It was Calvin  the cartoon character from the cartoon strip Calvin and Hobbs  who addressed an issue that should be of serious concern to all of mankind. He says :

"Dad how come you are not taking better care of the planet after all it will be my inheritance." Calvin an otherwise rather lazy but a very intelligent five year old suddenly finds he is very  concerned about what will be left of his planet by the time he is grown up.   

What are we leaving as a heritage for our children- fresh air, trees and a world in which they can live in long after we are gone? Or are we leaving the remnants of the world after we have consumed and destroyed,  in our blind greed and lack of  concern. What is the use of leaving them wealth and fortune when we cannot guaranty that they get the minimum of clean air and water in their life time.

A bunch of kids who till now have taken most of the good things in life for granted - not very different from the all American kid Calvin, decided they want answers when they hear that the trees on their road are being cut down.
The  Summer holidays - the children of 2nd Main Jai Bharath Nagar, spent lazy days on their street playing shuttle cock, cycling or just fooling around. They took for granted that the shady road in front of their houses was an extension of their homes.  The road is protected from the harsh rays of the summer sun by three large beautiful Jacaranda trees.

The street is  a  quiet  by-lane which made it perfect for them to play under the shady branches of the trees.  The trees were a witness to their growing years, the eight children ranged from 15 to 9 years of age. To an adult it may not amount to much but for the children it was their whole life. They played , fought and shared their joys and sorrows under the protection of  these magnificent trees.

One fine day the bomb shell was dropped on them, the trees on the road are going to be cut! The neighbors together got a sanction from the government to cut their precious trees. The trees on their road, who were their friends had only a few more weeks to live. The first reaction of the children was shock then anger. How could the adults on the road just take a decision as extreme as this?

The children,  saw the trees as silent companions but adults who have the responsibility of being practical, had always  seen the trees as another source of  irritation. The trees had  seasonal shedding and some of the old twigs would litter up the road and collected as garbage on the road. The roots of the trees were growing into the adjacent compounds and becoming a nuisance . Shirley the oldest of the gang came up with a solution for that, she  convinced the others that they would take the responsibility of clearing the leaves from the road. If the adults were concerned for the cleanliness on the road, then the youngsters would do their bit and clear the fallen leaves every day when they came back from school. Still the issue was not resolved. Some of the neighbors claimed that a lot of trees in Bangalore were falling down, so just to be on the safe side it would be better to simply cut down the whole tree.

The books on Environmental sciences that they studied in the school spoke of global warming, lack of  rain and water due to de-forestation and many serious consequences to tree cutting. The children were really confused, here the whole world is saying that cutting trees is the worst thing you can do to the planet but  they had the grown ups on their street wanting to cut down trees  with out a care for any of these consequences. Govind another of the children even showed the book to the neighbors who wanted to cut the trees. The children all together made posters to protest the cutting of the trees, describing the many  ecological problems.
After all their efforts there was a slight change in the attitude of the adults. One of the parents of the children realized that they were really serious in the efforts of saving the trees; she also being a teacher began efforts to help the children's campaign- 'Save our Trees'.

We as supporter of the cause wish them all the very best and hope and pray for the lives of their trees. Hip Hip Hurray! for the eight junior environment activists who against all odds and at the expense of spoiling their summer  holidays stood up for what they believed in .