Ordaining a tree
Recently there has been a minor uproar in the Thai news over the government's plan to widen a road leading into one of the country's most important national parks. This was being done in the name of public safety and necessitated the removal of a number of large trees. When the trees started to fall a movement sprang up to protest the damage to the environment and landscape. It's a typical conflict that I'm sure exists world-wide - the interests of business and development versus the desire to protect natural resources and beauty. But in this Buddhist country the green groups have an added force on their side - tree ordination.
A ceremony has been developed that allows trees to be "ordained' in much the same way that Buddhist monks are. This invests the tree with special status and will protect it from the chainsaws. According to an article in the Thai version of Wikipedia the ordained tree is also believed to protect the surrounding trees and to help ensure that their will be rainfall according to the season.
I asked one of my English students about this and he confirmed that it is a legitimate ceremony that can effectively halt tree removal. But he also pointed out that it's not completely foolproof since there is also a ceremony for un-ordaining trees!
-Tom