Emma Watson recently brought attention to the 1970’s Chipko Movement
Actress Emma Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films, has long advocated for environmental protection. She recently reshared a post from India’s Chipko movement, which featured a photograph.
The image depicted a group of rural women surrounding a tree to prevent it from being cut down by authorities.
Emma Watson extended the note of gratitude to the Indian women and thanked them for protecting the trees and forests.
She captioned her post as, “Thank you for protecting our forests and trees!” She further wrote “The women pictured here were part of the Chipko Movement, a non-violent social and ecological moment by rural villagers, particularly women, in India during the 1970s. Here they are protecting a tree from government logging.”
The first Chipko protest occurred near the village of Mandal in the upper Alaknanda valley in April 1973. The villagers, having been denied access to a small number of trees with which to build agricultural tools, were outraged when the government allotted a much larger plot to a sporting goods manufacturer.
The Hindi word for Chipko means ‘hug’ or ‘cling’.
The actress has received over a million likes and hundreds of comments. “Thank you Emma for posting about the Chipko movement on the behalf of Indians.” One comment read.
Meanwhile, the fans are also excited to see Watson rejoin with her co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint for a reunion to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Harry Potter film series. The reunion special, which will air on HBO Max on January 1, 2022 will also include alumnae Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes, Robbie Coltrane, Gary Oldman, Tom Felton, and others.
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