"If you plant a tree you plant a hope"

Bead tree found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trees_of_India

Yesterday my daughter told me she is a forest kind of person, and I told her this is true for me too.

One thing I find especially moving about Indian people is their love for trees. And one thing I find astonishing is their courage and willingness to change things from grass root level.

Every now and again I read stories of simple people who dug roads with their own hands or planted forests one tree at a time. It really humbles me, and at the same time it gives me hope for the future. 

Here are a few.

A story about TIST Tree Planting India programme, an organisation started by 6 farmers in 2003 and has now more than 6.000 members. This private company has successfully raised more than a million trees on private lands in five districts in Tamil Nadu and recorded a survival rate of 90 per cent. They paid farmers for planting and taking care of trees, using carbon revenues.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/1-million-trees-raised-in-5-districts/article4640431.ece?homepage=true

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A story about  R.Kannan, the man who for three decades has been teaching villagers and farmers across Tamil Nadu how to “hold the forests”. Having grown up in a coffee estate near Palani, he believes healthy forests in the hills mean healthy crops in the plains, as well as more drinking water for people. He is a founder of the Palani Hills Conservation Council and has gathered knowledge of plant species by working with local tribes and farmers and distributed more than 2 million trees to farmers.

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/the-tree-hugger/article4698960.ece?ref=sliderNews

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A story about P.K Saru who went from door to door to prevent his neighbours from cutting down all the trees in their street. He convinced them that the trees would not damage telephone lines and sewage and would instead bring them many benefits. Here is how the neighbourhood is like today : 

"Today, there is absolute peace and quiet, occasionally interrupted by a bird call or a rustle of leaves. Residents who take an evening stroll gather under the canopy of trees to chat.

Hot pink bougainvillea, bright yellow flowers of the golden shower tree and red roses add a splash of colour to the houses. The mango trees here offer generous numbers of alphonsos, banganapallis and malgoas during the monsoon.

In the month of May, gulmohar flowers carpet the road. The layout has tamarind trees that shower you with ripe tamarind fruits. There are also the neem, amla, coconut, sapota and rose apple trees, date palms and teak.

Every day, residents wake up to the calls of swallows, mynahs and cuckoos. However, the sparrows have stopped coming to the neighbourhood for the past four to five years. “Their nests are now occupied by the squirrels,” says Dilip. If you are lucky, you can spot parrots with bright red beaks, perched on the branches of the mango trees. Fruit bats, kingfishers and crow pheasants are frequent visitors too."

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/treebaythe-green-brigade/article4702536.ece?ref=sliderNews

Doesn't this sound like Paradise on earth to you ? It certainly does to me.