Deforestation is a global that keeps getting worse as the population of humankind increases and so does the industry. I have talked about the deforestation in Turkey in my second article of October. This time I will be talking about an interesting project that I have recently heard about that can be counted as a countermeasure to this ever growing issue.

The project's name can be translated as "Seeds Meet the Soil". This is a project organized by the Turkey Paratrooper's Federation. The project has three steps. First of which is the collection of the seeds. Until the day that is decided by the federation (this day is usually during May or June when the weather is sunny and not cloudy), everyone who would like to contribute to this project collects any kind of seed (e.x. olive, orange, apple seeds etc.) at their home. Later on, these people are supposed to deliver these seeds to the nearest federation center. The second part is to make the seeds ready for the third step. At this point, all of the seeds are covered with mud individually. This can either be done by the individual who delivered the seeds, otherwise the federation takes cares of the process. The third and last part of the project is basically what makes this project so interesting and awesome at the same time. In this part, all the seeds that are prepared in the second part are gathered in different cities around Turkey. A high hillside is decided by the federation for every city. Later on, a number of paratroopers jump from these hillsides at the same hour of the same day with parachutes carrying 25-50 seeds and they throw the seeds to the open fields randomly as they soar in the air. The mud around the seeds protect them from breaking after hitting the ground. This project enables our paratroopers to both expand the number of trees and forests all around Turkey, and the view of paratroopers flying and distributing the seeds is magnificent.

I had the chance of learning about this project through our school principle who happens to have a friend in the Turkey Paratrooper's Federation. After hearing that the number of people contributing to this project was so low, our principle suggested that we as a school help them out. And so, right now every student, from kindergarten to high school, in our school is collecting seeds at their homes getting ready for the day of flight. It's my wish that this project will grow into something so big that it can help us fight and demolish the deforestation in Turkey.