Humans are evolving day by day; they are becoming increasingly capable of doing advanced research and experiments leading to novel discoveries and inventions. Though this is something that mankind should be pleased about, why are we always or rather often in an alarming state? Why do we have to deal with global warming, natural disasters, lack of oxygen, and many more issues? Well, the cause is simple… We are removing the roots, cutting trees, destroying the forests, and killing nature. It is disheartening to know that we are cutting almost 15 billion trees every year, according to the Our World in Data website. This is what is paving us toward the threatening tomorrow, where most of the natural resources would have disappeared, making Earth just another planet not suitable for life. It is a must that we now stop blaming big technology companies and developed nations, stating that they drove us to this menacing state. It is the fault of all global citizens because we were silent for all these years until global warming and adverse climate change materialized themselves as outcomes of our actions.

Thus, G17 University Ambassadors of SLIIT partnered up with the Applied Sciences Department of SLIIT in one of their project called “Agrifest” and took the initiative to respond to the need of the hour to create a greener tomorrow, through the project Tree for Life, in the SDG Global Week. In this phase, the 17 ambassadors and a few undergraduates started a tree-planting campaign in a designated plot inside the university. A variety of vegetables and decorative plants were planted, so that in the future the vegetables harvested could be utilized by SLIIT and could be donated to someone in need, and the decorative floras were planted because we understand that nature can speak to our minds when it is chaotic. Now looking at the plants growing is indeed satisfying and overwhelming.

Our tiny step towards planting 40 different plants has inspired hundreds of undergraduates to root thousands of plants, prevent millions of trees from being cut, and save billions of lives. We as G17 University Ambassadors have taken a step forward for a safer and greener tomorrow, and now it is your time to decide: will you Remove or Plant the Roots?

- Himaanthri Surendran

G17 University Ambassador Coordinator - SLIIT