THE EARTH: HELP EVER HURT NEVER - PLANTING TREES (1995)

Because of the advance of technology, several factories have sprung up, causing emission of harmful gases in the atmosphere and resulting in the ozone layer becoming thinner. If this goes on unchecked, it may have disastrous consequences. Scientists are trying to stop the breakup of the ozone layer but are unable to find a remedy. The cause of this situation is that more carbon dioxide is being let into the atmosphere. Normally, plants and trees absorb and assimilate the carbon dioxide and supply oxygen by the natural process of photosynthesis. But because there is deforestation to an alarming extent, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has considerably increased. The remedy for this situation is intensive afforestation, growing more trees everywhere, and protecting the existing trees without destroying them for other purposes. The relationship of man, nature, and God is very intimate, which scientists may not be able to realize.

Sathya Sai Baba, Sanathana Sarathi 36, February 1993, p. 45.

There we have it, direct from Swami. Two years ago, Swami said that man is responsible for the decrease in the ozone layer and gave a remedy: protect trees and plant more trees. In this discourse, Swami talks more about man, nature and the balance between them that we must maintain; this discourse could be the focus of a good study circle.

Trees and plants use carbon dioxide to make oxygen; humans and animals use oxygen to make carbon dioxide; we are responsible for maintaining the balance. Trees have other uses. They prevent erosion. They provide shade and evaporative cooling. (It has been said that in the summer, clusters of urban trees can cool air temperature by 10 degrees, reducing the need for air conditioning.) Trees enhance neighborhoods -have you noticed the difference between a new, treeless, suburb and a twenty-year-old suburb, with beautiful trees?

Here are some ways in which you and your Center could get involved in helping the earth and its atmosphere. Everything is voluntary, of course, but read again the above quote from Swami!

• Reduce your consumption of paper and paper products, thus saving existing trees.
• Plant some trees to spruce up your yard. If you don't know how to begin, your local nursery will be happy to help you. Or, contact a community organization or cooperative extension service of a local college or university.
• Help out on Arbor Day. Some schools use Arbor Day to teach children about the importance of forestry and trees. If your child's school does this, take part in planning and organizing it. Arbor Day, an annual tree-planting day, is generally observed throughout the U.S., often on the third or fourth Friday of April. Arbor day started in Nebraska on 10 April 1872.
• As a Center service project, plant trees. Start in devotees' yards. Then branch out and help a local organization that is involved in planting trees. Or, contact the American Forestry Association, whose Global Releaf Program wants to plant millions of trees. In many places, the Forestry Association can tell you where trees are needed, teach you how to plant them, and deliver the trees for you to plant at a prearranged time and place. (Global Releaf Program, P.O. Box 2000, Washington, D.C. 20013; tel. (202) 667-3300.)
• Get involved with a not-for-profit organization like Trees for the Future, which is trying to help peoples of developing countries to start environmentally beneficial self-help projects. Their goal for 1995 is to help plant over 6,000,000 trees, involving 13,500 families in 19 countries. (Trees for the Future, 11306 Estona Dr., P.O. Box 1786, Silver Spring, MD 20915; tel. (800) 643-0001.)

Sai Quote

A tree when it is axed might yet put forth leaves, but a heart axed by a bitter word can never sprout again.
Sathya Sai Speaks XI, 20,121.

Tip

For Christmas, people buy cut, dead, trees and put them in their house for a few weeks. Here's an alternative: Buy a live tree, keep it in the house for two weeks, then plant it outside. Twenty years ago someone did this, and the beautiful fir now stands 30 feet tall.

Facts

• The average American uses the equivalent of 7 trees a year. That's more than 1.5 billion trees a year in the U.S.
• From about 1950 to 1980, the world's forested surface was reduced by 25%. Every year, over 25 million acres of tropical forest are destroyed.
• Rain forests are being torn down to make furniture from teak, mahogany, ebony, and other tropical hardwoods. Help out by buying furniture made from hardwoods from forests in North America that are harvested and replanted, just like other crops.

"Trees", by Alfred Joyce Kilmer, 1913

I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest against the earth's sweet flowing breast.
A tree that looks at God all day and lifts her leafy arms to pray.
A tree that may in Summer wear a nest of robins in her hair.
Upon whose bosom snow has lain, who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.

Notes for those in charge

You could help this project by doing some research before discussing it at a Center meeting. Find an organization that does tree planting in your community, find out what help they give individuals, and see whether your Center could do a tree-planting service project with their help.