Balbir Mathur is a man with a mission. And no small mission at that. He wants to plant 100 million fruit trees by the year 2000. He has already helped with the planting of tens of millions of trees and his movement is gaining speed. More than three million people have participated in Mathur's vision by helping to plant trees in Brazil, Nepal, India and Guatemala. Likened to Johnny Appleseed, the enthusiastic Mathur is tireless, working toward helping others help themselves and now animation is becoming an increasingly important tool to him and Trees for Life.

Mathur founded Trees for Life, a nonprofit movement that plants fruit trees in developing nations, as a reaction to many questions he was pondering while working as a management consultant. "I was thinking about, `Who am I? Am I a human being? What does that mean? How do I wish to respond to that? What do I want to do as a result?'" By 1984 he had an answer and Trees for Life was born. The newly planted fruit trees not only provide food for hungry people and protect the environment, they also become a source of income.

We have all heard the Chinese proverb: If you give a person a fish you feed him for a day; teach him how to fish and he will never be hungry again. Trees for Life is even more proactive. The organization is all about self-help at a grassroots level. Trees for Life believes in educating people who will then teach others how to plant trees. So, going back to our proverb, Trees for Life doesn't just teach people how to fish, they teach people how to make fishing poles and expect them to go teach others.

"Some people don't know how to plant trees. So we teach them. Some people don't have seeds. So we send them. We are here just to provide the missing elements. We look at ourselves as servants, servants to the people who are serving their communities," Mathur explains.

Pencil Test for a section of Frédéric Back's animation, The Trees for Life Story.

Animation is Key
Therefore, communication is the key to the organization's success. How well volunteers in the field communicate new ideas and techniques directly relates to the program's success. The communication tool of choice is becoming animation. Animation transcends cultural barriers and becomes a universal language that is easily understood by those who are word illiterate. "Animation is key to transferring knowledge to the poorest poor in the world," Mathur agrees.

Their first animated project is a 10-minute film which relates the story of Trees for Life. It is being created by Frédéric Back, who won an Academy Award for his The Man Who Planted Trees. "Back is our patron saint," says Mathur.

Back is just as complimentary of Mathur. "Trees for Life and my ideas are very similar. I was very glad to know of Trees for Life and I was happy I had a chance to work on this beautiful story and try to make as many people as possible learn what mankind could achieve."

Now more than ever Back's original message is crucial. In the past 200 years, half of the earth's trees have been destroyed. However, both Back and Mathur are very upbeat and positive about the effects humans can have if they choose to act responsibly. "I believe very much in the power we have. In the long run we can make a tremendous change. We can change the world with every little choice we make," says Back.