We have written before about Thailand’s Crown Prince and his love of cycling and now the whole country has been alerted to the fact by his leadership of the “Bike for MOM” events to celebrate Mother’s Day and the Queen’s birthday.

This event is a welcome promotion for cycling where Car Free Day means cars as usual, unlike say the cities of Bogota in Columbia or Jakarta closer to home.

But with the excitement of this event please give some thoughts and plan some action on one of the issues dearest to the heart of Queen Sirikit, namely the Conservation of the Environment.

In years gone by tree planting in honour of the Queen has been the norm, and this year, despite the impact of the drought, should be no exception.

It is not too late to organize a series of planting events beginning on the day of the bike ride and then over the following two weekends to plant three new urban forests as we suggested early this month.

So may we request during the next two weeks the office of the Governor organise teams of volunteers including soldiers and prisoners, as was done recently with cleaning rubbish from the Mae Kha Canal, to prepare the planting sites and with community assistance organize trees, stakes, mulch and tools for planting and watering the young trees. Each of the sites suggested:

1. South of the Government Center ( Sala Klang) for planting on 16th August

2. Railway Park for planting on 23rd August, and

3. Huai Teng Tao for planting on 30th August

have management crews who can assist with directing and undertaking weed control and watering trees as necessary during the dry.