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Living Bridges of Meghalaya

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Green Architecture Indeed

This is a spectacular example of sustainable living architecture that will live grow for generations.

In Meghalaya, Northeast India, the rivers during the monsoon season are wild, unpredictable and impossible to cross.

But the people there have created a beautiful solution: bridges made of roots that last for hundreds of years and will survive any deluge! These living bridges are part of a network connecting the valleys of Meghalaya.

In this visually stunning video, a man teaches his niece to care for a living bridge, which he started with a simple fig tree 30 years ago. He shows her how to coax the roots to the other side where they will take root.

No man can complete this task in his lifetime, so they must teach the young, who will teach their young. This living bridge will grow for 500 years.

What will it take for us in the West to begin to incorporate this level of imagination, resourcefulness, working with nature...and thinking 500 years down the road?

-Bibi Farber