Since November 2019, at one of the lawns in Warsaw’s Jazdów Park—in a place called Skwer Strehla—the Beech of PRZEKRÓJ is growing. The tree, planted to mark the foundation’s first anniversary, will remain there for the next several hundred years, providing shelter for the birds, as well as oxygen for us all.
The ten-year-old sapling may seem fragile, but in thirty to forty years it will become a majestic tree, up to fifty meters tall, with a wide-spreading crown, shiny leaves, and a smooth, silvery trunk.
Maybe some birds will nest in its branches? Certainly it will be visited by squirrels, as the beech nuts are their favorite treat. The tree will cool down the ground and provide shade for the grass. It will purify the air—a mature European beech produces enough oxygen for four to five people. If no one disturbs our tree, it can continue growing for the next three hundred to five hundred years. Planting trees is the best gift we can give to ourselves and to future generations.
An important part of the PRZEKRÓJ Foundation’s mission is to carry out activities dedicated to the common good and nature. Among the articles that we publish in our magazine there is a lot of content about the power of conscious breathing. Clean air—which, in fact, becomes a part of our bodies for the brief moment that we are breathing in and out—is an absolute priority to us, as it affects our emotions and overall well-being. This is why planting a tree was the best possible celebration of the foundation’s first anniversary.
Each year during the LABA Festival, in the shade of our beech (for now, it is simply a symbolic shade!) a reading of the Przekrój quarterly takes place. Our authors, as well as prominent actors and amazing voice actors, present articles they have chosen from our quarterly, many of which focus on ecological or social issues.
The tree is looked after by the PRZEKRÓJ Foundation and Solatorium, a team of environmental activists based in the neighborhood where the beech is planted.