Incredible India
Namaste! Welcome to India.
India is a large and diverse country. It is home to over a billion people! India has deserts, mountains, backwaters and beaches. Hiding in its dense forests live elephants, peacocks, cobras and tigers. Indian culture is strongly connected to the natural world, and has many enchanting stories about animal gods and tree spirits. Throughout Indian history, trees have been respected. People have harvested their fruits, collected their wood for building and carving, woven ropes from their fibers, made medicine from their leaves. Many religions in India even worship trees, and make strict rules about cutting them down. In fact, some of the largest trees in the world are found in India, including a banyan tree that stretches over three acres!
Although India has a lot of land, it also has one the largest populations in the world. With so many people living in one place, more and more land is being developed for homes, schools, businesses, and roads. Large stretches of forests from high in the Himalayan Mountains to the coastal tip of India have been lost.
In the 1970’s a group of rural women living in a Himalayan Mountain village decided to try and stop a group of loggers from cutting down the trees around their homes. Instead of fighting with weapons, when the loggers arrived to cut the trees, the women wrapped their arms around the trunks and hugged them. Hugging the trees stopped the loggers that day, and soon people all over India were hugging trees to save them from being cut. These tree huggers became known as, “The Chipko Movement.” Thanks to the Chipko Movement, many new laws were passed by the government to help protect the forests.
Since the 1970’s, India has continued to quickly grow and develop. Land has been deforested, and protecting trees is still a challenge. Many people in India are finding new ways to responsibly manage forests, by replanting and selectively cutting.
Trees certainly help make India incredible!
India is a large and diverse country. It is home to over a billion people! India has deserts, mountains, backwaters and beaches. Hiding in its dense forests live elephants, peacocks, cobras and tigers. Indian culture is strongly connected to the natural world, and has many enchanting stories about animal gods and tree spirits. Throughout Indian history, trees have been respected. People have harvested their fruits, collected their wood for building and carving, woven ropes from their fibers, made medicine from their leaves. Many religions in India even worship trees, and make strict rules about cutting them down. In fact, some of the largest trees in the world are found in India, including a banyan tree that stretches over three acres!
Although India has a lot of land, it also has one the largest populations in the world. With so many people living in one place, more and more land is being developed for homes, schools, businesses, and roads. Large stretches of forests from high in the Himalayan Mountains to the coastal tip of India have been lost.
In the 1970’s a group of rural women living in a Himalayan Mountain village decided to try and stop a group of loggers from cutting down the trees around their homes. Instead of fighting with weapons, when the loggers arrived to cut the trees, the women wrapped their arms around the trunks and hugged them. Hugging the trees stopped the loggers that day, and soon people all over India were hugging trees to save them from being cut. These tree huggers became known as, “The Chipko Movement.” Thanks to the Chipko Movement, many new laws were passed by the government to help protect the forests.
Since the 1970’s, India has continued to quickly grow and develop. Land has been deforested, and protecting trees is still a challenge. Many people in India are finding new ways to responsibly manage forests, by replanting and selectively cutting.
Trees certainly help make India incredible!