According to the United Nations report, Indian girl child aged 1-5 years was 75% more likely to die than an Indian boy child. Digging in detail, there were just 914 girls for every 1000 boys under the age of 7. People were only pumped up to see the birth of a boy but when a girl is born, they think of the poor little soul as a burden to them.
However, a village in Rajasthan has been setting an example by doing something good to the environment when a girl child is born. Instead of throwing lavish parties, the village people are planting 111 trees every time when a girl child is born and the family takes complete care of them.
It was IFS Parveen Kaswan who threw light about the village that plants 111 trees every time a girl is born. His tweet reads: ‘There is a village in #Rajasthan called as ‘#Piplantari’. They have a tradition of planting 111? #trees every time a baby #girl is born, in her honour. Native species are planted at various locations & which can be later utilised also. Protected by locals. Impressive’.
This tradition initiated with the concept that the increase in human population should never be a threat to the planet. This also makes sure that it solves the environment crisis.
Interestingly, the villagers also collect Rs 21,000 among themselves and take Rs 10,000 from the child’s family and then put it in an FD (Fixed Deposit) for 20 years in the child’s name.
Parents have to sign an affidavit making sure that their daughter will receive quality education and will be married only after she has come to the legal age. In addition, the trees planted at her birth will have to be taken proper care of by them, and the parents are legally attached to this affidavit.
‘Shyam Sundar Paliwal who is the village’s past leader was the first to suggest this tradition in honor of his daughter who died at a young age. In the past 6 years, over a quarter of a million trees have been planted’, as per Seed It Forward.
Other important information:
Earth is turning out to be less hospitable to human life. With a growing rate of environmental degradation, we are putting our own lives at complete risk and there is no question whether humans will be the main victim of their own mass extinction.
Deforestation is one of the activities that humans have long been doing but they hardly find time to plant a sapling. The rate at which the planet is losing its biodiversity is comparable only to the mass extinctions without the shadow of a doubt.
Trees eliminate atmospheric carbon and output oxygen during the process of photosynthesis. It is calculated that a 1 billion hectare increase in forests could limit global warming to an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius by the year 2050.
The new study reveals that reforesting an area about the size of the United States could scrub nearly around 100 years’ worth of carbon emissions.
As per their data, Earth can support nearly 4.4 billion hectares of the forest without removing farmland or cities to accommodate them, while only about 2.8 billion hectares exist now. This means that there are more than 1.6 billion hectares available for forest restoration.
What’s the next step? Now humans across the world put about 300 gigatonnes of carbon into the air in all of our time on Earth. So, a dedicated reforestation effort could cut down humanity’s carbon footprint by two-thirds.