Cleaning up a sanctuaryAgroup called ‘Clean and Green’that works with the Forest Department, Jungle Lodges and Resorts and KK Plastics to keep the environment clean, has taken up thecause with Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary. Volunteers clean up the plastic mess left behind by unthinking tourists and visitors. The plastic is used by KK Plastic when laying roads with plastic in the bitumen mixture.
Clean and Green has conducted some trips to Mutthathi for various corporates viz.Sun Microsystems, Oracleand Honeywell, for theirvolunteer programmes conducted as partof the CSR initiatives. This April, Clean and Green, was back again at Muthathi. This time, the trip was conductedwith the backing of Sun Microsystems as part of their World Wide VolunteerWeek. Volunteers made arrangementsfor the transportation, foodfor the volunteers, equipment for cleaning, transportation of the garbage toKK Plastics, liaison with Forest Department, etc. Preparatory tripto the site, installing dustbins sponsored by Sun Microsystems at the picnic spot and the cleaning site, was done a week ahead of the trip. A workshop on awareness about Waste Management, with focus on plastic, was conducted on the daybefore the trip, at the Sun Microsystems office at Langford Road by Clean and Green volunteers.
On the day at the venue, Sun Employees, their family and friends, students from UVCE college, BITS Pilani and volunteers from Clean and Green, armed with rakes andsticks, started collecting plastic litter in full earnest. The loads of segregated plastic in gunny bags werestitched, weighed and loaded. A total 220 kg of plastic left Sangam that day. Did the Arkavathy breathe easy?!?
Saplings plantedAs part of the Earth Day celebrations, Eco-Watch conducted, under their Urban Forestry Project, the planting of a variety of native species at the bio-diversity park in Hoskote on Friday, along with the employees of Intel India.Suresh Heblikar noted how theworld is losing about 9 million hectares of forest land every yearand the Indian subcontinent is losing its valuable forests andwater resources faster than it can be regenerated. Thus, the country islosing its biological diversity and also running up a water deficit. There is an urgent need to improve the green cover on a war footing, he said.
The EarthDay celebrations saw a heightened enthusiasm among theIntel employees as they involved in aday-long programme of tree-planting. This one-day programme was flagged off with Suresh Heblikar, Chairman, Eco-Watch, addressingthe gathering and Praveen Vishkantaiah, President, Intel India, motivating the group to support the cause of environmental restoration. The event saw about 120 volunteers from Intel, smartly dressed in blue as they enthusiastically participated in the identification, tagging and planting a large number of saplings, belonging to 20 different species.
The saplings planted included varieties such as Eugenia Jambolana, Neem, Caribbean Mahogany, Pongamia and Silver Oak.
ECO NEWS
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