"I find this world joyful, full of uncharted potential. We say to children, `This is not a hopeless place. This is a place we love. Let's make sure it stays this way, a beautiful planet,'" Mathur says. Trees for Life distributes educational packages to 55,000 schools across the United States, representing 2 million students. Every one of these students receives packets of seeds that they are encouraged to grow either in the classroom or at home. Then, the students feel as though they are taking part in the grand solution.

Schools, churches and communities will receive the completed animated history of Trees for Life to raise awareness of the group. "Animation is a wonderful media to describe, not always reality, but a message that is strong. You can create a reality that is very attractive and you can reach everyone - children and adults. In a short time you can see an evolution, the contrasts of situations," says Back. "It shows how important the dreams of children are. It will help people to remember the dreams of childhood so that they are not lost with the currents of life. The world could be as bright as it was."

Excerpt from Frédéric Back's animation storyboard for The Trees for Life Story.

Beyond Back
Trees for Life is headquartered in Wichita, Kansas and run by highly qualified professionals and volunteers who sometimes leave behind high paying jobs in order to join this coalition. While Back is completing the key animation, Trees for Life is looking for other animators to help them finish their film. Mathur has already begun to set up an animation studio in Wichita where volunteers can learn the process and will then spread out, like missionaries, to teach.

Mathur reached out to the professional animation community this past fall. He and his wife, Treva, who is just as dedicated, visited Los Angeles for a week. During their visit they met with a host of interested parties including: Ron Diamond of Animation World Network, animator Leon Joosen, educators Bruce Royer and Linda Crain, historian Charles Solomon, animator John Ramirez and Warner Bros. Feature Animation where they received a first hand look at Dave Master's new program where students are taught animation via interactive television. Mathur was so impressed with the generosity of the animation community, that he is planning yet another trip. In the meantime, however, Reeves Lehmann from New York's School of Visual Arts (SVA) traveled to Kansas for six days in January to assess how the two groups could work together. He even taught a workshop on "How to write a creative story" for the Trees for Life staff. "It was a fabulous experience for us," enthuses Mathur.

"Soon Trees for Life will be joined by some of our animation faculty and students to complete their project. It is a thrill to combine our new generation of animators with such a worthy cause," says Lehmann, SVA's Chairman of Film, Video and Animation. Mathur maintains though that the organization will stay a small flexible unit in order to best utilize its limited resources.

"Traditionally, the SVA student body has taken a strong role in supporting the community," explains Lehmann. "After meeting Balbir Mathur for just a few minutes I knew that the Trees for Life animation proposal would be the kind of project SVA could assist in developing."