In South India, vegetation is scarce, wells have dried up and the land has become a virtual desert – all within one generation. It is a similar situation we're seeing in many other parts of the world that is due to deforestation and land degradation. We may not be feeling all of the effects of it now, but our children and their children surely will. Luckily, there are people that are taking environmental responsibility now and helping to restore our planet, one tree at a time.
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudr, founder of the Isha Foundation Initiative, started Project GreenHands (PGH), a non-profit, grassroots ecological initiative. PGH started their environmental work in Tamil Nadu, a state in Southern India, with a goal of planting 114 million trees state-wide in an effort to provide an additional 10% to the existing level of tree coverage. But it's not just the PGH volunteers who are doing the planting. They visit the villages to educate the people about their cause and motivate them to lend a helping hand in planting new saplings that will benefit their lands, as well as teach them about sustainable agroforestry to benefit their farming communities.
This article appears in Oct 14-20, 2010.