Restoration initiatives follow any natural calamity as surely as day follows night. But, many of them fizzle out much before their objectives are met due to one reason. They would have come into existence as a result of an emotional response, which actually is fine; emotions give motive power to an idea. However, for an idea to travel far and reach its logical end, it has to be hitched to a wagon powered by the twin engines of long-term planning and a grand goal.
If its plan for certain neighbourhoods in Chennai, post-Vardah, is anything to go by, Life With Equality (LWE), a social organisation founded by Sowmya Shankaran, seems to be aware of this pitfall and is steering clear of it .
According to Sowmya, it will adopt certain neighbourhoods for a tree-planting effort, but the greening exercise will be executed in such a manner that if another Vardah were to hit Chennai, the damage to the city’s green cover would be considerably less. Besides attending to the immediate need of restoring lost green cover, the exercise will engage residents in maintaining the newly-planted trees and also promote a waste management programme whereby composted manure can be used to grow them. And the entire initiative is called ‘Trash To Cash’.
Another part of ‘Trash To Cash is recycling plastic — and, in the current situation, dead wood too — to prevent significant amounts of waste going to landfills. The recycling exercise is aimed at preventing the mounds of garbage that accumulated on city roads following the December Deluge in 2015. As part of the restoration effort, some of the uprooted trees will be replanted and new saplings planted. “We have been planting trees on a regular basis and distributing saplings as well. We make sure our plants don’t die after they are planted.
Maintaining these plants is where our role expands. We deploy volunteers to take a ‘health audit’ of the plants and do what it takes to help them grow well. We have been doing this kind of work and we are shifting into high gear, after Vardah. The audit also helps us identify areas that don’t have any green cover and focus on them,” she elucidates.
LWE will seek the help of the Forest Department and other organisations to source saplings. “We source saplings from other States as well.”
Puzhuthivakkam, Besant Nagar, Pallavaram, Thiruvanmiyur, Anna Nagar and Madipakkam are among the neighbourhoods adopted for the exercise. Of these, Puzhuthivakkam and Besant Nagar are already witnessing the restoration work. “Eventually, we will adopt and maintain certain villages too,” says Sowmya.
It may be noted that LWE is known for their ‘Food For All’ programme, which provides food for homeless people and stray animals.
For details, call 9791101038, 9445720238.
