Pakistan dazzled the world when a state-sanctioned effort planted close to a million trees in one day, but India aims to blow that record away by a multiple of over 50. More than 800,000 volunteers are being given sapling to plant along roads, rails and in existing forests, all to be done within 24 hours in order to set a difficult record to beat.

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav of Uttar Pradesh says it is an environmental effort: “the world has realized that serious efforts are needed to reduce carbon emissions to mitigate the effects of global climate change. Uttar Pradesh has made a beginning in this regard.” Aside from the direct planting effort, the government hopes this will raise awareness locally and worldwide.

At the Paris climate talks last December, the Indian government pledged to increase forest cover to 95 million hectares (235 million acres) by 2030. Aerial photography will monitor the trees after they are planted. The government’s goal is to increase forest cover to 33 percent, sequestering 2.5 billion tons of carbon.

The post Growth Spurt: India to Plant Record 50 Million Trees in 1 Day first appeared on Gajitz.

In developing countries, water quality is something that often hampers progress. Proximity to water altogether is a threat to quality and something that led American social venture company Wello to create a portable water transporting device.

In regions of India, the trek to water can be up to five miles long. Retrieving it is a task done mainly by women, and the distance can cause it to take up to 25% of their day. The inventors at Wello created the WaterWheel, a spherical container that rolls on attached handles. It can hold 50 liters, a five-fold improvement on the traditional head-carrying method.

Wello created the WaterWheel after first visiting people in villages in the region of Rajasthan in 2011. They won a $100,000 Grand Challenges Canada prize that allowed them to fully develop the idea, which is now being manufactured in Ahmedabad city in Gujarat.

The post New Wheel Helps Carry the Weight of Water Transporting first appeared on Gajitz.