Hello! I have officially been at Sadhana Forest, a reforestation project in Tamil Nadu, India, for about two weeks now. I flew directly from California to help with this project. I have observed that Sadhana Forest, India is a place where people have come together to create community surrounding sustainable human systems that relate symbiotically to the earth and environment and create a positive impact on the world by bringing the skills that they have acquired throughout their life and contributing them in any way that they can.
It took me a bit of time to observe and interact with the people and systems that go on here and adjust to a new environment, but I am beginning to feel excited to share the concepts that I have learned here with you and share any inspiration that I have come by.
A brief history of Sadhana Forest:
I have learned that before 1968, when reforestation and organic farming efforts arrived in this area of Tamil Nadu, the entire area was a completely barren and arid desert. Scholarly texts and archaeological findings show that 250 years ago, this area was once a dense and lush Tropical dry Evergreen Forest, an ecosystem that was unique only to India and Sri Lanka and once had elephants and tigers, as well as a kingdom of which some villages here are still remnants. Due to human extraction of resources throughout French and English colonization of Tamil Nadu (including wood extraction, farming and grazing of cows) the forest was removed and the soil was depleted. Without the tree cover, the micro climate of the forest was gone, leaving the sun to beat down directly on the soil and it became dry. Frequent dust storms and heavy monsoon deluges striped the area of its topsoil, creating ravines in which any rain water would flow directly to the sea, thus depleting the aquifers. Without water or fertile soil, the entire area became bare. Villagers who remained in the area faced poverty and and scarcity, as some walked 2 kms to fetch water and grew millet in unfertile fields. Efforts to conserve and replenish the indigenous landscape of the area began in 1968 using organic farming methods, forest cultivation and the creation of botanical gardens.
Sadhana Forest was started when two adults, Aviram and Yorit, and a child, moved from Isreal to Auroville on December 19th 2003 because they wanted to live a life that is centered around the idea of Seva.
"Seva: The Art of Selfless Service. ... “Seva” is a Sanskrit word meaning “selfless service” or work performed without any thought of reward or repayment. In ancient India seva was believed to help one's spiritual growth and at the same time contribute to the improvement of a community." (mindbodygreen.com)
Their seva was to transform 70 acres of severely eroded, arid land. They began the work completely by themselves, starting with soil conservation and tree planting. They openly invited other families to come and join in the seva, and volunteers began to arrive to help with the project. Now, in a spirit of human unity, a community has continued to develop around the reforestation work values sustainable living/zero-waste and veganism.
Since it began, the Sadhana Forest project has raised the aquifer levels so that natural succession has began in some areas of the forest, water is now reaching local wells for villagers to use, planted 30,000 trees, and brought back biodiversity which includes 50 species of birds to the area (including peacocks!) They are also participating in research projects with universities about oxelogenic trees- trees which put carbon back into the ground and do not release the carbon when they die.
Here is a video created to introduce Sadhana Forest:
