About the author: Hari, the founder of Beyond Sustainability, is a humble, driven, and compassionate leader. He excels at transforming ideas into actionable plans. He’s dedicated to helping companies embrace sustainability and is passionate about supporting personal growth in others.
Every powerful story in history has a hero who has taken a selfless action beyond their limits. And if we look deeper into these real-life stories, we see people who have done something about a problem that’s affected them or their community. These heroes don’t seem to set out to change the world, they wanted to influence their environment and some went on to influence the world. That’s how heroes are made and legends are created that stand for an idea beyond their identity.
One such daunting problem for mankind is climate change, the human-induced climate disaster that’s tipping the balance of the planet.
“You must be the change that you wish to see in the world” – Mahatma Gandhi
Environmental protection and action for nature conservation are seen to be made by some self-actualized individuals in this modern world. It should be a basic human tendency to ensure that we live as part of the ecosystem and be conscious individuals. This would need us to make a drastic shift in the usual norm of putting humans as the center of the planet and exploiting natural resources for our personal benefits. Any change needs inspiration and people need heroes that they can look up to around them that instill the spirit of action within them. There need to be local heroes who stand for change and influence large masses for nature conservation at local levels. We don’t need warriors to protect the planet but the local heroes who stand to protect the rights of their lands and resources around them.
When a bunch of loggers came to cut down trees, a group of women went around and hugged the trees. The woman protected the trees of their land as their own. This act inspired a nation and people started a movement called “A Chipko movement” in the year 1970s in India which influenced even the policymakers to re-think development and still date stands to be a non-violent act that inspires the youth of the country.
What starts as an individual act for a concern leads to a movement to influence a nation. A country as rich in its resources as India needs local warriors who work at different levels to stand against the exploitation of their lands. How an individual action makes a huge difference while the world seems to be going in a different direction is a question many of us might have.
A middle-aged man once saw snakes dead in the scorching heat of a dried land. It worried him and he wanted to do something about it. Every day early in the morning he would wake up and travel to a land far distance with some tree saplings and plant some of them. He continued doing this for the course of the next 25 years. The place started to thrive, attracting wildlife and becoming a dense forest. The entire landscape of the region changed. If you imagine this to be a story that was created out of thin air no it’s not. This is a true story of Jadav Payeng, who is called the ‘Forest man of India’ and the forest currently is bigger than 1400 football fields and even larger than the central park in New York. Mr. Jadav is a hero who wants to do something about a local problem.
Working on transformation will have its own set of challenges. People may not understand you and will be reluctant to change from the usual norm. Beyond all the hardships, it’s not about the glory or the fame but standing up for an idea. The idea that we want to live in a habitable world with the diverse species nature has evolved with. It’s the best asset that anyone can leave for the next generation as we will be the last generation that can do something about this global challenge.
If you want to know how you can stand up or be part of a community that takes climate action, please feel free to join our force at Beyond Sustainability in the mission to restore the damage and reduce 2% of global emissions by the year 2050!
