Khar-based environmental-activists Calvin Andrade and George Remedios are on a mission to paint the town green by planting saplings.
Khar-based environmental-activists Calvin Andrade and George Remedios are on a mission to paint the town green by planting saplings. “Each person needs about ten trees to offset the CO2 he releases in his lifetime,” says amateur nature conservationist George Remedios, knowing fully well that this goal is an almost insurmountable one — at least in a city as pressed for space as Mumbai. But George is not one to give up. The 31-year-old Khar resident and his 20-year-old family friend Calvin Andrade have taken up the mantle of giving back to nature not just their share but also that of their fellow Mumbaikars. And they are doing it one sapling at time.
Operating under the name The Turning Tide, George and Calvin’s Facebook community has already planted close to a 100 trees in the course of the last eight months. And the duo is leading from the front with 23 saplings planted within their own compound, another nine in their church and 15 more in the nearby Jogger’s Park.
The underlying agenda for their efforts is very simple, “To give back to future generations the very same privileges they enjoyed as kids — A greener and healthier environment.” George’s love for trees took root when he was a kid. Narrating his tale, he says, “It was Christmas time and our Christmas tree was too big for our room. So my mother told me ‘why don’t you plant it outside ’ and we did the same. It’s been 20 years since then and that tree is still standing strong at 25-30 feet tall, reminding me how big an investment a single sapling is.”
Telling us how he started The Turning Tide, he explains, “I always loved gardening and so did Calvin. But what pushed me into action was the adverse effects of disappearing trees. My own mother suffered from Asthma and I’ve known people who’ve died of Lung cancer caused by pollution. So one day last year, Calvin and I took some old newspapers from our homes to the scrap dealer and with the money we got we bought our first few saplings — about seven or eight. For us it was symbolic because it was like we were recycling the paper we’ve used by planting trees. And the purpose and benefit of trees is that they purify air with 70 % more efficiency than normal plants.”
Telling us about his efforts so far, George says, “Our focus right now is more on fruit-bearing trees. Not only do they bring joy through their produce, they are also vital for ecological balance. We started with our building and our church where we planted various varieties such as chiku, cocum, apple, figs and more — which is again vital because diversity too aids ecological balance. In a warm and humid city like Mumbai, there are so many varieties that can grow. But sadly not much is being done.”
With several of his neighbours and friends joining them in their efforts, George is planning to take his efforts to the next level by registering their community as an NGO. “We want to make this effort really big, but we don’t have much funds. Going forward we want to register ourselves as an NGO and really step up the effort. As of now we are only doing it in our neighbourhood, but we would really like to expand it to other areas.”
