June 5th was World Environment Day. In our blogs and newsletters last month, we discussed climate change and what democracies need to do to make sure we protect the planet from further disaster.
This month, we celebrate a few Indian individuals who are already doing their bit and spreading the message of peace, love and environmental concern.
1) A Cab Driver in Kolkata decided to create a rooftop garden on his Ambassador Taxi:
The car has metal containers on the rooftop whose bottom is laid with soil, white sand and stone chips and the original green grass grows up with the aid of those mechanizations. It weighs about 65 kgs and cost Mr. Chakraborty about Rs. 22000 to build. It continues to cost him with the increased fuel consumption because of the added weight. However, Mr. Chakraborty said he does not mind it. The Kolkata cabbie is 40 years old and works from the taxi stand at Tollygunge Karunamoyee in Kolkata. In fact, he has planted flowers at the taxi stand too.
His taxi, an Ambassador, apart from having a green grass-bed on the roof, has eight potted plants in the trunk and has a green interior completely to promote the message that trees and plants should be planted and taken care of.
2) How Many Trees Have You Planted? 5? 10? This Man Planted 10 Million!
“Of all the species that consider the earth as their home, the most exalted is the human being. He supposedly has intellect, can think, can do and can get things done. Nature has bestowed her choicest blessings on this form of life. Therefore, we have a duty towards Nature. Protect the nature; protect everything created by God, for the posterity,” says Daripalli Ramaiah, native of Khammam district presently in Telangana State.
No one knows how it all started. But people in Khammam know Ramaiah as “Chettla Ramaiah”, where Chettu means tree. Ramaiah is passionate about his work. He recollects that as a child he saw his mother saving the seeds of ribbed gourd for the next planting season. He learnt his first lesson from her. He says, “seed is the secret of evolution. God has given life to it and it proves to the world its existence by giving birth to a plant when wedded to soil, during monsoon.”
Source of articles: www.thebetterindia.com
3) Sunita Narain – India’s environment champion
Sunita Narain is an Indian environmentalist and political activist as well as a major proponent of the Green concept of sustainable development. Narain is director general of the India-based research institute the Centre for Science and Environment, director of the Society for Environmental Communications, and publisher of the fortnightly magazine, Down To Earth.
In 2016 she was named to Time Magazine’s list of 100 Most Influential People.
Her NGO was the one that found harmful amounts of pesticides in bottled water sold by large soft-drink multinationals. This resulted in the biggest fight of her 30-
year career, where she and her organisation of 130 people emerged victorious.
India is dealing with an “environmentalism of the poor,” she said. An activism born not out of some well-intentioned desire to improve the world for future generations, but rather of a need for immediate survival. Being an environmentalist in India means being an advocate for the poor, for the hundreds of millions of people who rely – in ways difficult for many others to understand, Narain says – on their immediate environment for their livelihoods. For instance, fishermen cannot catch fish in chemically poisoned water.
Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/2012/0608/India-s-feisty-and-effective-environmental-champion
Desh Apnayen salutes the unique large and small ways in which these champions are working to save the environment. May we learn from the best and walk towards better environment and better health.