Tree Ganesha, An Iconic Environmental Movement

Greenman Viral Desai launched the ‘Tree Ganesha’ campaign in 2018, beautifully combining religious faith and the idea of environmental protection. The ‘Tree Ganesha’ campaign is India’s first environmental campaign, in which the statue of Lord Ganesha is installed in a tree itself, and nature conservation awareness campaigns are carried out through the worship of Lord Ganesha for 10 days. Due to this, the event became a most awaited and sought out national event from the very beginning of ‘Tree Ganesha’ and the media and many social organizations across the country appreciated this event.

Started under the leadership of Viral Desai, this environmental campaign has an environmental based unique theme every year. Where the theme of ‘Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection’ was kept in the year 2018. In 2019, the theme was ‘Champions of the Earth’. In which Life size standees of legendary environmentalists of the globe which includes Our Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi,  President Emmanuel Macron, Sadhguru, Akira Miyawaki, Leonardo DiCaprio to Padma Shri Amma were installed. Detailed information about their contribution to environmental protection was highlighted. Also, the issue of of the fire in the Amazon forest and the destruction caused by it were also presented in Ganesha  stalls with statistics for 10 days.

The year 2020 proved to be the year of corona epidemic for the whole world. However, in the year 2020, ‘Tree Ganesha’ was celebrated virtually and the  ‘Tree Ganesha – Each One Plant One’ movement was launched by connecting Indians from all over the world virtually. In which for three days, three different experts explained about the importance of environment protection. In these webinars were conducted with eminent psychologist of the country Dr. Prashant Bhimani, popular writer and speaker Jay Vasavada and senior Journalist-editors Jyoti ji and Krishnakant Undakat participated and simultaneously informed and influenced thousands of people.

For the past two years, the theme of ‘Tree Ganesha’ has been centered around Viral Desai’s notable movement ‘Satyagraha Against Pollution and Climate Change’. Where in the year 2021, ‘Wall of Disaster’ and ‘Wall of Hope’ were presented in Ganesh Pandal. In which, on the one hand, the craters created around the world due to climate change were shown. So on one wall the works done by ‘Hearts at Work Foundation’ led by Viral Desai were presented. The works presented details about planting of more than two lakh trees, construction of three Miyawaki Urban Forests, construction of India-Asia and World’s first green station Green Udhna Railway Station and various awareness campaigns of Hearts at Work Foundation.

The year 2021 ‘Tree Ganesha’ was also very special because that year the Forest Department of Gujarat officially joined the ‘Tree Ganesha’. A Skit of imaginary dialogues between Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel, on whose values ‘Satyagraha Against Pollution and Climate Change’ is based, was also presented. More than thirty thousand students participated in ‘Tree Ganesha’ 2021 and a total of more than fifty thousand saplings of native species were distributed.

In the ‘Tree Ganesha’ celebrated in the year 2022, the whole pandal was decorated on the theme of ‘Triple A’ with ‘Satyagraha Against Pollution and Climate Change’ as the center. The ‘triple A’ stands for Awareness, Attitude and Action. In which ‘Wall of Awareness’, ‘Wall of Attitude’ and ‘Wall of Action’ were prepared on one side in the Tree Ganesha pandal and information about various works done by Hearts at Work Foundation and future vision of Hearts at Work was presented on the walls. This year too, Gujarat’s Forest Department and Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Surat (GPCB) officially associated with ‘Tree Ganesha’ movement. This year the awareness of environment protection was conveyed to more than forty thousand people. And a total of over fifty thousand saplings were distributed and planted.

Due to its uniqueness and contribution to the environment, ‘Tree Ganesha’ has become an event that people look forward to. So far more than four lakh trees have been distributed and planted through Tree Ganesha. bringing awareness and inspiring more than two lakh people through online and offline events. This is the first event where a religious festival becomes an environmental campaign, which has been associated and noted by many authorities and well-known people of India and abroad.