Creating green canopy amid concrete jungles

Auroville-based Atmasanga engaged in the uphill battle to give back to Nature

April 25, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:45 am IST - PUDUCHERRY:

Eco-friendly:Atmasanga inspires city-dwellers to plant saplings in their mostly barren neighbourhoods and promote reusable bags of jute and organic cotton to bring down use of plastic and sustainable solid waste management.— Photo: S.S. Kumar

Eco-friendly:Atmasanga inspires city-dwellers to plant saplings in their mostly barren neighbourhoods and promote reusable bags of jute and organic cotton to bring down use of plastic and sustainable solid waste management.— Photo: S.S. Kumar

As concrete invades urban spaces and high-rise homes and commercial complexes become the new showpieces of cities, restoring the green canopy represents not just a matter of aesthetics but a battle for environmental sustenance.

Auroville-based Atmasanga — which literally means the coming together of like-minded souls — has been engaged in the uphill battle to give back to Nature by inspiring city-dwellers to plant saplings in their mostly barren neighbourhoods.

“We collect saplings of an assortment of shade-bearing species which we distribute free of cost in cities and suburbs,” says Udhay Radhakrishnan of the not-for-profit Atmasanga, a unit under Auroville Foundation.

In Chennai alone, Atmasanga has supplied saplings in residential neighbourhoods in Adyar, Tiruvanmiyur and Perungalathur.

The urban tree planting campaigns led by the Atmasanga Environment Alliance has also touched several places across Puducherry, says Mr. Udhay, who gave up a career in IT in the UK to return to Auroville.

Atmasanga volunteers don’t just dump saplings on recipients, it also sensitises them on the cause they are going to get engaged in as well as imparted tips on nurturing the sapling, estimates of water requirement as also the advisability of a tree guard to keep stray animals at bay.

Atmasanga was launched in 2014 with an opening stock of just 5,000 saplings. It later opened a one-acre sapling nursery near the Kalapet Prison and has targeted distribution of over 1 lakh saplings in 2015.

“Trees are invariably the first casualty whenever any development takes place, whether a road is being widened or apartments being built,” says Vijay Shankar, who formerly dealt in real estate.

While being aligned to Auroville ideals of peace, harmony and human unity, Atmasanga has tied its urban afforestation campaigns to its larger eco-friendly charter, which also includes promotion of reusable bags of jute and organic cotton to bring down use of plastic and sustainable solid waste management.

Volunteers also organise free ‘eco tours’ for visitors to Auroville which covers the eco-driven projects and is aimed at promoting understanding about the need for environmental preservation.

Atmasanga uses social media to propagate its causes, mobilise resources and encourage social engagement. For instance, its Facebook page has over 10,000 followers who are posted on various insights on the environment. Upcoming sapling distribution events are also notified on this page.

e-waste disposal plan

The NGO has also drawn up a comprehensive e-waste disposal plan and is in discussions with a UK-based company which specialises e-waste management.

It has already earmarked a five-acre site in Tindivanam to serve as its e-waste collection centre. “We have planned it to be an end-to-end facility where e-waste is collected, segregated, detoxed, warehoused and recycled. We want this to become a model that can be replicated across the country,” said Mr. Vijay.

The spirit of service that has brought together this group of like-minded souls is also ingrained in its motto — that the earth does not belong to us; it is we who belong to the earth. Plant a tree, plant a hope, as the volunteers like to say.

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