Indian Man Single-Handedly Plants a 1,360 Acre Forest. A little more than 30 years ago, a teenager named Jadav "Molai" Payeng began burying seeds along a barren sandbar near his birthplace in northern India's Assam region to grow a refuge for wildlife.
Not long after, he decided to dedicate his life to this endeavor, so he moved to the site so he could work full-time creating a lush new forest ecosystem. Incredibly, the spot today hosts a sprawling 1,360 acres of jungle that Payeng planted — single-handedly. The Times of India recently caught up with Payeng in his remote forest lodge to learn more about how he came to leave such an indelible mark on the landscape. It all started way back in 1979, when floods washed a large number of snakes ashore on the sandbar. One day, after the waters had receded, Payeng, only 16 then, found the place dotted with the dead reptiles.
"The snakes died in the heat, without any tree cover. "We're amazed at Payeng," says Gunin Saikia, assistant conservator of Forests. Related stories on MNN: To Make A Farm. Environmental News, Commentary, Advice. Career Opportunities - Conservation International. I certify that all information provided in this application and any attachments are true.
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I authorize that such contact or investigation may occur at any time before or during employment. A Sea Change in Ocean Conservation. A ship sailing near Alor, Indonesia. (© CI/ Photo by Sterling Zumbrunn) In my 36 years of work in conservation, I have never before witnessed as much attention and concern being paid to the deteriorating health of our oceans, and the resulting consequences of that deterioration for people everywhere.
Ocean issues have grown from being a concern of environmental organizations to an urgent topic in corporate boardrooms and the offices of heads of state — an important shift in attitude that gives me reason for hope. From the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos in January to The Economist’s World Oceans Summit I attended last month in Singapore, the concerns are palpable. With the world’s population expected to grow to 9 billion people by 2050 — doubling the demand for food, energy and water — corporations and governments are looking to the oceans for answers. President Anote Tong of Kiribati and CI CEO Peter Seligmann at The Economist's World Oceans Summit in Singapore. Sensual Gardening - Sustainable Students. Hello, Todd Youngson. Method That Turns Wastelands Green Wins 2010 Buckminster Fuller Challenge. Today, the Buckminster Fuller Institute announced the winner of its 2010 Challenge: Allan Savory, who has spent the last 50 years refining and evangelizing for a method of reversing desertification that he calls "holistic management.
" The African Center for Holistic Management International, an NGO he helped found, will take home a $100,000 grant. The Buckminster Fuller Challenge is meant to award big, sweeping solutions to seemingly intractable problems. As the Institute's executive director, Elizabeth Thompson, tells FastCompany.com, "The approach was pioneered by Fuller. We're looking for strategies that solve multiple problems at once, not just surgical implementations that don't address the root problem. " Savory's work fits the bill. But Savory's prescription seems shockingly simple--and it's taken him 50 years of work to convince others that he's not crazy. Doomsday Seed Vault Photos - Svalbard Global Seed Vault. The $300 House: A Hands-On Lab for Reverse Innovation? - Vijay Govindarajan. By Vijay Govindarajan | 12:07 PM August 26, 2010 Editor’s note: This post was written with Christian Sarkar, a marketing consultant who also works on environmental issues.
David A. Smith, the founder of the Affordable Housing Institute (AHI) tells us that “markets alone will never satisfactorily house a nation’s poorest citizens…whether people buy or rent, housing is typically affordable to only half of the population.” The result? Smith points to a “spontaneous community of self-built or informally built homes — the shanty towns, settlements, and ever-expanding slums that sprout like mushrooms on the outskirts of cities in the developing world.”
We started discussing the issue, examining the subject through the lens of reverse innovation. Here are five questions Christian and I asked ourselves: How can organic, self-built slums be turned into livable housing? Livable Housing. Look and Feel.
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