Below are some simple ways in which we can get close to Mother Nature without having to spend a lot of travelling to exotic locations. These points will also help us make tree plantation a part of life rather than just limiting it to a once – in – a while activity.

1. Birthday Plant/Tree – On your birthday, do your good karma by planting a tree and resolving to care for it till its roots are firm. You could encourage your friends and family members to do the same on their birthdays or marriage anniversary. In order to make this more interesting, you could choose to name the tree you planted after you and call it by your name. If it is your son/daughter’s birthday, encourage them to plant a sapling first thing in the morning and name it after them. This will encourage them to water and take care of it daily.

2. Gift a Plant – Instead of spending thousands on expensive gifting during weddings/ festivals and birthdays, how about gifting a plant. You could celebrate a special ‘Green Diwali’ or an ‘Eco friendly Wedding’ and encourage people to gift only saplings. If there is a wedding in your family you could plan an eco – wedding theme where all guests are requested to only bring planters/saplings as gifts or even better, you could have a designated open area and every guest who arrives is escorted to the area and asked to plant a tree as he comes for the wedding. These initiatives may sound very new and sometimes also strange, but when done in an organized manner will have great results and will leave an everlasting impact on people’s minds.

3. Communicate with your plant – Keep a favorite plant in your room or at your work desk and invite it to become your best friend. Start connecting and communicating with your plant as you would with a human being. Plants have life and can understand and feel energy. You will see that as you begin to express your love and respect for the plant and connect with it, the plant also begins to reciprocate your energy. This is a beautiful practice that you could encourage your children to do as well and you will be amazed at how soon kids bond with nature.

Small baby steps backed by a noble intention can go a long way in conserving nature and saving lives. What better way to pay our tributes to our planet – our Mother Earth.