Trees to the rescue of our environment
M. RAGHURAM
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Young people must plant more trees to save our natural surroundings.
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The green brigade: Planting trees in Pilikula Nisarga Dhama in Moodushedde village.
With ‘Vanamahotsava’ (a time during the monsoon to plant trees) in the air, schools and colleges in the district are busy collecting plants and saplings of various trees for greening the area around their institution as well as their playgrounds. The forest department which has pledged its support to the greening of Mangalore and the district has stocked the endemic species of trees. The going seems to be very encouraging.
A single rose can be my garden, so goes a saying in English. Give a plant to a child and a place to plant it and you have an avid gardener in the family.
Children learn the art of gardening faster and better than any adult. With television channels and tons of newsprint screaming about global warming it is now well known that only trees can save the earth.
There is no Superman or the Powerpuff girls but young boys and girls who will help the world retain its greenery and set the earth on the road to recovery.
The director of the Regional Science Centre, K.V. Rao, at the Pilikula Nisarga Dhama in Moodushedde village, says, the depletion of oxygen could become a serious concern and we need to urgently start planting more trees. The Ashwattha (Pepul) generates enough oxygen for 1000 people a year. This is what EVS as a subject in schools should do. Colour of the bumbblebee, fragrance of the jasmine, the event of seed dispersion, the process of photosynthesis and the final liberation of oxygen is all that the child needs to know.
Every school in its environmental studies subject has these things. The magic lies in enthusing young people to plant more trees.
Schools are the right place to begin the first lesson on gardening. In many tropical areas of the world there are huge forests.
Gardening basics
Similarly several other Western Ghats endemic varieties give out oxygen in a big way. Prof. Rao points out that the Amazon forest in South America produces 40 percent of the world’s supply of oxygen.
There is an amazing plant from Southern Africa called Welwitschia mirabilis or Tree Tumbo, some of which are nearly 1,000 years old. It only ever has two leaves! Each leaf can be over 8m (27ft) long. The largest leaves grow on the Amazon water lily.
In a single year the plant will produce leaves of more than 2m (6.6ft) across. There is much more than just science or botany to gardens. Teachers, who take an interest in teaching gardening to their students, say, that gardening improves the power of observation in children. The Malayan green apple (found in parts of Mangalore) is children’s best friend. Its fruit is small and greenish in colour and is very succulent.
On the brink of extinction, this tree is now thriving thanks to the interest young people of the district have taken in it. Another species which has been saved is the starfruit.
Endemic to the Western Ghats thanks to the efforts of conservationist students, the starfruit is well on the recovery path.
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