I have always been in love with the village. From my childhood, my family spent at least one month a year in our hometown. So many trees surrounded our village. I woke up every morning listening to the bird call. I could see many birds that felt unreal to me. In our village, there was also a river called ‘Pagla Nodi’. I always felt that the universe has given all its beauty to this village. As time passed, the population increased and I saw huge changes in my beloved village. Before I could not see anything but trees and now, I can see everything but trees. My curious mind always asked why every year I come to my village; I see fewer trees than the previous year. Suddenly I realized that I could hear birds sing no more. I could not see those beautiful birds anymore. One day I asked my grandmother where are those birds that I used to see every year. She replied that as people had to cut the trees to build houses, the birds flew away. I again asked her that we cut someone else house to build our own. And what will happen to those birds? Where will they build their home again? My grandmother replied no more. I saw the river dried out soon. My little heart could not take the pain. This is where I learned the concept of deforestation.

For career, we, human being always looks for the future, but when it comes to natural resources we live in the present and act as if we are blind. We do not think about our future. We are happy that we have enough resources to live. We often think, so what if we are cutting one tree? There is enough for us. Now imagine 8.2 billion people in the world saying the same thing and doing the same as well. A recent study shows that we are cutting almost 42 million trees every day, which amounts to a staggering 15 billion trees each year. Where we have plant 2.1 trillion trees to save the world. There is a matter of concern that the way world population is growing and we have to ensure their habitant we need more place for them. This causes deforestation and we do not get enough places to plant trees. Due to global warming, the ice of Antarctica is melting which causes an increase in sea level 4.3 millimeters per year. One of the main reasons for global warming is deforestation. Study shows that Earth was about 2.45 degrees Fahrenheit warmer in 2023 than in the late 19th century, which is concerning for our future generation.it is our responsibility to provide a safe and resourceful world to our next generations. If this cycle continues, our upcoming generations will live in misery and find a place neither for living nor for planting trees. This is a common phenomenon that trees provide us with sufficient oxygen needed for our body. Trees save the environment and protect the world. For the sustainability of the world and to protect our planet along with every natural resource of the earth we have to be concerned about this issue and from now on we should take steps regarding this.

We, human beings of the earth can destroy the earth or save the earth. The choice is for us to make. As I have mentioned before about my village, just like that village of mine I have seen many villages where trees were cut down and I have seen people building their houses, places for entertainment, in other words, I have seen how the villages turned into city gradually. There is nothing wrong with villages turning out as cities. The problem arises when we forget about our natural resources and cut all the trees unethically. This should be stopped.

This is why we need to integrate green infrastructure into urban planning. In this century we are going through the process of urbanization. We want every facility that the urban area has in villages. People are missing a very important point. Besides urbanizing the villages, we also have to turn the cities into green as the village has. We have to have efficient space for planting trees. If we are making one building by cutting five trees, we have to ensure that we build five trees somewhere else. Now the question is where are we going to plant those five trees when we had to cut them because we needed space? If we plant those five trees somewhere else maybe others cut those trees after a few years. Yes, the question is serious. To ensure tree plantation, we have to have proper urbanization planning. We cannot build a house wherever we want. We cannot make a street wherever we want to. Everything has to have a plan. Here, we need to integrate green infrastructure into urban planning. We can plant trees in our house or on the rooftop of our building. And those trees that need huge space should be planted in the park area. Besides every 3-4 buildings there should be a park area where the big trees should be planted. All these can happen only when we will have proper urban planning.

As the present generation of the world, we have to be very careful of our natural resources. Trees play a vital role in every aspect of our lives and they connect all nature and human beings together. It is our responsibility to protect them. And we should leave enough resources for future generations so that they can do the same. Lastly I want to say that, it’s Our Future, Our Planet, and Our Choice.