I'm going to hand you over to TreeHugger and the Times of India to tell you more about this guy, but I'd like you to meet Jadev Payeng of India. 31 years ago, at age 16, Payeng went to a sandbar, noticed some snakes who had died due to the heat brought on by lack of tree cover, and started planting tree seeds.
At age 47, he is still planting. Because of his efforts, Payeng has created a 1,360-acre forest, a forest now bearing the name Mulai Kathoni- 'Mulai's Forest', after Payeng's nickname.
He did this all by himself. 1,360 acres. By himself. (For a comparison, another area of 1,360 acres is Grass Lake near Antioch, Illinois.)
And somehow nobody but the locals even noticed until 2008... who actually wanted the thing cut down because it was attracting elephants (among other animals, including some endangered species). The Indian government is, quite naturally, siding with Payeng, and there are now plans in the works to turn it into a wildlife preserve.
Sorry it took so long to get around to noticing you, Jadev.
Monday, April 2, 2012
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