Pollution is taking on the form of an epidemic today.The quality of air in cities and towns is getting deteriorated due to heavy pollution. Its price is being paid in the form of major disasters. According to the World Health Organization’s Air Pollution Database, of the 15 most polluted cities globally, 14 are in India. They include Varanasi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Patna, and Gaya. The condition of Delhi, the capital of the country, has often been like a gas chamber where a cloud of poisonous mist is seen often, which makes it difficult for even a healthy person to breathe.
“Trees are as close to immortality as the rest of us ever come. – Karen Joy Fowler”
According to a report in the Lancet Medical Journal, over ten lakh people die every year due to air pollution in India. Delhi is among the top 30 cities in the world in terms of dangerous carbon emissions. The primary reasons for these elevated carbon emissions are the poisonous gases being released from the vast heaps of garbage, and toxic smoke emanated from industrial units, and the increased number of vehicles on the roads. To control air pollution in Delhi and other cities of the country, it is recommended that people reduce the use of private vehicles and adopt public transportation, and at the same time increase greenery by promoting large-scale tree plantations. Despite the huge claims and promises for environmental protection, the destruction of trees is multiplying. Due to the lack of vegetation, the wrath of nature is becoming increasingly evident.
The government, too, does not hesitate in issuing orders to annihilate lakhs of trees in the name of urban development for building long expressways. A few months ago, an order was given to cut 16,500 trees in Delhi, but thanks to Chipko Movement, the people of Delhi started a mass campaign, forcing the government to withdraw its decision to cut down these trees. Unfortunately, the situation is not the same elsewhere in the country. Be it the Himalayan region or the catchment area of the Ganges and its tributaries, thousands of giant trees are ruthlessly felled. To make the Char Dham Yatra enjoyable, millions of years old green trees were cut down in a radius of about 900 kilometers to widen the roads. Admittedly, building wider expressways to speed up the country’s development is the need of the hour, but when will the government concur that the environmental balance is deteriorating due to the destruction of millions of trees across the country in the name of development? In such a situation, due to the destruction of green trees, how will life on the planet, including humans, be safe? If life itself will not be secure, then what good is this development? Why don’t we understand that as dense forests decrease, the scope of natural disasters like floods, drought, and smog in the country will increase? Trees not only provide us emotional and spiritual peace but also keep the soil in place and protect us from the danger of floods and landslides. Trees keep the surrounding atmosphere clean by absorbing carbon dioxide. Rainfall is influenced significantly by the trees. They renew nutrients and also absorb toxins from the environment. Trees provide fertilizers, medicines, and shelter for wildlife.
If the roads have to be widened to speed up the development work, then new methods should be found to meet the objectives of the development work while saving the majority of the trees. A report released by the New York Department of Environmental Protection says that 100 giant trees remove 53 tons of carbon dioxide and 200 kilograms of other air pollutants and also helps in stopping 530,000 liters of rainwater. According to this report, well-placed trees around the house not only reduce AC consumption by 53% in summer but also reduce cold winds in winter. This report has also mentioned that people living in an environment full of trees are safer and more sociable.
Another report states that an increase of 1 gram in the weight of any tree results in 2.66 grams of extra oxygen. According to the Indian Forest Conservation report, dense forests in the country have decreased rapidly, from 11.48% in 1999 to 2.61% today. According to this report, in many states of the country like Uttarakhand, Telangana, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tripura, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand, Dadar Nagar Haveli, etc. forests are reduced drastically.
Due to the narrowing of dense forests, wildlife is being forced to move towards cities and towns. According to a report of Nature Journal, there are about 35 billion trees in India at this time, which means about 28 trees per person. This figure is not as pleasant as it sounds because most of these 35 billion trees are in dense forests and not in different cities or towns. Due to the indiscriminate cutting of trees, the area of dense forests is also decreasing rapidly.
In order to keep the environment pure in any place, the forest area should be dense there. A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report states a deficit of over 9 lakh trees in Delhi. Air pollution in Delhi has increased by about 400% due to the decrease in greenery in the last five years. The climate cycle in the country is altering rapidly. The Climate Crisis is deepening, and the only way to deal with such environmental problems is to increase the density of trees.
Be it air pollution, water pollution, or nature conservation, these problems can only be dealt with by planting more and more trees. In the absence of clean air, people are falling prey to different kinds of terrible diseases. It is also affecting their fertility and work capacity. The only solution to all these problems is to plant trees and maintain cleanliness around them. “The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit. – Nelson Henderson”
Source:Akhand Jyoti Magazine May-June 2021