Jadav Payeng – The Forest Man of India
The Molai Reserve is a forest on the Majuli Island in the Brahmaputra River in Assam, India. It has a total area of about 1,000 hectares and is under continuous threat due to the extensive soil erosion on its banks. When the government’s plan to revive 200 hectares of the forest failed, the forest was single-handedly attended to, by Jadav Payeng during the course of over 30 years.
Peyeng began planting bamboo and other species along a sandbar on the Majuli island. The Molai forest reserve now encompasses an area of about 550 hectares of forest. The area can be compared to the size of 15 football stadiums put together.
The Molai forest created by Jadav Payeng is larger than Central Park in New York City. Thanks to him, the Molai forest now houses Bengal tigers, Indian rhinoceros, reptiles, over 100 deers and rabbits, in addition to monkeys and several varieties of birds.
Ecosia – An Eco-Friendly Search Engine
Ecosia is a search engine that allows you to be a part of tree planting around the world without even lifting a finger off your keyboard. With every batch of 50 searches, Ecosia plants a new tree with the advertisement money they earn. This search engine has currently planted 50,120,906 trees and the number continues to grow every single second. The Company chose to plant trees because they believe that by planting a tree, you can fight climate change, restart water cycles, turn deserts back into fertile forests and provide nutrition, employment, education, medical assistance and ensure political as well as economic stability.
Amour Vert – Fashion That Is Environment-friendly
Amour Vert is an American company that produces clothes and accessories like shoes, bags and jewellery made from sustainable materials and non-toxic dyes. The fabrics used are Tencel and Modal, which are derived from eucalyptus and beech that can be grown without heavy chemical applications. For every tee-shirt that is purchased from them, they plant a tree in North America.
Arun Krishnamurthy – Restoring Lakes in India
Arun Krishnamurthy quit his well‑paying job with Google and launched an eco-movement that has cleaned and restored at least 93 freshwater bodies across 14 Indian states. The community-led movement grew into the Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI), a non‑profit wildlife conservation and habitat restoration group. The EFI works closely with central and state governments. It has also inspired school students to volunteer over the weekend and contribute to the restoration efforts. The EFI has made a positive impact in Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Puducherry, Thiruvananthapuram, Bengaluru, Tirunelveli and Ahmedabad, and is currently working on 39 active projects.