That’s what the Tarumitra or the ‘Friends of Trees’ are planning to do.

‘Tarumitra’ is a students’ movement which started in 1988 in Patna. Now spread across hundreds of high schools and colleges all over India, the movement gathered momentum after the death of two students during an ecological campaign.

Whether it’s forming a 7 km-long human chain as a protest against the poor condition of Patna’s roads or cooking hot snacks on their Parabolic Community Solar Cookers (for interested passers-by), Tarumitra aims to equip their members with skills in handling local environmental problems. Tarumitra has transformed over a dozen garbage dumps into beautiful roadside gardens with each of its member schools adopting a garden whose students clean the site, work the soil and plant seeds, flowers and trees.

What’s more, imagine building your own bio-reserve! Tarumitra Ashram is a bio-reserve where the students have planted hundreds of vanishing species of trees and herbs. The seeds were sent by students from all over India in an attempt to promote species diversity. Last June, students from Bengal and Bihar assembled for an ecological kar seva at the Tarumitra Ashram. As part of the 10-day Summer Work Camp, boys and girls from colleges and schools helped dig a water reservoir, filled earth in bags for the plant nursery, paved the approach road and watered trees – at 5 o’clock in the morning and after the sun set!! In between, the campers attended leadership training programmes and got hands-on experience in water conservation methods, green journalism, nursery work and tree planting.