Sadhguru: Namaskaram.
Well, in New York and it’s snowing heavily.
We are expecting anywhere between a foot to three feet of snow today.
It’s been snowing for the last three hours
or four hours now.
Just finished the UN event.
This was an event by the permanent mission of Indian embassy here at the United Nations.
This was about “Water, Sanitation and Women”, these three things they want to connect because
tomorrow is a World Water Day and
they are launching a ten year or a decade of action
for water conservation
and water conservation and
water is seen as a part of an important part of sustainable development goals.
Well, I am part of this important panel
where all the key people are there in this.
This is towards action
for the next ten years,
what we need to do,
how to engage the people.
As a consequence of “Rally for Rivers,”
we have brought this awareness in the world
- without a mass movement,
there’s really no solution.
Governments may do things,
companies can do things,
individual people and NGOs can do
whatever they do - all of it is useful,
but without engaging people in a mass scale,
there’s really no solution.
This has gone home very well with “Rally for Rivers” and that’s why we’re here
and tomorrow is going to be an interesting panel discussion at the United Nations,
which is under the umbrella of United Nations,
not by the Indian mission.
Right now,
I could send you a few pictures of what’s happening outside.
The snow is coming down pretty heavy,
and all schools are closed,
transportation is not working,
most of the taxis are out,
Uber is not functioning.
In spite of that,
the hall got filled up today,
and very enthusiastic response
from variety of people who attended today’s meeting.
This has been driven home very clearly,
that “Rally for Rivers” is a very effective way of looking at water solutions, in the sense
I’ve… even in today’s meeting,
I drove this home that,
if we want solutions for water
if we want water available to everybody,
one of the most important things
we need to understand is that,
there must be sufficient vegetation.
There must be sufficient forests.
If forest is not possible, at least tree cover.
Without vegetation,
there is no way
tropical part of the world will have the needed water,
because in the temperate part of the world
there is snowfall as it is happening
right now in New York City, heavy snowfall.
Similarly, everywhere else in the temperate nations or in the temperate lands of this world,
snow sits on the ground
for two to three months
and slowly drips down and fills all the aquafers and everything.
But in a tropical land like India,
only forty-five to fifty days of rain or precipitation happens.
What falls down, or what comes down in forty-five days,
we have to preserve and sustain
for the next three hundred and sixty five day
the whole three hundred and sixty five days.
So, this can only happen
if there is necessary vegetation
and rich organic content in the soil.
So, this point has gone home very well
and this has been taken note of in a big way.
And right now, in India there are serious efforts
after the “Rally for Rivers”.
Many states are going on a overdrive.
Karnataka is going for twenty-five crores of trees, Maharashtra is going for over fifty crore trees,
and Telangana is going for over ninety crore trees.
Andhra Pradesh is talking about
converting fifty percent of its agricultural land
into horticulture
and UP the Ganga basin,
there are serious plans for plantation of which we will be a part of.
So, all this happening
and thanks to all the people,
the millions of people who participated
in “Rally for Rivers,”
especially for the little school children
with such enthusiasm
they did all that they did for “Rally for Rivers”
and every volunteer
and everybody else who participated,
who made this happen.
And today, there is a movement in the world towards this.
Everybody understands up to thirty-three degrees latitude,
the most important thing that needs to happen is vegetation.
Somehow, there was a certain amount of
misunderstanding or a lot of flak going around.
But today, it is very clear,
both in the Indian Government
and in many states of India and also in United Nations and the world bodies.
Well, tomorrow it’s going to be an interesting panel discussion.
Tomorrow is a full day for me at United Nations.
Every one of you
who have participated in the “Rally for Rivers”,
who have supported this,
in so many ways
with your physical presence
or just in your hearts,
in all the different ways that you have supported,
I want you to know,
in some way it is moving towards a solution.
Solution is not close by.
If we start working today in the right direction,
solutions will slowly come,
over a couple of decades
I would say.
So, I want all of you to stay committed and
focused because what we are looking for is to turn the world around in some way.
This is something that we owe to the future generations.
This is not something that will happen over a weekend or even in a year or two,
this will take a few decades
- if not many decades,
at least a couple of decades
for us to see significant results happening.
So, please stay on course.
Let’s see that before our time is done,
we hand over a really lush,
green and water rich planet
to the future generations.
This is a commitment that we must take,
this is a commitment that we must fulfil
for the generations to come,
because this is something that we owe for life,
that’s after us,
because our time here is just a little time.
We have no right to take away everything from this planet, but our lifestyles, our existence,
our technologies, our needs, our market needs, our economic needs have multiplied and
we can’t turn everything around.
But one thing we can do,
make sure there is substantial vegetation on the planet,
that whatever nonsense we do,
still the planet is capable of withstanding.
If all the other life survives
- this must be understood that
every other life on the planet is eco-friendly
except the human being (Laughs).
So, the human footprint has become so much
that all the other life,
the life in terms of worms, insects, birds,
animals, all of them are withdrawing in a big way.
There is a sad picture going around
it’s a tragic day that a species that has lasted
for a million years comes to an end
simply because of us,
of human beings like you and me.
So, it is important that we create enough space
for every other creature
because they are the true eco-warriors.
The worms that you see,
the insects that you see,
the birds and animals that you see and
the trees that you see
- these are the genuine eco-warriors.
We just have to make space for them,
so this is what we are trying to bring home
if we create enough habitat by creating trees, and
moving our agriculture at least in a significant part from crop-based agriculture to tree-based agriculture.
This is where the solutions are.
First of all, to ensure that this boogie of , “ecology means it’s against our economy”
- this has to go.
This is the fundamental goal of
“Rally for Rivers” that ecology and economy can go
hand in hand
It is just that,
we have to learn to do our economy
in a gentler and a more inclusive way,
that includes all life on this planet.
So, be with me.
Tomorrow is an important day for “Rally for Rivers”, because in the UN
many things are going to be taken note of and
the recommendations
in the “Rally for Rivers” are very relevant for all tropical nations on the planet.
So, UN is looking at it very keenly.
Let us see where it goes.
Thank you very much.
Namaskaram, I wish you were here
to see this fantastic snowfall
that’s happening in New York City today (Laughs).