7 Powerful Lessons from Our Journey in Nature Conservation
Hello friends,
I welcome you to Meri Mati.
Meri Mati is not just a website for me. It represents a part of my life and the work that we have been doing for nature and the Earth.
I felt that this journey should be shared with the world because what we are trying to do is not only important for us—it is important for the generations that will come after us.
For a long time, we have been working in our own small way for nature conservation. This has included planting trees, collecting seeds, restoring barren land, cleaning rivers and removing waste that can harm nature and wildlife.
I have always believed that the Earth does not belong only to us.
We are one part of a much larger natural world. If nature survives and thrives, we will survive with it.
🌿 1. Nature Conservation Begins With Us
Human beings have changed the natural world in countless ways.
Forests have been cleared. Rivers have become polluted. Plastic and other waste have entered natural habitats. Many species of mammals, birds and insects are disappearing from places where they once lived.
We are already seeing the consequences of this damage.
The question is not only what governments or large organisations can do. Every individual has a role to play.
We cannot expect somebody else to take responsibility for everything around us.
We have to begin with ourselves.
Today, I am writing this from my own experience.
I started working on this blog on 11 June 2024, at around 11 p.m. I remember thinking about how little time we may have if we continue damaging the natural world without changing our behaviour.
This is not only about our generation.
It is about what kind of Earth we leave behind for the next generation.
🌱 2. Nature Does Not Always Need Us to Control Everything
I regularly visit forests, and one thing I have learned from observing them is that nature is remarkably capable of taking care of itself.
Plants do not always need human beings to constantly look after them.
Nature deals with rain, heat, cold and changing conditions every day.
Our role can sometimes be much simpler.
We need to create the right opportunity and then allow nature to do much of the work.
For example, during summer, forests are full of seeds.
If we collect seeds from different trees and spread them on suitable barren land before the rains, some of them may germinate when the right conditions arrive.
The process can be surprisingly simple.
We often make things complicated because we believe meaningful environmental work always requires large amounts of money, technology or organised programmes.
But many useful things can begin with a very small action.
🌱 One seed can become a tree.
🌳 One tree can provide shade, habitat and food.
🌿 And many trees can gradually change a landscape.
🌾 3. Give Barren Land a Chance to Recover
One of the things that has always interested me is the ability of nature to return when we simply give it an opportunity.
A piece of barren land may appear lifeless to us.
But beneath the surface, nature is often waiting.
Seeds can wait for rain. Grass can return when moisture becomes available. Insects can appear when vegetation returns. Birds can follow when food and shelter become available.
This is why I believe that restoring nature does not always mean controlling nature.
Sometimes it means removing the obstacles and giving natural processes enough time.
That understanding has become an important part of our own journey.
💧 4. Rivers Need Our Care, Not Just Our Prayers
For many years, we have also been involved in cleaning natural places, including rivers and their banks.
Broken glass is particularly dangerous because it can injure animals and people.
We collect broken bottles and other glass waste and send recyclable material to recycling centres. Whatever small amount we receive from such material has also been used to help people who need it.
We have also collected plastic and other waste from rivers and their banks.
These activities may seem small compared with the scale of environmental problems.
But they are still necessary.
A river is not a place where we should leave the waste created after a festival, religious gathering or any other occasion.
If we bring something into nature, we should also take responsibility for what we leave behind.
Respecting nature also means taking our waste back with us.
🤝 5. We Cannot Leave Everything to the Government
One of the biggest problems I see is that people often think environmental protection is somebody else’s responsibility.
We say:
“This is the government’s duty.”
Of course, governments have an important role in protecting the environment.
But individuals and communities also have responsibilities.
We cannot simply wait for somebody else to clean our rivers, plant our trees, protect our surroundings or restore damaged land.
We have to participate.
Over the years, we have also tried to discourage activities that damage trees and natural areas.
We learned something important from this experience:
Talking alone is not enough.
People may agree with you, nod their heads and say that something needs to change.
But real change happens when we actually step outside and do something.
That is why we gradually stopped spending too much time talking and preaching.
We preferred to work.
🌍 6. Nature Conservation Does Not Need Recognition
We never started this work as an NGO.
Whatever we have been doing has largely been done by ourselves and financed by ourselves. We never started this work with the expectation that someone else should fund it.
There are documentaries, blogs, YouTube channels and many other platforms that showcase environmental work.
That is fine.
Spreading awareness is important.
But for us, recognition has never been the reason for doing this work.
We do it because we believe it needs to be done.
We do not need someone to tell us that protecting nature is worthwhile.
If nature benefits from what we are doing, that itself is enough.
Over the years, we have also seen that many people appreciate environmental work from a distance.
They may talk about it, share it or praise it.
But there is a difference between talking about nature and actually getting your hands dirty for nature.
That difference matters.
🐾 7. The Journey Began With a Simple Question
The COVID period became a life-changing phase for me.
It made me think much more deeply about life, nature, clean air, the environment and what we are leaving behind for humanity.
During that period, many thoughts came together.
What can we do for human beings?
What can we do for the Earth?
What can we do for nature?
And perhaps most importantly:
What can we create that will continue beyond our own lifetime?
These questions gradually led to another thought.
And from that thought, the story of Meri Mati began.
The Beginning of Meri Mati
Meri Mati was not created simply as a website.
It became the name of a journey—a journey of working with land, water, trees, seeds, animals and nature.
The idea was simple.
Instead of only talking about environmental problems, we should try to create something ourselves.
We wanted to restore land, conserve rainwater, plant trees, encourage natural vegetation and create a place where people and nature could exist together.
We knew that the journey would take time.
Nature cannot be rushed.
A tree cannot be forced to grow overnight.
Soil cannot be restored in a day.
A barren landscape cannot become an ecosystem through one monsoon.
But if we begin, observe, learn and continue, nature can gradually respond.
That is what we have tried to do.
We began with small steps.
We collected seeds.
We planted trees.
We worked with barren land.
We cleaned rivers.
We removed waste.
We observed forests.
And slowly, our understanding of nature changed.
We began to realise that perhaps our greatest role is not to dominate nature, but to create the conditions in which nature can heal itself.
🌱 From an Idea to a Living Journey
Meri Mati is therefore much more than a name.
It represents a belief that environmental change can begin with ordinary people taking responsibility for the places around them.
You do not always need a large organisation.
You do not always need expensive equipment.
You do not always need recognition.
Sometimes you simply need to begin.
Pick up the waste.
Plant a seed.
Protect a tree.
Clean a riverbank.
Restore a piece of damaged land.
And then keep going.
Because nature works slowly—but it works.
The journey that began with these thoughts eventually became Meri Mati Farm, where our ideas about land, water, trees and natural ecosystems began taking a much larger form.
That part of the story came later.
This article is about the thought that came first.
And that thought was simple:
If we want nature to take care of us, we must first learn to take care of nature.
The journey is still continuing.
🌿 We may begin the work, but nature writes the final story.
