Little tree hugger

Jasmine Lee

COSTA MESA--Marissa Babazadeh has single-handedly saved the life of a

tree.

The 5-year-old Costa Mesa girl always uses both sides of a piece of

paper, not wasting a single sheet, thereby conserving timber.

Marissa put her concept of conservation into a drawing that won her a

place in an environment-friendly calendar.

The 2000 calendar was produced by Ricoh Electronics Inc., the electronics

manufacturing company in Santa Ana where Marissa’s father works.

Marissa’s artwork was one of 48 drawings chosen from the countless

entries submitted by employees’ children age 15 and under.

Her father, Zack Babazadeh, couldn’t be more proud of his budding artist.

Babazadeh, who affectionately calls his youngest daughter “Murray,” said

he is glad to see that she is becoming concerned with the environment at

such a young age.

“I used this contest to make her think a little bit,” he said. “I told

her what it was about, but she came up with her own idea and drew the

picture.”

The precocious redhead drew a picture of herself with a piece of paper in

hand. Holding the poster, she explained her artistic method.

“I was thinking about drawing a horse, and then I was thinking about

drawing my family,” Marissa said. “And then I just came up with drawing

on both sides of the paper.”

She turned the paper over and, true to her word, there was a crayon

drawing of a horse on the flip side.

Babazadeh, a buyer for Ricoh who also sits on one of the company’s

environmental committees, said he tries to teach his four daughters about

recycling and other earth-friendly actions.

At work, Babazadeh and his colleagues are becoming more concerned with

conservation.

Wissam Jurdi, a Ricoh employee who works on environmental projects, said

the proceeds from calendars--sold for $5 each to employees--will go to

Tree Musketeers. The nonprofit organization, run entirely by children,

plants trees around the world.

Jurdi said the company also is considering community outreach programs to

help the environment, such as beach trips to take in some sun and pick up

some trash.

Marissa said she would like to participate in cleanup events because it’s

important to take care of nature, especially the places where she likes

to romp.

“I like to go to the parks and play in the grass and the trees,” she

said.