Following a recent Facebook post by Tee Hit who posted photos of some of the many trees planted around Huay Tung Tao reservoir during last year’s Climate Festival @North event, appearing to be dead, there was an eruption of outrage from the public.
To compound matters it was the now-disgraced celebrity life coach Sean Buranahiran who had lead the tree planting initiative last May to great fanfare. Sean was a rapper turned life-coach who ended up becoming an influencer with millions of followers.
Last year Sean, who is from Chiang Mai, began to fundraise for the firefighting efforts to combat pollution as well as lead many tree planting and green initiatives. While Sean said that he personally funded much of this, millions were also donated by the public.
Things came to a head when he was accused of embezzlement and Sean has since dropped from the public eye.
After Tee Hit’s post went viral, one social media comment wrote, “Sean, you remember the forest that you planted? There isn’t one leaf on any of the trees and its been nearly a year. Maybe it is time to come take care of it.”
The tree planting last year was a large event for which Sean had invited national media to witness. It was only a month later that he was accused of embezzling.
Responding to the social media outrage, this morning a group of officials from the forestry department and other relevant offices were joined by the media in inspecting the 60 or so trees planted.
It was found, however, that contrary to reports, around 80% of all trees planted are still viable, though suffering from the current lack of water.
The military overseeing the Huay Tung Tao area have pledged to care for the trees going forward.
