I can look through the large glass window as I type this and see wonderful trees that grow in the space on the front of these townhouses.
In the backyard of these cluster of homes there other trees.
During the course of this isolation here in Miami, I have found so much solace in their presence. While there are no distinct four seasons in this tropical city,I can watch the rebirth of the trees especially the Ponciana, which are about to bloom into bright red flowers and then become quiet , sad at the loss of the flame of the forest (as it is called in many countries)
When I first went to the Indigenous people I work with, in the National Park near here, a young man who was driving me around, stopped the car at a desolate part of their village and said: Doctor, if you listen carefully, you can hear the trees talking to you.
Indigenous people have not lost touch with the nature that surrounds them while the settlers regardless of their colour, nationality or origin, want to cut down the trees and build flats and introduce cattle to the lands that have lost their diversity. I heard from my friend from the Ticuna people of Colombian amazon: Madre Selva. Mother Forest is sad because she is missing our footsteps.
As soon as it is feasible, I will be there , I promised.
While driving home from the Indians today, I was listening to BBC World Service (Radio to the World) and imagine my pleasure listening about Ecuadorians reclaiming land which had been turned into farm land and actually reforesting areas. My hats to the people involved in the project.
When did I first hear of the Sunderbans? Certainly I had heard of River Brahmaputra when i was in school
But the story of the life of people was made real for me by Amitav Ghosh in his book The Hungry Tide.
Few months ago I heard about a man in the Sunderbans who planted a forest on his own, much like his fellow human in Ecuador.
We need to plant an area as big as all of India to fight back climate change and let the diversity return. My good friends MCY and FA had donated trees to be planted in the Cauvery river basin in South India. Israel has a very active planting of the trees programme and they have been able to turn desert into fertile lands
to the humble men in Sunderbans and Ecuador and also the Lady and her friends who have formed an NGO to bring reforestation techniques to lots of people (let us hope) in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Thank You
It is nice to know that we are hearing tidbits of good news of the reversal of the settlers policy of cutting and burning and turning forest into playground for cattle.
At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realize I am fighting for humanity.
