Ever wonder where the term "tree-hugger" comes from?

     The Chipkos, a group formed in India in the 1970s, took their inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi and developed a non-violent approach to protesting deforestation - quite literally hugging trees to prevent them from being cut down. The very name of the movement is derived from the Hindi word for "embrace". The Chipko people believe that the trees are living and breathing carbon dioxide, the same as they were with oxygen. As such, it is their contention that the trees should be respected just as much as humans. The extensive forests are central to the successful practice of agriculture and animal husbandry. In addition, medicinal herbs gathered in the region are widely used for their healing effects. Through religion, folklore and oral tradition, the forests have always been protected by rings of love.

     Commercial interests were cutting down Himalayan oaks, and while these were being replaced with Chir pines, the amount of undergrowth was severely reduced, leading to flooding in the country's Uttarakhand region. In April 1973, the Indian government allotted a plot of forest land in the Alaknanda Valley to a sporting goods company, having previously denied the local villagers the right to use the same land for the production of agricultural tools. In protest, the women of the area formed a circle around the trees to block anyone wishing to cut them down. So began a movement which endures today throughout India.

     Prominent Chipko activist Sunderlal Bahuguna appealed to then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1980, ultimately winning a fifteen-year ban on harmful logging in the state of Uttar Pradesh, a major victory for the movement. He also coined the Chipko slogan "Ecology is permanent economy", and went on a 5,000 kilometer (3,000 mile) foot march from 1981 to 1983 to spread his message of environmental activism and respect for Nature.

     The United Nations Environment Programme reported on the movement as follows: "In effect the Chipko people are working a socio-economic revolution by winning control of their forest resources from the hands of a distant bureaucracy which is concerned with selling the forest for making urban-oriented products.

     Environmental awareness increased enormously in the 1990s in India, largely as a result of the Chipkos' efforts, and so did the number of organized groups championing the cause of cleaner air, water and soil. As a result, the national government in New Delhi introduced legislation aimed at controlling emissions and other forms of pollution, but there has thus far been little in the way of enforcement. In August of 1994, Chipko tree-huggers organized a protest to stop the construction of the dam at Tehri, claiming that its construction would uproot trees and thereby pose a flood threat.

     Bahuguna committed himself to a 45-day fast in 1995, ending it only when the Indian government promised a review of the Tehri dam project. But the promise was not kept and the following year he began another fast, only broken after 74 days when the Prime Minister gave a personal undertaking to conduct a thorough review, largely on Bahuguna's terms.

     Finally in 2004 the dam began to fill and Bahuguna and his wife were forced to move to a government-issued home further upstream. Now 80 years old, Bahuguna has vowed that this is not the end; he will continue to fight for ecological protection in India. His outspoken views have ignited the young people of India into action to perpetuate the protest against the ecological ruin imposed on the country.

     To date, the success of the Chipko movement has saved over 100,000 trees from being cut down. The styles of activism vary - on one hand, there is a constant stream of published articles and materials, and on the other hand there is an active fight for the preservation of 70-80 percent of planted saplings. Today, most of the state legislators respect the ideals of the Chipko movement as well as other environmental concerns raised by similarly-inspired groups. Nonetheless, to prevent future clearings, the Chipko "tree-huggers" are still very active.

      Gandhi himself would be proud.