Plant for the Planet
The EARTH day - 22 April
"Trees are poems that Earth writes upon the sky. We fell them down and turn them into paper, that we may record our emptiness."
Kahlil Gibran
Forests provide not only environmental protection, but also significant income and livelihood options globally for more than one billion forest-dependent people. Trees provide a wide range of products (timber, fruit, medicine, beverages, fodder) and services (carbon sequestration, shade, beautification, erosion control, soil fertility). Without trees human life would be unsustainable.
Forests also play an important cultural, spiritual and recreational role in many societies. In some cases, they are integral to the very definition and survival of indigenous and traditional cultures.
Forests and trees are symbolically important in most of the world’s major religions. Trees symbolize historical continuity, they link earth and heavens and, to many traditions, are home to both good and bad spirits and the souls of ancestors.
Forests also play an important role in offering recreational opportunites and spiritual solace in modern societies. They are universally powerful symbols, a physical expression of life, growth and vigour to urban, rural and forest dwellers alike. Medicinal products from trees help to cure diseases and increase fertility. Trees preside over community discussions and marriages. They are planted at the birth of a child and at burial sites.
"He who plants a tree loves others beside himself."
English proverb
"The best friend on Earth of man is the tree. When we use the tree respectfully and economically, we have one of the greatest resources of the Earth."
Frank Lloyd Wright
"Plant trees. They give us two of the most crucial elements for our survival: oxygen and books. "
A. Whitney Brown
To me, nature is sacred; trees are my temples and forests are my cathedrals."
Mikhail Gorbachev
"The forest is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and benevolence that makes no demands for its sustenance and extends generously the products of its life and activity; it affords protection to all beings."
Buddhist Sutra
the billion tree campaign
http://www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign/
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