When was the last time we planted a tree?

When was the last time we planted a tree?
                                                  - ARVIND SRIVATSAV

Every year World Environment Day just passes by — people paste posters of a green world, distribute pamphlets on planting saplings and saving trees. Free tree saplings, free vermi compost bags are also on offer. Not to mention the e-mail forwards on how to revive the green cover.

Is this enough? While the world is moving in geometric progression, the one plant that we have got on our desktop table is less than a billion fractions in comparison.

We are doing our bit, isn't it? By doing what? When was the last time we planted a tree or a shrub in our neighbourhood? Except for a handful of green lovers who continue to believe in a green world, and are desperate in handing down a green environment to future generations, all others are busy sending out emails and/or sms. It is our day out in a year to plant some seeds in our garden (?) just for the sake of doing it. Do we follow it up? Do we water it and nurture it? Some enthusiastic children are given saplings in schools or volunteers take home saplings to their luxurious apartments that have cemented surroundings and do not host a terrace garden. The plants wilt with no one having time to tend them with care.

Take a look at the realtor's map. Basement for parking 20 cars, pavement for a morning jog, 60 x 40 space for a gym, 30 x 40 party hall, 10,200 sq. ft. auditorium, so on and so forth. Did we read 1 sq.m for every 30 sq.m-long space for 10 trees? I guess not. Trees, the darlings of lung space, are not part of the plan. The blueprint will consume unnecessary space if we plant some trees. Trees can be messy with fallen leaves and broken branches, noisy monkeys and chirping birds. We want the maximum benefit out of the space. Neither the builder nor the buyer is worried about the green posts on the walkways.

We are moving into a passive world, where we expect somebody to read our emails, sms, and posts and plant those trees for us; we won't do it ourselves.

We are sincere citizens and would continue to light 10 bulbs in the training rooms when just four are enough. Drive an SUV with just one person and expect the government to give us wide roads by cutting the trees. We use plastic bags while we can afford to carry a cloth bag or jute bag to the store. The cart vendor whips out a thin non-reusable plastic bag to pack the vegetables or fruits right at our doorstep. Do we have the heart to refuse and run up for a bowl or bag back home?
Global warming cannot be contained by half-hearted, lackadaisical tree planting measures. It is high time we realised that forwarding emails does nothing better than igniting a fraction of a billion brains to go green.

  source: http://www.hindu.com/op/2011/06/05/stories/2011060552641900.htm