Climate change is an urgent and pressing topic right now. And rightly so.
Our cities are drying up and running out of water. States like Kerala and Himachal Pradhesh have witnessed the worst floods this year and we have suffered enough in the miserable heat as temperatures world over are rising.
The cause for all this? Human activity that is making climate change a real nightmare. What we are about to suggest might seem the obvious, but planting trees could be the answer.
A few months ago, a report from NASA showed how India is leading efforts to increase greening on land. While that's incredible, a new report from?The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) states that India would?would have to plant more than double the new trees that were planted last year.
Around 30,000 hectares of woodland should be planted every year. The government would have to commit to reducing emissions in the India by 2050 and in order to do so, the CCC have estimated that woodland has to increase to 17% of land, it currently stands at 13%.?
Reuters
That's why the need of the hour is to get involved in planting trees everywhere we can. Ahead, we've listed some of the best tree planting initiatives across India that you can volunteer for and make our country, and the world, more green.?
This NGO has been successful in planting more than 3.9 million trees in India, thereby,?educing carbon emissions each year by a massive 78,252,500 kg. At Green-Trees, most tree planting initiatives are?spearheaded by tribal and local communities ¨C people, mostly women, whose lives are intertwined with forests. This is essential as this is enabling these women a source to sustain their livelihood. The best part? Green Trees will plant a tree for you at a subsidized cost of Rs 85.?
Green Yatra is a popular Mumbai based NGO that sensitised people and school children all across Maharashtra about the value and importance of the environment and how every individual can contribute to make our country greener and more sustainable. Green Yatra's successful program called, 'Go Green Kids' provides students in schools with saplings and teach them how to look after them.?
Reuters
SayTrees is a professionally run group of people with one thing in common: to?protect the environment. Though it started off as a weekend pursuit in 2007, now the organisation does more than 50 tree plantation drives throughout the country. SayTrees spearheads a variety of initiatives including research, education, sensitization and advocacy around the importance of environmental preservation and tree plantation. The group thrives on its vast volunteer base that runs into thousands, from young children to busy professionals, housewives and retired citizens.?
SankalpTaru Foundation is an IT enabled NGO, spreading greenery with its core philosophy of ¡°planting trees for the people, by the people¡±. Having planted more than half a million trees across 16 states, they are not only saving the environment but at the same time creating employment opportunities for people in rural areas, who are given the responsibility to plant trees and then nurture them to. With each flourishing plant, the organisation?believes they are? maximizing socio-environmental impact and successfully fighting back the detrimental demons of pollution and strengthening the livelihood of poor farmers to create a rich bio diverse ecosystem.
Reuters
This organisation has launched an interesting initiative that aims at empowering farmers who don't have the means to grow seasonal crops. With real estate available for forestry in the urban space shrinking, they widened their circle of impact to include farmers. Farmers had the the space with large tracts of fallow land because they could not afford the labour to grow seasonal crops or find the means to start a tree orchard. We started planting tree based fruit orchards for farmers. our rural planting programs come as a welcome windfall for farmers, who nurture and protect the fruit tree orchards with their lives because their livelihood depends on it.?