Read the short story by clicking here: The Man Who Planted Trees, by Jean Giono (1953).
I found this short story a couple years ago on memepool. The Man Who Planted Trees is about a desert, a wasteland in France one hundred years ago. The author met a shepherd who walked the hills, planting a hundred acorns every day. The author came back to visit every few years. The oak trees grew. And the desert became lush and fertile. The dead land came to life. Empty, abandoned villages suddenly became active towns. One man really can make a difference.
There is another important theme this story reveals, one which is guiding my current endeavors. Plants and animals interact with the land. Trees bring moisture back to the land. I was thinking of this story when I recently visited Organic Pastures dairy farm. Set in the middle of the Fresno valley, the owners of the farm have created their own miracle. By keeping the cows outdoors year round, they have turned the grass green. All around them, the land is dry and dusty, and is sprinkled nightly with irrigation systems. But on this one dairy farm, there is no irrigation. The owner showed me the trenches they had dug to install an irrigation system thirty years ago. But they never installed it. They didn't need it. The connection between the cows and the land benefitted both, making healthy milk. Trees can do it, cows can do it... how can we humans increase life on this earth?