As climate change dawns upon us, the urgency to act becomes crucial. But unless and until we know how it is affecting us, how do we move forward? Talking Earth is an NGO which works towards this. It gathers data related to the environment using technology-based tools and makes it available on its website either free of cost or at a very nominal price. Right now, the NGO is working on about 30-40 different data-sets, regarding lakes, trees, storm-water drains in Bengaluru, Chennai and Delhi.
Talking Earth came into being last November. At that time, the controversial six-lane steel flyover was the raging issue. While the government said the flyover will lead to a loss of about 800 trees, Varun Hemachandran, founder of Talking Earth came up with the shocking figure of 2,012 trees. Talking Earth wasn’t born yet then. Varun joined Citizens for Bengaluru, a volunteer-run movement, which was one of the major voices against the project. “It was difficult to believe the Government figures. Everyone was expressing their doubts about it. So, I suggested to verify it on our own. We mapped the trees and found the numbers to be 2,012. People started getting in touch and that’s how Talking Earth was born,” says Varun, who earlier ran a marketing and advertising agency in Chennai.
He says one of the factors that led to Talking Earth is the Government’s tendency to underplay the environment damage. The organisation works with a team of permanent volunteers, mostly college students, who commit to contribute certain number of hours in a week. The volunteers go with measuring tapes, paints and the Talking Earth app.
They also train community volunteers who work in their own area. The outfit is also approached by RWAs to collect data in their neighbourhood. “When a lot of trees started to fall last year in Koramangala 3rd and 4th block, they were worried about the rest of the trees.
We mapped non-indigenous species like Silver Oaks and Gulmohars and gave the figures to them which were then submitted to the BBMP,” states Varun. The right data can help concerned agencies plan their future actions like planned afforestation and rainwater harvesting.
The objective is to measure the impact of climate change on us. “The information is converted into a number which we call vulnerability score. How does climate change impact people’s wallet? Now, people are having to buy air-conditioners.
As the quality of water worsens, people have to invest in ROs. In Delhi, we found out how many people are investing in air purifiers. The second aspect, we look at are the events created through climate change like displacement and migration.”
Tree mapping is just one of the datasets the organisation is creating. It also gathers data for income distribution, rainwater data and conducts demographic studies and workshops for interested communities.
It is also working towards creating a chatbot which will enable users to have a conversation with trees. The chatbot will be connected to trees and attached to datasets. As of now, the NGO is self-funded, running on Varun’s savings. It plans to make a documentary soon.
(For more details, visit www.talkingearth.com)
(Community Chronicles is a fortnightly column which deals with initiatives aiming at making our cities livable)
