Trees are our external lungs. Modern education and investment methods have helped us to plan our life. We plan for good health, we insure ourselves against unforeseen risks, we save money for virtually everything - for our old age, for the kids, to repay loans, to buy jewellery, to have a summer home, to go on an overseas holiday. Every human being is found saving something or the other. However not many are saving the environment. No one is keen to have an SIP for their environment. How does one do it is the question. It is very simple - plant and nurture trees, segregate garbage, create a kitchen garden, harvest rainwater, avoid plastics, use more of public transport, eat organically grown food, reduce noises and spread the good word about these good facets which will make one's life glitter like a brilliantly cut diamond.
Trees are our external lungs. Modern education and investment methods have helped us to plan our life. We plan for good health, we insure ourselves against unforeseen risks, we save money for virtually everything - for our old age, for the kids, to repay loans, to buy jewellery, to have a summer home, to go on an overseas holiday. Every human being is found saving something or the other. However not many are saving the environment. No one is keen to have an SIP for their environment. How does one do it is the question. It is very simple - plant and nurture trees, segregate garbage, create a kitchen garden, harvest rainwater, avoid plastics, use more of public transport, eat organically grown food, reduce noises and spread the good word about these good facets which will make one's life glitter like a brilliantly cut diamond.
Coimbatore is nowadays known as the ecological capital of Tamilnadu. This recognition is due to the good work of the eco conscious citizens. The people of this region had always wanted to give something back to the society and the eco initiatives are part of this approach. Quite a few ' green citizens ' have done their best and Mother Nature has been responding. D.Varadarajan of the ' Green Guardian Movement ' used to distribute seeds and saplings for many years and he used to do it free of cost. Organizations like INTACH, Osai and Oli have done their part well. However the required critical mass gathered after the launch of the people's movement Siruthuli in the June of 2003. Siruthuli, the daughter of River Noyyal is 16 years old now and she has restored a number of water bodies over the years. Kitchen gardens, garbage management programmes and large tree planting activities have now become the order of the day. Vanitha Mohan, the Managing Trustee of Siruthuli has been leading this front tirelessly and she has become a role model for the youngsters of this region.
V.Chandrasekar, the Apex Body Member of Siruthuli has been drawn towards activities connected with tree planting. The tree lover has put in a lot of time, efforts and energy into a number of greening activities in the last couple of years. His good work has begun to yield rich ecological dividends. He spoke about the tree planting strategies adopted by Siruthuli over the years. " Siruthuli has always had a large tree park in the heart of the city. Lakhs of saplings have been nurtured at the tree park and planted all over the region. Seed beds, sapling bags, organic manure, green houses, drip irrigation methods etc., are words which are part of our everyday life. The tree park is like a wonderful place and one would fall in love with it at first sight. I must thank my friend PPS ( P.P.Subramaniam ) for introducing me to Siruthuli. It has really been possible to scale up the tree planting activities because of the good foundation laid by everyone concerned with Siruthuli, " smiled Chandrasekar who is fondly known as Chandru.
Chandru joined the organization and had been a observing volunteer for the first few months. He used to lend his services by offering to photograph the ponds and lakes that were being restored by Siruthuli. His interest in photography made him take good pictures and drone shots. "One fine morning our Managing Trustee Vanitha Mohan stated that we should indulge in large scale tree planting. It was around this time that Prof Bharani of Bharathiar University wanted about 500 saplings. I spoke to madam about it and she enquired if more could be planted. Subsequently we learnt that we could plant in 100 acres of land belonging to the Anna University. Prof Bharani had been serving in the Anna University then. The land was located in the foothills of Marudamalai and was full of thorn bushes. However the soil was fertile. Years of rain must have deposited the healthy top soil from the hills onto the adjacent lands. We decided to use the Miyawaki method of tree planting in the campus. It began with 3000 saplings in one acre on 27 th July 2016 which happened to be President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam's first memorial day. It was named as Kalam Vanam. The small exercise helped us to understand and now there are 80000 trees in the campus .The vanam is a marvelous tribute to Kalam, the nature loving scientist President who has inspired millions of Indians," added Chandrasekar.
The tree lover had done his schooling from St.Michaels and his mechanical engineering from the Government College of Technology in Coimbatore. He put in a few years of work experience and now he is an entrepreneur in his own right. His father Vellingiri had inspired him to be bold and his elementary school teacher mother Dhanalakshmi had been his beacon light. Chandru spoke in length about the Miyawaki method of tree planting over a nice cup of green tea. He has been reading a number of books and the book ' The Hidden Life of Trees ' by Peter Wohlleben was among his favourites. "Miyawaki is a technique of tree planting and it was created by Akiro Miyawaki of Japan in the sixties of the last century. Rapid urbanization had been bothering the land of the rising sun and the forest cover was going down. The botanist Miyawaki wanted to recreate the forest but he understood that it would take years. He found an answer by creating a plantation of trees really close to each other. The trees competed with each other in order to reach out to the sun and growth had been phenomenal. They had just been planted one foot apart from each other and this helped in the making of a forest in the 'Land of the Rising Sun". This method was analyzed by madam in the Pricol campus. She got 1200 trees planted in 10 cents of land and found them growing fast within 6 months. This triggered the ' Miyawaki ' method in Coimbatore and it was taken forward in a big way by Siruthuli. A thick forest can be created in just 2 years. Please visit Anna University, you will find ' Nature at Work '. Birds, insects, butterflies, ground water, micro organisms and a pleasant climate awaits you there. You will love to see the honeycombs, sparrows and squirrels within the thick forest. We have created a waterbody with a capacity of 70 lakh litres and the University has its own kitchen garden. Today Anna University is the most densely tree capped University in Tamilnadu. Dean Saravanakumar and Prof Sivakumaran were of great help. It would not have been possible without them. They gave us enormous freedom and gave the best care. They used to send WhatsApp images of animal entry or damage or fire instantly. Even water shortage issues will be brought to our notice instantly. Two borewells are doing their job. Many corporates, individuals and social service organizations have participated in this green venture. Its a nice list of eco conscious people. The growth has been natural and never did we use pesticides or chemicals. The Vice Chancellor of the University Dr.Surappa visited the campus. The University has about 140 affiliated colleges and most of them have either visited or participated in the plantation work. The Chairman of Ramco Industries came in a special flight in order to visit the campus. However the most special visit was by Padmashri Awardee Thimmakka, the great lady who had planted and nurtured numerous trees over decades. Her blessings have charged us with enormous energy." stated Chandrasekar while showing pictures and videos connected with the Anna University Tree Planting Project.
An impact survey has been done by the Kumaraguru Institute of Agriculture. Prof Suresh and his students stayed in the University for 15 days and took a lot of data. They corroborated the same and have done an impact analysis. It states that the Miyawaki method increases the sequestration of carbon by 4 times when compared to a normal style of tree planting. The temperatures were lesser by 4 degrees and water retention had been very high. They had found about 65 species of birds and 48 species of trees in all. Kovendan a Ph.D scholar from TNAU ( Tamilnadu Agricultural University ) has been studying the spot for sometime now.
Chandru was all smiles while talking about this initiative, "The micro climate has undergone a massive change in the campus. Rain bearing clouds are ever present in the campus. The Miyawaki Tree Plantation is acting like a magnet and it is attracting moisture laden clouds. We have 5 Ps in marketing and 5 Cs for a good diamond. Similarly we have 4 Bs here. They are Birds, Butterflies, Bees and Bats. We are now trying to identify more such places in the city for planting more trees with the aid of the Miyawaki method. Are now going to plant 6000 trees in the Singanallur Railway Station and 10000 in the Bharathiar University. These are on the cards as of now and more will follow. Well ZF, Windpower has supported by giving us 20000 saplings. The Vasavi Club Organization in Coimbatore has participated by creating and nurturing saplings in the residences of its members itself. The Dean had appreciated us for planting trees in a place which not frequented by crows even. We are grateful to each and every person who have made it possible."
Siruthuli has now created a Tree Certificate with a QR Code. This is the first of its kind globally. The name of the person or organization will be printed on the tree certificate. It can be a gift too. The QR Code will let the person know the location of the tree ! These tree certificates are becoming ideal gifts for birthday parties and weddings. " We celebrated the Wedding of Udhaya with Cibi , the daughter of our long serving Apex Member R.S.Krishnaswamy by gifting her a tree certificate which covered 16 trees. Each tree was meant to represent one of the 16 forms of wealth," added Chandrasekar while talking about the afforestation activities of Siruthuli in a detailed manner. Trees are the real wealth of a civilization.
Committed tree lovers like Chandrasekar are the need of the hour for people like him have acquired the know how required for scaling up the good work connected with the creation of forests in a jiffy.
SIRUTHULI, the small drop has created an ocean of a forest in Coimbatore.