The Original Tree Huggers
Can you imagine waking up one morning and finding a large Earth mover in your driveway ready to demolish your home. Your home, your source of shelter, food, water, clothing, memories and stories. What would you do?
This is the situation the women of Utter Pradesh (in the sub-Himalayan region of India) were in when they became the first tree huggers. Chipko is a Hindi word for “Hugging.”
This was not a joke or a disparaging term, but a serious stand to defend their families and against logging where it did not belong and where it was going to be destructive to both the forest and to their families.
Shobita Jain describes the balanced relationship the people of the sub- Himalayan traditionally had with the forest that surrounded them They depended on the forest for shelter, food, water and clothing upon and in return they took care to treat the trees, plants, soil, water, and wildlife with respect and gratitude. They acted to support for the health of the forest and all the living beings that co-existed in it. You can find her article at https://sniadecki.wordpress.com/2022/11/23/jain-chipko-en/ Vandana Shiva has also documented the Chipko movement and all it involves in her 1989 book, Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development.
Today we humans do not depend so directly on the forest that surrounds Bragg Creek, but the wild animals who live there do. They are an integral part of a complex ecosystem where all parts interact in complex ways, and all are needed for the health of the ecosystem. We need to be respectful of what the wildlife and plants around us need to have preserved.
Forests guard the health of the water and soil we do still depend on. And then there is their beauty. Whether we hug trees or not (and many of us love to), for so many reasons, we need to act to preserve the health of our forests.
