Empowering the Future - Auroville

Dear all,

yes, we got again thousands of trees planted this monsoon season in Auroville:everybody involved with stewarding land is planting: the school children, the forest stewards, the farmers, and on newly purchased land the many members of  land board team plant trees, and plant life fence trees with indigenous tree species.

For fencing typically plant species with thorns like wild lemons are used. Many a times the already growing "mullu" gets simply transplanted for fencing during the rains.

Why do we still plant trees - after 50 years of Auroville?

On every newly purchased land, the afforestation work proceeds over 10 - 15 years, through a phased approach of planting pioneer trees, then decidous trees, and finally the TDEF - tropical dry evergreen forest species, which are  evergreen tree species.

Our land holding is a patchwork - in the greenbelt over 50 % of land is still missing. In the southern greenbelt land is well consolidated, with amazing land regeneration and water conservation, and wildlife and a biodiversity returning big time.

But for the remaining greenbelt, land holding is very scattered. Auroville purchased as and when the land owner wanted to sell, and the ownership documents were correct. Thus we add new plots one by one -  and restart the phased land regeneration process.

Auroville focusses efforts to purchase of strategic land holdings

- land which will enhance biodiversity by bridging land holdings,

- land on the water shed so that most effective water conservation work can be effectuated.

- land valuable for organic farming and to serve as demonstration plots for outreach and capacity building in farming techniques.

There is still a lot to do ... 

                     we do it step by step, day by day.

Unlike usual land regeneration project, we are not moving on after completing tree planting projects. We are staying. We see what really works. We work on the social and climate change perspective beside biodiversity. We live with our forests. We grow for decades with our trees.

Be part of our adventure in regenerating land for humanity.

Your support by donating directly, or help us run a campaign in your network, is most appreciated.

THANK YOU,

Sigrid and Funding Auroville Team   

Antonio, Giovanni, Supriya and Sigrid

Links:

• Our website for detailed Info
• Updates on regenerative work in Social Media

This summer  2021 in Auroville we are blessed with a gentle cool climate:

Lush green trees, shrubs and long grass, and oceans of flowers with hibiscus, frangipani and hundreds of  “Service trees” blooming all over Auroville.

An extraordinary summer – usually we would find ourselves in a simmering heat well above 40° C and grey skies for 3 months - with trees reducing their foliage to bring down evaporation.

Our bioregional microclimate, created by the millions of trees planted, is enhanced this summer by the abundant autumn monsoon rains we received, with water still standing in all the water retention ponds and the village tanks everywhere.

For Auroville’s land regeneration, with over 24000 trees planted this monsoon, this summer is a blessing. Young saplings are having a fabulous first year, establishing their roots deeply for the upcoming growth spurt and building of the evergreen canopy.

Radiant health is seen as a divine blessing here in our rural population: Tamilians stick to their time-proven ways of managing health, based on hundreds of years of traditional knowledge.

Keeping a self-discipline, they stick to simple nutritional local food, oil baths, early morning prayers, and an active  lifestyle – even with hard physical work. Local herbal medicines and specific foods, based on varieties of paddy, millets and local vegetables keep the body cool and envigourated with life energy.

Auroville`s work of the past 50 years, preserving and re-activating the cultivation of traditional varieties of rice, millets, and vegetables supports the traditional healthy lifestyle in our rural villages.

Auroville’s food outlets play with this traditional approach, and get creative – adding elements of Korean and Thai cuisine, bringing in vegan recipes, North Indian flavours, and even local edible weeds and flowers.

Meanwhile the health-conscious consumers of a growing middle class re-discover their traditional food culture: health food outlets promoting “rice dumplings of traditional rice varieties”, juice bars with organic sugarcane cocktails, and health food stores with traditional foods as “take away” are developing in Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu.

Auroville`s regeneration of the land and its biodiversity and organic agriculture is sustaining a healthy life style for all  … now more then ever.

We appeal to you to support us in consolidating Auroville`s land –

every donation helps to make strategic purchases now to secure Auroville`s future

THANK YOU

 A special treat:

The Intro to the documentart “Ever Slow Green” with Solitude farmer Krishna McKenzie speaking with film maker Christoph Pohl  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp7QPcxzXoQ

Trailer and Links https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6Mpz7fAAA

                             https://www.changenow.world/film-festival-details/