Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Spreading the green message

Pankaja Srinivasan

A GREEN DREAM: Keerthana John, a student of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Coimbatore, is working on a project ``one tree for every home''. — Photo: K. Ananthan

COIMBATORE: She collects seeds scattered on the roadside, takes them home and plants them in paper cups. Once those seeds take hold, she gives them away. "One tree for every home" — that is Keerthana John's mission in life. A student of Class VII at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan MHSS, the idea to grow trees was planted in Keerthana's brain when she was faced with the task of preparing a project for the Wiz Kid competition to be held in Bangalore next month. She had to work on an idea that would be of help to the nation or her school.

She decided to do something that would benefit both. "I keep seeing spaces all around me that could be filled with trees. I have learnt that trees are very important to our lives, and having them around means more birds and bees and that means more pollination. I also know that global warming can be reduced if we have more trees. And the impact of tidal waves and tsunamis could be lessened," she explains.

Keerthana has so far grown 300 saplings, usually tamarind, gulmohur or vilvam seeds that she finds on the road. "Tamarind grows the fastest," she observes.

However, Keerthana does not give away her plants to all and sundry. To get a sapling, one has to answer a questionnaire that asks, `Do you live in an independent house or a flat? Do you have space to plant one tree? Would you plant a tree? If not, why? And, would you collect and distribute seeds and saplings to others to spread the message of `one tree for one home'?' "People can plant trees wherever they find the space. I only check to see if they are willing to take care of them. The sapling needs to be looked after only till its roots have taken good hold of the soil. After that, it looks after itself," she says.

Keerthana has bought paper cups for her saplings with the money she has got by selling old newspapers and junk. The paper cups cost her 80 paise each. Keerthana hopes to enlist the help of her school and neighbouring ones to spread her green message.

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