Most of the works of Jean Giono are relatively unknown outside of France. An exception being his short novel....THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES.
It celebrates the transformational effect of one man's effort to turn a barren wasteland into a paradise by planting trees,one by one. There is also a recording by Robert Jay Lurtzema , accompanied by Paul Winter's music and an animated film produced in France, with an English narration by Christopher Plummer.
Seems like there should be many more men like the character in the novel.