Sow A Seed

Sowing a seed (tree plantation) is one of our core activities, geared towards benefitting the environment and maintaining ecological balance. There are many existing sanctuaries that focus on planting trees, however what is generally overlooked is the motive behind planting the trees. Unfortunately, the general motive is selfish, exploitative, or for money, where only useful / fruit bearing trees, easily growing trees or sustainable trees are planted for profit.

However, the goal of Getmoksha is not about planting useful trees which are easy to be exploited or are beneficial in some way, but about planting the trees which naturally existed there before and which are now extinct, irrespective of whether they are useful for humans or not. We aim to reverse the action of deforestation by simply reforesting it with what was originally supposed to be there before.

To know more about the essence of this activity, it is crucial to understand the ecosystems, trees, their role in ecological balance and their current situation. This will help in understanding the importance of tree plantation activity.

Ecosystems exist within a state of balance, which allows species to coexist with one another. Disturbances of the ecosystem, either natural or human-caused, create ecological imbalances.   The disturbance of an ecosystem will prove devastating to all the living things reliant on it, including humans. Since natural disturbances such as floods, volcanoes and earthquakes are not in our control, Human-made disturbances can be controlled to restore the ecological imbalance. 

Human-made disturbances include overuse of natural/non-renewable resources, construction of infrastructure, industrial pollution, deforestation, animal hunting, illegal logging and many more. Out of these, deforestation (cutting down of trees) is one of the major factors contributing to the destruction of the ecosystem.

Trees are important as they bind the soil together, shelter many species and clean the air from CO2 pollution. Cutting down of trees results in droughts, tsunamis, earthquakes, landslides, flooding due to soil erosion, air pollution, climate change, loss of biodiversity, disruption of the food chain due to species extinction and so on. Ultimately all these factors would threaten the life of human species as a whole.

Sadly, the current situation of our forests is not good.

The good news is, these effects can still be stopped and reversed if we make small contributions by changing choices in our daily life, one of them being planting trees whenever and wherever possible. So while we still can, let’s do our share to stop degrading our ecosystems as our lives depend on all of us interacting in a sustainable environment.