Connecting with Nature is our Nature

May’s theme was Nature and we couldn’t have had a better speaker about plants, flowers and all things green. Tomás Tojo was the most recent speaker for CreativeMornings Lisbon and showed up on screen surrounded by green leafy plants– very on theme. We are still doing virtual events, but our community energy was fulfilled with our virtual hugs and smiles!

Tomás Tojo was born in Lisbon but grew up in the south of Portugal where he started gardening while young as a way to occupy his free time. He found a way to entertain himself through gardening and this phase started to determine his relation with nature. He studied arts in Chapitô, did an acting degree in Porto and went to London to study art direction. 

Life then found him in Brazil where he discovered a newfound love of tropical plants. 

His first project, Green São Paulo, was to build a public garden. With no plants to start it, Tomás and his team went to a graveyard and gathered old plants that were nearly dead and rescued them for their project. The team has a lot of committed people, so the project was a success and the community was involved with it.

In Portugal, Tomás has worked as a teacher focused on gardening, teaching children about nature and its importance for human beings. He also started a garden festival in Lisbon called Jardins Abertos. At the Open Gardens Festival, you can discover Lisbon’s largest gardens, such as Monteiro Mor Park or the Belém Palace gardens, or small private gardens and courtyards, such as the Botanical Garden and Library, João and Teresa’s private Courtyard, among many others. For Tomás, creative gardening is a faster way to build a community and this has been his motto. We are all invited to participate in Jardins Abertos this year on the 18/19th and 25/26th of July, all around Lisbon.

Tomás wants to promote environmental awareness and to show how collective gardening is important. He says that “we have this perception that somehow nature will always be there for us” but it is important to know nature, to care for it and to take responsibility for the environment that belongs to all of us. 

He also feels that during this pandemia and world crisis people are reconnecting with nature and this is really good. It must definitely continue. 

This event was all green, smooth and inspiring, really influenced by the peace and calm that Tomás Tojo shared with us. We must connect with more green, become more aware of nature and focus on being more connected with it. Thanks Tomás for sharing all your creativity, knowledge and passion about nature!

If you’d like to be a volunteer at Jardins Abertos 2020, sign up here.

[Photo credits: the first photo belongs to CreativeMornings Lisbon, the second and third one to Jardins Abertos]