Source: www.trueactivist.com | Original Post Date: February 11, 2014 –
If all people decided to take action every time an injustice was witnessed, there would never be any need for squabble to detract from the opportunities at hand. This is exactly what Jadav Payeng decided when he realized his home in India’s northern Assam region needed more trees to protect its wildlife.
It all started in 1979 when large floods washed a great amount of snakes ashore the sandbar near the then-16-year-old’s home. After the tide had receded, Payeng found the place dotted with the dead reptiles; this spurred a turning point in his life.
“The snakes died in the heat, without any tree cover. I sat down and wept over their lifeless forms. It was carnage. I alerted the forest department and asked them if they could grow trees there. They said nothing would grow there. Instead, they asked me to try growing bamboo. It was painful, but I did it. There was nobody to help me. Nobody was interested,” says Payeng, now 47.
