One Man's Plan To Plant A Million Trees In India

BBC NEWS :

An Indian civil servant, SM Raju, has come up with a novel way of providing employment to millions of poor in the eastern state of Bihar.

His campaign to encourage people to plant trees effectively addresses two burning issues of the world: global warming and shrinking job opportunities.

Read the whole story: BBC NEWS

Comments

[OldKnute]

Yeeeeee!!!

What a wonderful project!!

Trees sequester greenhouse gasses, provide food, when older and less productive, they can be made into houses, furniture, products for industry and crafts. By offering shade and through evaporation within their leaves, they actually cool the local climate.

Fruit trees will feed you throughout your lifetime providing your children with a resource that is never-ending. If each generation adds to the supply of young seedlings, there is the imitate benefit of jobs for the youth and poor, as well as raw materials to harvest in the future. Resins of the pine and cypress can yield glues and water protecting paints and as well as plastics for the textile industry.
New harvesting machinery (Solar-recharged, Battery-powered) can allow for the mixing of the use of lands, part pasture for sheep, cattle and goats, as well as habitat for birds and shaded rest to these same animals.
Grazing animals below, (weed control, natural fertilizers), fruit from above.

I LOVE IT! Yeeeeeeee!!!!

All the best
Knute

[Anthony Anderson - Huffpost Blogger]

Thats Billion with a B...he is really putting the numbers to new levels.

How about this? $100 for every fruit tree planted will be credited to your tax refund.
Think of how fast people would be planting fruit trees.

Sure there would be some hassle with receipts and such, but this could be a really strong idea.

unemployed people across the nation would be making major shifts in our food supplies and petroleum needs for lack of shipping food. Neighborhoods will be more liveable and will feed its residents.

This is a win-win.

[spikeykitten]

They should plant hickory so we can use it later to smoke lots of BBQ ribs.

[spikeykitten]

That will be a lot of firewood.

[CaptainFailmore]

Now that's impressive. John Chapman would have been proud.

[fusionfan]

Actually, this would be a good idea for the U.S. as well. I remember that Israel had such a program. Many countries (Israel, Ireland, Scotland, Greek islands) have been extensively deforested by populations who didn't know better or care going back to Biblical times.

At a time when our economy is sputtering and people are jobless, throwing a "few billions" at reforesting the U.S. would be a laudable way to spend some stimulus money. Certainly better than throwing it into the maws of the Wall Street kleptocracy.

[Huero]

It's already in process in the US. A big mean Wall Street corporation is involved in providing the grant money.

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/features/green/2009/09/one_million_trees_to_be_plante.html

Organizers say the event will also serve as a start point for NeighborWoods Month, which is a community service campaign to build awareness of trees that not only beautify the cities where they are planted but help fight climate change. The Home Depot Foundation has provided grant money for the program.

[Huero]

And I'd guess the BBC hasn't mentioned this program.

[SimianNation]

He's my hero of the day!

Great job fellow human!

[constitutional 1]

Very cool story