Two Little Sausages

hippieflavor:

lickystickypickyme:

In the depths of northeastern India, in one of the wettest places on earth, bridges aren’t built - they’re grown.

The living bridges of Cherrapunji, India are made from the roots of the Ficus elastica tree. This tree produces a series of secondary roots from higher up its trunk and can comfortably perch atop huge boulders along the riverbanks, or even in the middle of the rivers themselves.

Cherrapunji is credited with being the wettest place on earth.
Whenever and wherever the need arises, they simply grow their bridges.The War-Khasis, a tribe in Meghalaya, long ago noticed this tree and saw in its powerful roots an opportunity to easily cross the area’s many rivers.

The root bridges, some of which are over a hundred feet long, take ten to fifteen years to become fully functional, but they’re extraordinarily strong - strong enough that some of them can support the weight of fifty or more people at a time.Because they are alive and still growing, the bridges actually gain strength over time - and some of the ancient root bridges used daily by the people of the villages around Cherrapunji may be well over five hundred years old.

One special root bridge, believed to be the only one of its kind in the world, is actually two bridges stacked one over the other and has come to be known as the “Umshiang Double-Decker Root Bridge.”

from rootbridges

I secretly love being a whore for the environment.  If only I were so good at it that I wasn’t worried I’d lose my job every week.

It’s things like this that make me feel good about how much people hate me while I’m working.  I actually get paid to protect this.  I get paid to talk about places like this.

I also get paid to walk my favorite canine, paint a mural, play with kids, and speak on a platform infront of people (per show).  I might never have time to hang out or do laundry, but before I go to bed at night I get to read my new favorite blog, my new favorite book, and wake up in the morning hoping someone will help me save some old-growth trees.

-o.s-