Students attached to the eco club of the Thamarakudy Siva Vilasam Vocational Higher Secondary School, near Kottarakara, spent a good part of their summer vacation by contributing towards mitigating the threat of global warming. They collected and tended to bamboo saplings.
The aim is to plant the saplings on the banks of the Kallada river to prevent soil erosion. The saplings were collected from the forests of Kallar and Achencoil and the nurseries of the social forestry wing of the Forest Department.
The saplings would be planted along the banks of the river once monsoon sets in.
The students said they chose bamboo because in addition to preventing soil erosion, these plants emit 35 per cent more oxygen into the atmosphere than most other plants. In the past, the banks of the Kallada river were rich in unusually tall bamboo forests.
It is said that during the colonial days, the British had recorded the tallest bamboo in the world at the Pattazhi course of the Kallada river. These forests were razed for various purposes, mostly for raw material for the paper mill that came up at Punalur. The students will plant the saplings along the Kulakada panchayat course of the river.
