Planting seeds

My heart is filled with gratitude towards planet Earth. I want to give back and I do feel lucky to have the opportunity to plant seeds in the physical and metaphorical sense with my team.

With a resolve to plant 1 billion trees in Punjab and restoring its green cover through afforestation, we have created mini forests, fruit orchards and parks with over 3.5 lakh (35 million) trees across 500 villages of Punjab. One of the unique features of this project is the high survival rate due to the partnership with youth clubs and sarpanches for maintenance in each village. Our powerful mini forests are created by planting sapling clusters of indigenous shrubs and trees that grow faster and are more bio-diverse than conventional planting. These dense green areas act as the lungs for the village, a restored habitat for birds and animals, and aid for climate correction. By rebuilding the green cover, we’re creating a cascading effect of restored ecological balance. It is cleaning the air, rooting the soil, providing food, timber and shade to revitalize forests that are essential for our wellbeing.

The lack of waste management in villages is also a concern. But I am glad that we created a successful waste management model resulting in 71 cleaner and healthier villages. We ensure end-to-end cleaning drives in villages, removing years of gathered garbage piles. We organise door-to door awareness on the segregation of waste at source which is critical for successful composting. Besides providing two coloured dustbins, tricycles for waste collectors, we are glad to employ the waste collector with a sustainable salary. A sign of success of this model is that each household in the village pays an average of INR 40/month for this service.

It is a delight to work with Government school children from low-income households to create a favourable environment for them to develop social emotional skills, a growth mindset and become changemakers of their villages. Due to COVID, children are unable to attend school. To overcome the lack of access to the internet and limited mobile phones in each household, we send WhatsApp pdf messages. Over 150 WhatsApp challenges which include making a home for a stray dog, feeding birds, learning yoga, random acts of kindness, upcycling, and recycling, tracking the trees and animals in their villages. It is satisfying to know the impact reported; children have become sensitive to the environment, they have been upcycling as well as recycling and caring for animals, too. Since I am an animal lover myself, it is hugely satisfying to know that I will not be hearing horror stories of animal abuse from these 3000 children across 52 villages.

It is empowering to contribute to women stepping out of their homes for the first time to work as part of Self-Help Groups to make biodegradable sanitary pads.

With a clear intent of impacting at scale, I resonate with the words of this inspiring song, which keeps me grounded:

I spent a long time runnin

I never knew then, what I know I know now,

That the fruits they always comin’

But you can’t go around just knockin’ them down

It takes a long time to showin’

We plant the seeds then, and we look at them now,

But the roots are always growin’

No matter if I’m there or never around…

Chorus:

Whatever grows will grow

Whatever dies will die

Whatever works will work

Whatever flies will fly

Whatever fails will fail

What’s meant to soar will soar

I am planting seeds nothing more

 “Planting Seeds” song, written and performed by Nimesh “Nimo” Patel and Daniel Nahmod.

Enjoy the full song:

https://soundcloud.com/emptyhandsmusicnimo/planting-seeds

Sowing the seeds for compassion and kindness…