With our support, impact partner One Tree Planted (OTP) planted a total of 30,600 trees on 41 acres of land in the Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky. Degraded by surface (coal) mining practices in the 1970’s and 80’s, the soil was severely compacted and colonized by aggressive, non-native ground cover.

Once the invasive species were removed, OTP planted a variety of native species to form an ecologically appropriate shortleaf pine-upland oak forest community. Those species were: white oak, chestnut oak, northern red oak, black oak, shortleaf pine, black cherry, American chestnut, sycamore, silky dogwood, black gum, persimmon, yellow poplar, American hazelnut, eastern redbud, black locust, and American plum.

Part of a larger effort to restore surface-mined lands in the Cumberland River Watershed, this project improves water quality by slowing infiltration rates, reducing erosion, and increasing water storage. The diverse mix of seedlings will provide food for wildlife and pollen for honeybees — and reduce the fragmentation of songbird and other wildlife habitat. It will also sequester an impressive amount of carbon — because mined soils have little to no remaining organic carbon, they can act as carbon sinks for decades.

A chance meeting at an airport in 1972 between a Financial Times journalist, with the King of the Kingdom of Bhutan, the teenager Jigme Singya Wangchuk, introduced the world to a nation that values happiness over money. And a kind of magic happened.

30 July 2020 is designated “World Day against Trafficking in Persons” by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, right?

ATLANTA – Social media continues to make headlines for divisive, hateful communication, but what if social media could provide a platform for doing good – good things from good people communicating good ideas?

The Coronavirus has kept us all confined to our houses for a period of time, and whilst some are itching to get out and about once more, to reclaim their regular daily lives and get ‘back to normal’, there are others who would rather not. Do we really want to go back to our lives exactly as they were before the lockdown?

Editor's note: Dr. Avi Varma is an Atlanta based,  family medicine practitioner and friend of Sahoja. She was recently recognized for her contributions during the COVID-19 pandemic receiving a Together Women Rise award from actress Priyanka Chopra. 

June 20^th is World Refugee Day and the theme for 2020 is “Every Action Counts”. It is a reminder of the huge contributions made by refugees towards a more inclusive and equal society.

The unexpected impact of COVID-19 on the planet