“Tree Plantations Are Not The Solution To Climate Change”

 [Everyone loves planting trees, but do they really have the desired impact? I write in YouthKiAwaaz.]

June 5th was World Environment Day, and my social media feed was full of photographs of people planting trees to commemorate it. Planting trees is a great photo op, and it is undeniable that you get a dopamine high when you plant the sapling, shovel earth to cover the hole and sprinkle water on it. I have loved doing it myself too. 

However, how many of the people planting trees take adequate measures to ensure that the saplings survive? Merely planting trees is not enough. They have to be watered regularly for a few months till the roots go deep enough for the trees to be able to fend for themselves. Saplings planted after the onset of the monsoon might survive even without watering, but given how unpredictable the showers can be, back-up arrangements should be put in place.

The saplings need to be protected from goats, sheep, cows and other herbivorous animals which love the tender shoots of new plants. Even if the saplings survive long enough to establish themselves, they are often planted so close to each other, none of them attain their proper shape or girth. Though it has been estimated that only about 40% of saplings planted in mass tree plantation drives survive, we continue to focus on planting new trees.

From an environmental perspective, planting trees, especially on World Environment Day or as a part of a green challenge, is largely tokenism.

What Are The Environmental Challenges We Face Today?

The two greatest environmental challenges that we face today are climate change and loss of bio-diversity, and planting new trees does little to address either issue.

How do trees help reverse climate change?

Climate Change is the blanket term used to define long term shifts in temperature and weather conditions caused due to the increase in the concentration of gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. This is caused primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels, and it can be addressed through a two pronged strategy- reducing the use of fossil fuels and removing the carbon di oxide already present in the atmosphere. The rationale given for planting trees is that they absorb carbon di oxide from the atmosphere and sequester it in their trunks.

What we choose to ignore is the fact that when a lone tree is felled or dies due to natural causes, the trunk is exposed to the atmosphere and the sequestered carbon is soon returned to it. In forests, on the other hand, when a tree falls, it gets covered up by vegetation and foliage which traps the carbon di oxide under its layers and prevents it from being returned to the atmosphere. Therefore, planting individual trees does not help much because it is only in forests that the carbon that is sequestered in trees is permanently taken out of the atmosphere.

How do trees contribute to increased bio-diversity?

Most of the saplings used in tree plantation are of non-native trees, some of which are even invasive. A few years back, for instance, Conocarpus was extremely popular because it was fast growing and could be used to “green” an area in a very short time. However, the pollen from the tree causes respiratory ailments, its roots often invade water pipes, and it is not conducive to supporting any biodiversity.

It is now been recognized as a pest, and new plantations are discouraged. Similarly, the “wet bulb” effect which makes summers in the Deccan appear hotter than they are, is partially caused by the proliferation of non-native trees which transpire more than the trees which normally grow in the region.

More importantly, a group of trees alone cannot replicate a forest. Forests take decades to develop, and they include not just the trees, but the mosses and lichens, the shrubs and creepers, and the insects, reptiles, birds and mammals which depend on the forest for their food and habitat. It is unlikely that trees planted as a part of a plantation drive will grow into a forest.

Eucalyptus is a tree that is often planted in large numbers as a part of afforestation or compensatory forestation drives. While the straight rows of eucalyptus trees may look pleasing aesthetically, they are disastrous from an environmental perspective. The trees do not support much biodiversity, and since most of them are destined to be chopped down to feed paper factories, they do not permanently sequester carbon either.

The need of the hour is to protect existing trees and forests

Even if planting trees doesn’t make much of an impact from the environmental persepctive, isn’t it better to plant trees than to not plant trees? On the face of it, one would be tempted to agree. However, when we plant trees, we get lulled into complacency and feel we are doing something for the environment, while in fact we are not.

Instead of planting trees to commemorate various “days”, we should pledge to protect the existing trees and forests everyday. We should vehemently oppose the cutting down of decades old trees and forests in the name of ‘development’. While politicians and government authorities try to present a binary where protecting the environment comes in the way of development, it does not have to be a binary. With careful planning, it is possible to design development projects which do not have an adverse impact on the environment. However, this will happen only if a sufficient number of people start demanding that existing trees and forests shouldn’t be indiscriminately felled in the name of development.

Instead of merely planting new trees, let us also cherish and document the existing ones. About a year back, I started geo tagging old and mature trees. The trees are now on Google maps, and the first tree I tagged has received more than a thousand views. If we similarly document trees in our neighbourhood, we leave a record of the giants who give us so much.

I am certainly not making a case against tree plantation. I have planted many trees myself, most of them in honour of someone I lost as a way of keeping their memory alive.

All I am saying is that even while planting trees, let us not get lulled into the false belief that by planting trees we are doing our bit to save the planet. To truly save the planet, we need to do a lot more than just planting trees.

[The author is not an expert, and these are opinions she has gathered by reading various books and articles. Please do point out errors, if any.]

The Unexpected Visitor

 

I grew up loving lantana. The multicoloured flowers. The dark blue berries I loved to eat (in moderation). The butterflies that visited them. I even like the weird smell the leaves gave out when crushed.

During the pandemic, when sunbirds and silverbills started visiting my balcony, I dreamt of getting lantana too, so the butterflies would come. But people discouraged me. I understood they were an invasive species that messes with the biodiversity and is toxic to herbivores. That they have taken over more than 40% of tiger habitats and are almost impossible to get rid of. Though I really wanted the butterflies, I didn't get the lantanas I craved.

Then this plant sprang from nowhere (not really nowhere- from the belly of a fructivorous bird that must have visited). I rarely weed out the plants that spring up in my pots, so let this one grow. By the time I realised it was lantana, I didn't have the heart to uproot it, and even if I did, unless I burnt it, it would have just taken root wherever I trashed it. Maybe I was meant to have the lantana. And the butterflies I hope they attract.

I just need to make sure the plant doesn’t fruit, so the it doesn’t propagate further.

Waiting for the Sun- Day 19 of #100happy days

The hubby had an early morning flight to catch, and after seeing him off, I made myself a steaming mug of coffee, and curled up with a good book, intending to watch the sun rise. I finished the mug, and another, but the sun was nowhere in sight. There was a light drizzle. It was a beautiful winter day - a wrap yourself in a woolen shawl kind of day- one we dream of but rarely get in Bombay.

I wished the morning could last forever.

And yet, I worry. About climate change and where it will eventually lead us.

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When will we get real?

Two days back, we celebrated Earth Day by turning off lights and burning a candle for an hour. That candles were adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, we conveniently forgot. And after doing our bit for the planet, we went off to sleep in our air conditioned rooms.

In two days, we will be celebrating the Festival of Colours by pouring buckets full of coloured water on each other. Less than a hundred miles away, the villages are reeling under one of the worst periods of drought in recent years.

When will the disconnect end? When will be get real?

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A Drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

Put kids in charge

Decades back, the Indian government came up with “Project Tiger”- a way to protect the environment by putting the national animal at the apex of the ecosystem. Unfortunately, today, even the big cat faces extinction.

"If tigers are so important, why don’t we just keep them in zoos”, a kid asked.

Before the teacher could reply, my kid piped up, "but Project Tiger is not about the tiger. It is about all the animals. The tiger is the symbol, because big people don't think rabbits and butterflies are important."

Right he was. Why can’t we just put kids in charge?

“If the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live.”
― Albert Einstein

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This is the fourth year that I am going to be a part of NaBloWriM. The Plan is to elaborate on a quote that touched my heart- let's see how far this takes me. If I can tie it in with the writing prompt, so much the better!

Change the World

This post is a part of Blog Action Day- "The Power of We"

Nestled high up in the Himalayas, Ladakh was an unspoilt paradise till tourists discovered the charms of its barren landscapes and Buddhist monasteries. They brought with them the polythene bag revolution; everyone wanted them. Like in every other part of India, garbage dumps were soon overflowing with polythene bags. Cows starting eating them, and falling sick; many even dying.

They could have waited for government to ban polythene bags, but the locals chose to do something about it themselves. They banded together and convinced the local community to boycott polythene bags.

Ladakh is now back to being an unspoilt paradise.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Margaret Mead

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This is the fourth year that I am going to be a part of NaBloWriM. The Plan is to elaborate (in 100 words) on a quote that touched my heart- let's see how far this takes me. If I can tie it in with the writing prompt, so much the better!

What is news?

When Amy Winehouse dies, it makes front page headlines in India. Her “career” is recounted; and the cause of her death much speculated upon. She is news, after all- alive or dead.

But when Wangari Maathai passes away, we only hear of it through the electronic media- facebook and twitter. Mention her name, and all you get are blank stares- the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, a winner of the Right Livelihood Award, someone who worked tirelessly to make the world a better place for everyone. And she is virtually unknown.

Except to those who care!

 "When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and seeds of hope."

Wangari Maathai 
(April 1, 1940- September 25, 2011)
Requiescat in Pace 

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

Vatapoornima- a truncated ritual

Vatapoornima is another of the long list of Hindu festivals where women pray for the long life of their husbands. Whether I agree with it or not, tying a sacred thread around a living growing banyan tree, to symbolise the long and happy life they want for their husbands does make a certain kind of sense.
But to carry out the same ritual on a twig of the tree seems almost counter intuitive. Is it only the long life of an amputated body part that the women are praying for?
Adapting customs is great, but shouldn't they also make sense?

Braving the rain to sell banyan twigs- brisk business he had!

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

Manolo Blahniks in a tomato field

Tomato is a water intensive crop. You would not expect to see acres of tomato fields in an area which till a few years back faced droughts every year. And yet, that is exactly what you do see.
Why tomato and no other crop, you ask the villagers.
"All those years when we didn't have water to drink, we dreamt of growing tomatos. Now that we get water in our wells, we are living out our dreams", was the answer.

Who knew calling yourself a tomato farmer was as aspirational as owning a pair of Manolo Blahniks? But it is.

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.
This an other cool Water Facts at Burrowers, Books & Balderdash

Life without essential mod-cons

My kitchen is full of amenities that I take for granted- microwave, grinder, refrigerator, freezer, gas stove, water filter, electric cooker. Things that work on electricity, gas and other utilities that I enjoy without interruption. When I turn a tap, I get water. My water purifier is connected to the mains so drinking water is at the touch of a button.
And yet all I can say, most euphemistically, is that I do not particularly enjoy cooking. How then do women who have to collect firewood from the forest, and walk miles for their water manage to feed huge families?

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

Man and Beast

"When I came to fill water yesterday, I saw a tiger drinking at the pool", said the resident of a remote hamlet.
"And what did you do?"
"I waited for the tiger to finish, and then filled my pots."
"And what if the tiger came when you were here?"
"That happens also", she said with a smile. "If I am filling water, the tiger waits for me to finish, and then comes to the pool to drink water."

If man and animal can co-exist so well in the wild, why can't man get along with other men in the cities?

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

In the height of an Indian Summer

For two days I heard all about watershed management. Got fluent with terms like contour bunding, gully plugs, trenching, check dams and recharging of the water table. Saw signs of emerging prosperity in villages that had been drought prone. Spoke to villagers who were starting to be hopeful of the future. Saw fields of cash crops and ponds full of water.


But it was only at the end of the trip when, in the height of an Indian summer, I rested against a tree and felt the cool breeze ruffling my hair that I finally realized what it all meant.
 

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

Searing heat

April and May are the hottest months in the city. But every couple of evenings there would be cyclonic showers that would bring the temperature down. Two years back, we waited for the showers, and waited, and waited... till the wait turned to three months, and the monsoons arrived.


Last year, we still hoped for the showers, but though there were many false alarms, not a drop of water fell from the sky till the monsoons arrived in June.

This year, we didn't even expect the cyclonic rain. How quickly we adapt to change. How easily we destroy the planet.
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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

We are Mean to Planet Earth

"We are being Mean to Planet Earth", my five year old told me this morning. "And soon the whole Earth will Die."
"Oh really? Can we do anything to save Planet Earth?"

"We must not waste water."
"And we shouldn't cut trees."
"And we should plant more trees."
"And we shouldn't throw garbage on the road."
"And we shouldn't kill animals."
"And we shouldn't burn plastic."
"And we should seg-seg-segigate garbage."
"And we should walk or take a cycle."

Maybe none of those things could have prevented today's Tsunami, but I wish adults did what our children want us to.

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A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words.

S for 'Save the World'

The other day, a friend of mine who is an avid trekker, a nature enthusiast, and a keen wildlife photographer was telling me about the time he hiked to the top of a mountain, and camped out for the night, just so he could witness the sunrise from what he described as the Top of the World. I was trying to visualise the sun pushing its way through a thick carpet of clouds, when he said, "Nature has given me more joy than anything else. I can't imagine what I would have missed out on if my uncle hadn't tackled my fear when I was in my teens."
"Why, what happened?", the writer and people watcher in me piped up.
"When I was very young", he told me. "I was scared of the Wild. I never went anywhere near Nature because I was worried about the unknown dangers that lurked there. When I told my uncle my fears, he said 'Why should you be afraid of the Wild? The wild should be afraid of you.' It took me a few weeks before I understood what he meant, but after that, Nature became my best friend."

Whether we clear forests to make land for cultivation, or kill tigers because we think they make good aphrodisiacs, or drive a monster car to a place we could easily walk to, we are the ones who harm Nature. In a few decades, we have succeeded in undoing the balance that took Millennia to create. And we have only ourselves to blame if our winters are too cold, our summers too hot, and our rains not enough to meet our need for water.

On Earth Day, let us take a couple of minutes to think about something I first came across when I was in my teens and haven't forgotten since, "Remember, we did not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrowed it from our children."


And did you know that a blog leaves a carbon footprint too?

These details are taken from the 'My Blog is Carbon Neutral" site.

How much carbon dioxide does your blog create?
According to a study by Alexander Wissner-Gross, PhD, physicist at Harvard University and environmental activist, an average website causes about 0.02g (0,0008oz.) of carbon dioxide for each visit. Assuming an average blog gets 15,000 visits a month, it has yearly carbon dioxide emissions of 3,6kg (8lb.). This can mainly be tracked back to the immense energy usage from (mainframe) computers, servers, and their cooling systems.

As demonstrated in the above calculation, the atmosphere can be relieved by an average of 5kg (11lb.) carbon dioxide every year by planting one tree. An average blog causes 3.6kg (8lb.) of carbon dioxide emissions. Consequently, a tree neutralises the carbon dioxide emissions of a blog. Since a tree lives for an average of 50 years, carbon dioxide emissions of your blog can be completely neutralised for this time period.

Here’s how you can help
Just write a short blog post about the programme “My blog is carbon neutral” and include a buttons on your site (ideally in the sidebar). Send the link of your blog to CO2-neutral@kaufda.de and they plant a tree for you, neutralising the carbon dioxide emissions of your blog. The trees will be planted in the spring of 2010 by the Arbor Day Foundation.

Happy Earth Day!
Help Save the World!

The paper cup

Before boarding a suburban train, I picked up a cup of tea at the station the other day. I sipped it while walking down the platform, but when I finished it, I could not find a garbage bin in which to dispose off the paper cup. The train was late, so I walked up and down the platform looking for a garbage bin, but to no avail.

My movements did attract attention, and a railway employee who happened to be lolling around asked me what I was trying to do.

"Looking for a place to throw this paper cup", I told him.

"Arey, itna tension kyon leta hai (why are you getting so hecked up about it)", he asked. "phenk do na kahin bhi (just chuck it anywhere)". He indicated the rail tracks with a shrug of his shoulder - that was where he wanted me to deposit the paper cup.

"Isn't there a bin anywhere?", I asked.

"Chori ho jata hai (they get stolen)", he informed me, in way of an answer.

I could have chucked the paper cup on the tracks. After all, when so many people do, does one paper cup more or less really make any difference? But I couldn't bring myself to. When I tell my kids not to litter, I can't really be littering myself, can I?

I had the cup in my hand when I boarded the train. Before we were our of the station, my cup indicated that she wanted to sit on the window sill and enjoy the view. She sat very quietly during the entire journey. By the time we got to the station where I wanted to alight, the train had got pretty crowded, and both of us were crushed as we made our way to the door.

No garbage bins at that station either, nor anywhere on the half a mile walk to my office. The cup and me made it to the office at the same time, and she watched me with barely concealed amusement as I signed the attendence sheet and made up an official excuse for being late.

We had been through so much together, that I couldn't bring myself to chuck her into my bin. She sat on my desk all evening, and when it was time to go home, I very reluctantly laid her to sleep in my dustbin. It was like letting a friend go!

Think about it. If there were garbage bins in India, people would never get to make the acquaintance of paper cups!

What's with the weather in Bombay

What’s it with the weather in Bombay this year?
When it was hot, and we yeaned for a single shower to bring the temperatures down, there was no respite. Water levels fell in our lakes, animals rarely ventured out of the shade, plants needed watering twice a day. Even florists felt the need to wrap their tender blooms in newsprint to keep them fresh.
Days when all the atmospheric conditions pointed unerring towards rain remained dry, and the temperature went from hot to hotter to hottest and then hotter still.
“It is so hot, the first week of June will see the onset of the monsoons”, predicted the pundits self-proclaimed or otherwise. And wilting in the heat, we chose to believe them.

First week of June – no premature monsoons.
Second week of June – no normal monsoons.
Third week of June – still no sign of the monsoons.

The delayed monsoons finally hit in the fourth week of June. But once the clouds opened up, there was no holding back. Normally, the monsoons start with one week of almost continuous rainfall, after which it only rains three or four evenings out of seven. Two days of waterlogging is the norm, three the maximum.

Five weeks into the monsoons, I remember only two days when it did not rain. We’ve had at least one day a week where waterlogging has disrupted life in the city. The only good thing about this monsoon is that the catchments areas are getting their fair share of rain, so the city may survive another year without dying of thirst.

Going my past experience, I wonder if I should pull out my knitting needles in preparation for winter.

Don't look a gift horse .....

Dussera/ Diwali gifts have started arriving. We got this beautiful gift hamper from one of hubby’s clients the other day.

 

Four bottles of Vodka (manufactured and marketed by said client), nestling prettily in a highly polished wicker basket. The arrangement was beautiful – the blue and gold bow-tie sported by the bottles perfectly complementing the colour scheme of the bottles, which in turn looked lovely reclining in the sea of blue and white thermacol balls. The whole arrangement topped off with a layer of transparent cellophane and a huge white plastic bow.
Aesthetically pleasing and time consuming, the package proved that though the company used their own products, they were willing to lavish care on putting it together just so.
A perfect Dussera/ Diwali gift?
Or, a time bomb?

Thermacol balls – totally bio-undegradable, likely to be consumed by young children.
Coloured thermacol balls – how likely that the dye used is non-toxic?
Plastic bows – durable, but cannot be reused. They would either be thrown into the dustbin as such or torn to shreds and then thrown. Either way, environmental menace
Cellophane cover – chosen precisely because it would not dissolve in water, or tear on casual touch
Name tag – made of re-cycled paper, it was the only thing that got some points for eco-friendliness

Time was when gifts came wrapped in wrapping paper. We would spend hours opening them carefully, so the paper could be carefully folded and re-used the next time a gift had to be given. Bows were ribbons made of satin or nylon that ended up on ponytails of children or dolls.
Was all that so bad it had to be replaced by this?
If I start covering the gifts I give in newspaper with images painted on them, would people think I am a green citizen, or that I am cheap?
And what if everyone started doing the same?

The Quest for a non PoP Ganapathy idol

After three years in Catholic/ cosmopolitan Bandra, it was wonderful to be in Shivaji Park during the Ganapathy Celebrations. We didn’t visit any of the pandals, but when every store in the market seems to be selling colourful festival related paraphernalia, and everywhere you look you see hoards of people moving around in their festive best, it is hard not to get caught up in all the excitement.
Till we’d moved to that flat overlooking Dadar Chowpathy, I had only seen the Ganapathy visarjan on TV and in movies. I had never imagined I would ever have a ringside view of the third most popular spot for visarjans in Mumbai. I stayed awake all night watching people wading far into the sea with the idols. It was one of the most memorable nights of my life.
The next morning, reality made me weep – the beach was strewn with the faded and broken remains of the previous night’s visarjan. Ganapathy heads looking desperately for bodies they have long lost. Pieces of trunk, still glittering pink in the morning sun. Broken portions of well rounded torsos. Pieces of dhotis, garlands and mukuts sharing space with the early morning faeces.
I am not surprised newspapers never publish photographs of the day after – people would make public bonfires of the publication, burn effigies of the editor and stone the office building.

Anybody with an iota of imagination can imagine what must be happening to the idols after immersion when they are brought back to shore by the tide. I am sure no true lover of Ganapathy would want that to happen to their favourite deity.
Every year, newspapers cautiously publish reports of how the population of aquatic life has gone down in the ponds where visarjans take place. At the start of summer, when water bodies start drying out, people take photographs of disemboweled idols languishing at the bottom of ponds and lakes – Plaster of Paris idols look beautiful, but they just do not dissolve.

Ecosensitive citizens speak of going back to clay idols. You read about organizations that make idols out of paper machie. There was talk of implementing a bill to make it mandatory to buy only biodegradable idols.

But, do you know how difficult it is to locate a idol not made of PoP? I searched every store, stall, and pushcart in the market next to Andheri station and found not one idol that was eco-friendly. You find PoP idols coloured to resemble terracotta ones, but a genuine clay idol is not a rarity – it just doesn’t exist.

The kids wanted a big idol for Ganapathy, and I could not disappoint. But the size makes it impossible for me to do what I normally do with idols – place them under one of my potted plants in lieu of a visarjan. I do not want my idol to face the indignity of being smashed to pieces in the sea and have marine effluents giving them additional coats of colour. After a ceremonial dunking, perhaps I will just place it under one of the trees in the compound and hope that people give it the deference it deserves.