One young South African spent the last three weeks of his holiday planting spekboom plants – all to save our planet.  

Eleven-year-old Chris-Tiaan Nortje has a dream to fight global warming and make South Africa a healthier place to live.  

Chris-Tiaan has faced many heart-breaking obstacles in his young life, such as losing his mother and living with autism. But, according to his grandmother, he has become South Africa’s youngest “global warming ambassador” and would like to raise awareness of the superpowers of the humble spekboom.

Over the past couple of weeks, Chris-Tiaan planted 750 spekboom trees and he hopes to plant even more.

“He is a force to reckoned with! Chris-Tiaan is living with autism, which he calls his superpowers – a better description is really awesomenism,” grandmother Charlotte Coetzee wrote.

Known as South Africa’s “wonder plant”, spekboom can gobble up between four and 10 tons of carbon per hectare per year.

Recently, the Spekboom Challenge was launched on social media when Boplaas Family Vineyards in Calitzdorp pledged to plant one million spekboom plants by 2025, and urged South Africans to join the challenge.

The public can support Chris-Tiaan’s initiative by buying spekboom from him or donating on Back A Buddy.

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