The origin of the term "Tree hugger"
The first #treehuggers were 294 #men and 69 #women belonging to the Bishnois branch of #Hinduism, who, in 1730, died while trying to protect the trees in their village from being turned into the raw material for building a palace. They literally clung to the trees, while being slaughtered by the foresters. But their action led to a royal decree prohibiting the cutting of trees in any Bishnoi village. And now those villages are virtual #wooded oases amidst an otherwise #desert landscape.
Not only that, the #Bishnois inspired the Chipko movement (chipko means “to cling” in Hindi) that started in the 1970s, when a group of peasant women in the #Himalayan hills of northern #India threw their arms around trees designated to be cut down. Within a few years, this tactic, also known as #treesatyagraha, had spread across India, ultimately forcing reforms in #forestry and a moratorium on tree felling in Himalayan regions.
Source: goo.gl/HTyZEj
Photo: The village women of the #Chipkomovement in the early 70's in the Garhwal Hills of India, protecting the #trees from being cut down.