ago, after traveling 360,000 kilometers through 12 countries for a film, he calculated the environmental cost of the jet fuel. His calculations told him he’d have to plant around 600 trees. He rounded-up to 1,000 and recruited friends to give him two months of their time to help him plant. “I love convincing people to do things they generally wouldn’t want to do,” he said. Once they begin, they realize it’s more fun and easier than they had thought.

Teasdale’s idea started small, but with an effective plan for how to spread the word.

In the first month, he and his partners worked to raise money and awareness for the project they called Greenpop. They sold cards with seeds at busy traffic intersections that said “Join the treevolution.” They got the word out with “reverse graffiti” projects (text and art created by cleaning dirty urban surfaces). They rode through rush-hour traffic on skateboards and scooters wearing superhero capes. They attracted the attention of companies as far away as Norway and the U.S., and global corporations such as DHL funded seedlings and provided employee volunteers.

In the second month, they planted trees, learning as they went. The first five trees — in Masiphumelele in the Western Cape — took four and a half hours to plant. By month’s end, they could plant 300 trees in five hours.

The project attracted so much interest that they had 800 trees beyond the initial goal of 1,000, and other groups were eager to get involved. It was supposed to be a short campaign, Teasdale said. “We were going to plant a thousand trees then go back to our day jobs.”

Instead, they moved forward with Greenpop. Corporate sponsors began paying for the trees and the planters’ expenses. In the five years since starting, Greenpop has planted more than 57,000 trees at schools, hospitals, community centers and other urban sites as well as in forests and on farms across South Africa, Zambia and Tanzania.

Some companies working with Greenpop pledge to tie their production to tree plantings. For every so many products sold, companies pledge to plant a tree. Greenpop sends the GPS coordinates where trees are planted, so they can map them. Some companies display a certificate saying how many thousands of trees they have planted. “It’s a nice tangible thing for a company to be able to say,” Teasdale said.

Greenpop has become involved in reforestation efforts in Zambia and Tanzania and has “a database of projects across the continent,” according to Teasdale. This July, Greenpop will host its fifth annual Zambia Festival of Action. The event is modeled on large music festivals but focused on ecological education. “I want to change the culture around environmentalism,” said Teasdale. “It’s not just about trees, it’s about connecting people.”