Grassroot Nonprofit Plants 10 Million Trees - Wins Indira Gandhi Award

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Jun 04, 2010, 10:42 ET

MCMINNVILLE, Tenn., June 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Isha Foundation's Project GreenHands, founded by Sadhguru, a renowned humanitarian, will receive India's highest environment award, the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar award (IGPP). This award, given to those who have made a measurable and major impact in the protection of the environment, will be presented by the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests, on World Environment Day, June 5th, in New Delhi.

Sadhguru will be accepting the award for Project GreenHands' significant contributions in environmental protection, conservation, regeneration and awareness creation.

Project GreenHands is a mass tree planting movement dedicated to mobilizing the population of India's southern state, Tamil Nadu, to plant 114 million trees in ten years. This unique project involves every sector of society, from businesses to school children and farmers, to work together towards their environmental security and well being.

After the 2005 tsunami swept away so many Indian lives and livelihoods, a group of Isha volunteers noticed that forested coastal villages suffered significantly less damage thanks to protective tree cover. An idea arose: Could trees be a tool for survivors to reconnect with their land, concurrently coping with their grief? In response, Isha grew and later gifted 25,000 saplings on white cloths to families for an unprecedented mass planting in memory of their loved ones.

Since its launch after the tsunami, over 2 million people have participated in planting 10 million trees throughout 1,800 communities. The project grew rapidly in scope and one year later established a Guinness World Record of over 850,000 trees planted in a day. In the next 5 years, Project GreenHands plans to gift 20 million saplings and conduct awareness campaigns reaching 10 million people from all walks of life.

About Sadhguru: A visionary, environmentalist, and spiritual leader, his non denominational disaster relief, educational and rural development programs have helped underserved communities in India, Africa and the US. He has been a special invitee at such prestigious conferences as the World Economic Forum, United Nations Millennium Peace Summit, TED, Noetic Science Conference, World Council of Religious Leaders, Australian Leadership Council, Dartmouth's Business School and Google. He's been named as one of India's 50 most powerful people by India Today Magazine and weekly contributes to the Huffington Post.

http://www.ishafoundation.org

http://www.projectgreenhands.org/main-video