The capital city has been witnessing concerted efforts from various quarters to promote sustainable living. Individuals and organisations have been relentlessly working towards implementing different projects to this effect, including organic farming, rejuvenating water resources, converting dumpsites into gardens, implementing green protocol and cleaning the seabed. MetroPlus highlights a few major initiatives on this front
Power of youth
Members and volunteers of C Power 5
Converting garbage dumps into pretty gardens is one of the projects of Change Can Change Climate Change (C Power 5). The project, a ‘revolutionary social movement initiated by a group of young volunteers and environmentalists’, over the last six months has been tirelessly working towards the aim of sustainable living. Launched by a group of socially-committed individuals and establishments to reduce the carbon footprint, the initiative now has those trained under the District Collector’s Internship Programme (DCIP) as its backbone.
Udhyanam, under which dumpsites in the city are converted to gardens, is one of the three projects they have launched. The C Power 5 team, which has 20 full-time members and over 500 volunteers, has already set up gardens at Jawahar Nagar, Kannammoola, two sites at Thycaud and two at Karamana. They plan to make 36 gardens within a year. This is being done with the support of people’s representatives and residents’ associations.
Another initiative, Samrudhi, focusses on organic farming in vacant or abandoned plots in the city. Once the plot is found suitable to start farming, the team enters into a 11-month agreement with the owner(s) at the end of which the latter can renew it or take it back. The team is ready to roll out cultivation at plots in Karyavattam and Gandhipuram and 25 more spots have been identified. Both programmes are funded under CSR initiatives of Terumo Penpol and SFS Homes respectively. Sthithi is another ongoing project that creates awareness about green protocol in educational institutions.
Clean-up act
Volunteers cleaning up Vellayani lake
With their ‘Save Vellayani Lake’ mission, kanthari and a group of volunteers have been on a ‘hands-on’ clean-up drive of the once-scenic water body on the outskirts of the city. Perhaps the largest fresh water lake in the district, the lake has been in deep waters for years owing to a slew of factors ranging from unchecked growth of weeds and encroachment to indiscriminate dumping of waste to use of harmful pesticides in nearby farmlands to illicit sand-mining. Taking it upon themselves, for a few hours every Saturday, volunteers enter and scour the slushy waters, weeding out as many invasive plants and floating grass as possible. Lending a helping hand are members of Neerthadakam, a local action group, Green Army and student volunteers among others.
“The Vellayani lake needs priority intervention, or else it runs the risk of facing the same fate as that of Parvathy Puthanar or Amayizhanjan canal or Akkulam lake,” says Ajith Kumar, administrative manager of kanthari, International Institute for Social Change. He points out that the proliferation of water hyacinths may suggest increasing heavy metal pollution in the lake, which serves as a major drinking water source for three adjoining panchayats of Kalliyoor, Venganoor and Vizhinjam. The volunteers take Doxycycline tablets provided by the Health Department as preventive medication against rat fever.
Though the symbolic endeavour was initially kick-started to sensitise the local populace and other stakeholders about the need to resuscitate the 700-hectare lake, Ajith says manual cleansing is not a practical solution owing to the sheer size of the task at hand. He calls for organised mechanised dredging. kanthari is also attempting to liaise with colleges to rope in National Service Scheme volunteers to take the mission forward, apart from looking at crowd-funding and CSR funding prospects.
Green revolution
Green Army volunteers at work
Green Army marches to a different drummer. A platform to popularise ideas of zero waste, organic farming and climate action among children, it was launched by Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation in association with Thanal, a non-governmental organisation, and other environmental and social organisations in the city. Led by Mayor VK Prasanth, the initiative stepped up its activities in the second year of its founding. Green Army units are active in 10 schools in the city with over 150 active volunteers mentoring the children and helping with activities.
The mentors hope that the students will be able to carry forth the green message of reduce, reuse and recyles in schools and in their homes by becoming role models themselves.
Green campaign
“Parassala is almost completely devoid of fallow land while Nedumangad block panchayat has brought more than 25 acres of land under organic cultivation. The cleaning of the Killiyar also is a part of the Haritha Keralam Mission. In Cherunniyoor, not only did the panchayat and Kudumbasree unit bring fallow land under cultivation, they were also able to put the Cherunniyoor rice on the table as a speciality of the place,” says TN Seema, vice chairperson and CEO of the Mission. It is a proud list of achievements for the Mission, which coordinates activities of conservation concerning water sources, fields and environment.
Under thist, several projects have been implemented in the district that aim at reviving paddy cultivation and encouraging organic agriculture in places such as Chengal and Kollayi panchayats in Neyyattinkara.
Going organic
Organic Bazaar at Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi
What started as a Facebook group of passionate home farmers has now evolved into a group that conducts a weekly market on the premises of the Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi at Thycaud. With 140 registered farmers, the weekly bazaar sells organically-grown vegetables and fruits that have been cultivated by the members themselves. Homemade eats and products also find a place in the bustling market. “The produce on offer keeps changing with the seasons. So there are members who only have jackfruit to sell. During the season, they will be there in full force. Then there are some who are into banana cultivation. So when the plantain is ready for the market, they will participate in the bazaar,” says Sujitha Manu, one of the members who grows all kinds of vegetables and even rice at her home on a five-cent plot in Pothencode. While there are other outlets selling organic produce in the city, such a bazaar that sells only organic produce is just a year old.
Ocean’s friends
Friends of Marine Life volunteers after the clean up at Veli estuary
It was a moment of satisfaction for volunteers of Friends of Marine Life (FML) when they rescued a tortoise that was trapped in a piece of cloth at Veli estuary when it was cleaned last year. That’s not all. They collected 71 kg of debris from the seabed as part of a marine clean-up drive. Active since 2000, this NGO has been focussing on protecting coastal and marine ecosystems. Seabed mapping is currently its main area of activity, under which the volunteers remove marine debris and ghost nets, along with creating awareness about conserving marine resources. The marine debris pockets threaten marine life, and based on a pilot study, the scuba diving team of FML developed methods for the clean-up. FML is also into documenting local knowledge of the coastal communities, especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
(With inputs Toms Varghese)
