How the ‘green’ is going out of Bangalore

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“What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirro reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to each other.” – Gandhi

It’s sad, it’s terribly depressing and it’s outright frustrating.

One day, there’s a massive tree towering over the road providing much needed shade on the road. The next day it’s gone. Mercilessly felled off to make way for more cars. The tree that took a hundred years to grow. Struck down in a single stroke.

Yellow Hue


Íf you wonder why Bangalore’s getting warmer by the day – the reason is not so difficult to understand.

Bangalore’s tree cover is fast disappearing. St John’s Road, Koramangala, Adugudi, Race Course Road – everywhere there are trees being cut. Is this all going to make for better traffic management? I seriously doubt it. In the short term, perhaps. But in the long term, probably not. In fact, it’s going to get worse with more bottlenecks as some roads will always remain narrow. There’s only that much you can widen a road – what happens after you run out of trees to cut?

Red

We are paying the price of rapid progress, but is this the way to go? What about a mass transit system? What about alternative modes of transport? What about an underground train system? What about the Metro? Shouldn’t we be paying attention to these options than trying to cut trees at every possible junction? Why are all these projects all swept under the carpet, but trees being cut off everywhere. Because, it’s the easiest one out of all the choices. All you need is a huge axe and you’re done.

Yellow fringe

I am filled with despair sometimes. This – barren, treeless roads – are after all what we will leave behind. This is going to be responsible for the rapidly changing climate of Bangalore. And we have only ourselves to blame for it.

But what fills me with hope are people like Janet! There are some things I realise that are not within our control. Our protests against this tree felling is obviously not going to be heard. But we can do our bit. And that is plant more trees. In any available space we can find – on our streets, in our residential complexes etc. Yes, they will take years to grow, but at least you’ll have done something towards creating a greener city.

Bowring

Here are some facts about trees (facts from treesforfree.org):

— Trees purify the air we pollute

— Trees bring rain

— Trees conserve rainwater, which feeds streams, rivers and lakes.

— Trees provide shelter and food for birds, bees, butterflies and a host of insects and animals.

— Trees prevent soil erosion and transform barren wasteland into fertile soil.

— Trees absorb toxic chemicals from the soil.

— Trees absorb noise.

— Trees provide a sense of wellbeing and peace in their immediate surroundings.

— Planting fruit trees is being acknowledged as a sustainable solution to end the world’s hunger crisis.

— Trees planted around buildings reduce heating and cooling bills.

— Trees planted around roads with traffic makes the road seem populated. Study shows that people drive slower on a road with trees than without. (This is so true, I do this myself all the time! I used to love the drive through St John’s road with lovely trees shading both sides of the road. Sadly, half of the trees on that road are now gone).

— Planting a tree is the single most effective action any individual or organisation can take to truly heal the environment.

Pretty in pink

— So go ahead, do your bit. Plant more trees. Let’s populate the city with more and more trees so we can get back our depleted greenery even if takes a few years. If everyone does something about this issue, I’m sure it’s possible to keep Bangalore green and beautiful.

Cubbon Park

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Comments (16)

  1. Pingback: Taking the “garden” out of the Garden City. at Blogbharti

  2. you are right ,what they are doing even in chennai is just clearing the trees from the roads

    what happens after they run out of trees to cut?

    big question mark????

    Reply

  3. Huge environment issue.
    Its just not with trees, we are perpetrating more damage to the eco-system than what it can sustain.
    I saw them doing the same outside Gate-1 of Infy.
    Bishnoi acts are the need of the hour.

    Reply

  4. Nice Photographs .

    Yeah , we have studied about trees when we were kids , but when we grow up , we are caught up in the rat race to accumulate wealth , destroying nature’s health.

    We need another “Green Revolution”… may be we should call it “dark-green revolution”

    Reply

  5. great pics..
    my building just got de-treed and de gardened to make way for a parking lot… the building society voted in a majority to get the trees out … we need more parking you know ! 🙁
    maybe, one way is more citizen awareness and action…. there seems to be very little involvement in citizens in their future….

    Reply
  6. Pingback: Green city? | DesiPundit

  7. Wish to acknowledge that I nicked the sapling sponsorship idea from Janet; and we, that is Friends of Roadside Tress, are trying to promote it in Mysore.
    Would appreciate your permission to copy-paste a picture or two, along with excerpts from your post, in our FORT-Mysore blog.

    Reply

  8. आपकी चिंता सही है , अब तक हम दिल्ली शहर वाले हरियाली देखने पहाड़ों पर और दूसरे राज्यों में भागते हैं , यहाँ तो आँखें थक जाती हैं धूल-गर्द-गुबार देखते ।
    घर के बाहर गमलों में चार पौधे उगा कर क्या कर लेंगे ।
    बड़ा प्रश्न है यह !

    Reply

  9. I think the best possible way to maintain the Green Bangalore is to take an initiative to atleast plant one tree every month… we cant depend on others … we ourselves ..have to take an initiative ….

    Reply

  11. Anita, what a lovely post! People do not realize what a magnificent thing a tree is. Or how terrible it is to cut one down. To quote the poet Joyce Kilmer:

    “I think that I shall never see
    a poem as lovely as a tree.”

    Reply

  12. Hey,
    Nice picture story! I caught the pink and yellow cassias in bloom – the full glory lasted about two weeks at best. Take a look – my pics aren’t as well composed and all, but they’re pics all right!

    Reply

  13. Well, i am a guy from middle class family, done with graduation and have a few amount of experience on my back. With regards to having the GREEN power exist in bangalore, i am thinking of a drive and awareness and some workshop. If interested just mail me

    ashwyn007@gmail.com

    Reply

  14. These short sighted policies to widen roads by cutting tress is not going to help in any way…The TREES are the most beautiful part of Bangalore. I get really depressed seeing then all go one by one. How do we stop this???

    Reply

  16. All this is fine. Only blogging and posting comments like you and I have been doing doesn’t resolve this problem. Please go out and plant atleast one sapling and water it everyday…God Bless the planet.

    Reply

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