Let us make the City Green !!
28th July 2009
Dear all,
The Isha Foundation is spearheading an ambitious campaign to plant and care for One Lakh trees in Chennai city before the end of 2009, with the active involvement of different members of the community.
The below-mentioned write-up from the Isha Foundation gives you more details.
This is our chance to help balance the Earth's environment in a small way. Let us make the best use of it!
-------------------------------------
Project GreenHands – Green Your Own Street Campaign
This is an opportunity for every individual to actually do something significant to reverse the damage to the Earth’s environment. ‘Green Your Own Street’ is an ambitious tree planting campaign under Project GreenHands of Isha Foundation, to plant and care for One Lakh trees in Chennai by December 31, 2009, with the help of company employees & their families. This could also be targeted and done on a single day to create more awareness.
Objectives
1. To get all corporate employees and their families sensitised about the environment.
2. Greening Chennai in one shot by getting at least 1 lakh trees planted.
3. Get the whole population of Chennai sensitised by staging such a dramatic event.
Methodology
- Chiefs of companies in & around Chennai are approached to get their company enrolled in the campaign. It is important that the program is not just supported but even pushed strongly by the top management to ensure that employees take the necessary efforts to participate meaningfully.
- Each employee is sent information (through email) as to why every individual needs to act to save our environment by planting and nurturing at least one tree. The mail will also carry instructions on how to select a suitable planting site, how to plant and care for a tree.
- Just 20 minutes from each employee could green the entire city of Chennai. All he or she does is:
1. Walk along the road where they stay, to identify one suitable planting location in their own street or neighbourhood & provide this information to their company & Isha by filling in a form on-line.
2. Each employee would sponsor a seedling (@Rs.25) and ensure its planting in the identified location.
3. It would then be cared for either by the employee or one of his neighbours, who agrees to water the seedling regularly. The house or shop in front of the tree would be the best suited to plant and care for it.
4. If required, to ensure safety of the tree, the employee also needs to locate a sponsor for a tree guard, which may cost about Rs.750 to buy and install. Any bank or shop or office in the area could oblige and their name could be put on the tree guard. Most trees planted within Chennai, however, may not require a tree guard, as stray cows/ goats are no longer prevalent.
- Isha would provide the following support:
a. Consolidate the seedling requirements from various companies and obtain the statutory permissions wherever necessary from Chennai Corporation for planting in the identified sites
b. Raise seedlings in Isha’s nurseries in order to create the necessary varieties of seedlings at very low cost. Tree varieties suitable for Chennai would be grown which can be planted in narrow spaces such as compounds and street sides without damaging walls and which need very little water to grow.
c. Supply the required number of seedlings to the employees at their workplace at cost (Rs. 20 per seedling + transport, totalling about Rs. 25 per seedling).
d. Organise for getting tree guards made and transported to the employee’s workplace. However these would be paid for by the employees or the sponsors identified by them.
- This whole event would need to be given wide visibility to spread this awareness to the entire population of Chennai and create a Chennai that remains green forever.
Timelines: To ensure planting in December, 09, the nursery has to be started by end-August. So the enrolment of companies needs to happen by mid-August and registration of employees by end-August.
Contact: To enlist your company, pls contact Mr. Vinod Hari at hari_vinod@hotmail.com or +91 98410 48949.
28th July 2009
Dear all,
The Isha Foundation is spearheading an ambitious campaign to plant and care for One Lakh trees in Chennai city before the end of 2009, with the active involvement of different members of the community.
The below-mentioned write-up from the Isha Foundation gives you more details.
This is our chance to help balance the Earth's environment in a small way. Let us make the best use of it!
-------------------------------------
Project GreenHands – Green Your Own Street Campaign
This is an opportunity for every individual to actually do something significant to reverse the damage to the Earth’s environment. ‘Green Your Own Street’ is an ambitious tree planting campaign under Project GreenHands of Isha Foundation, to plant and care for One Lakh trees in Chennai by December 31, 2009, with the help of company employees & their families. This could also be targeted and done on a single day to create more awareness.
Objectives
1. To get all corporate employees and their families sensitised about the environment.
2. Greening Chennai in one shot by getting at least 1 lakh trees planted.
3. Get the whole population of Chennai sensitised by staging such a dramatic event.
Methodology
- Chiefs of companies in & around Chennai are approached to get their company enrolled in the campaign. It is important that the program is not just supported but even pushed strongly by the top management to ensure that employees take the necessary efforts to participate meaningfully.
- Each employee is sent information (through email) as to why every individual needs to act to save our environment by planting and nurturing at least one tree. The mail will also carry instructions on how to select a suitable planting site, how to plant and care for a tree.
- Just 20 minutes from each employee could green the entire city of Chennai. All he or she does is:
1. Walk along the road where they stay, to identify one suitable planting location in their own street or neighbourhood & provide this information to their company & Isha by filling in a form on-line.
2. Each employee would sponsor a seedling (@Rs.25) and ensure its planting in the identified location.
3. It would then be cared for either by the employee or one of his neighbours, who agrees to water the seedling regularly. The house or shop in front of the tree would be the best suited to plant and care for it.
4. If required, to ensure safety of the tree, the employee also needs to locate a sponsor for a tree guard, which may cost about Rs.750 to buy and install. Any bank or shop or office in the area could oblige and their name could be put on the tree guard. Most trees planted within Chennai, however, may not require a tree guard, as stray cows/ goats are no longer prevalent.
- Isha would provide the following support:
a. Consolidate the seedling requirements from various companies and obtain the statutory permissions wherever necessary from Chennai Corporation for planting in the identified sites
b. Raise seedlings in Isha’s nurseries in order to create the necessary varieties of seedlings at very low cost. Tree varieties suitable for Chennai would be grown which can be planted in narrow spaces such as compounds and street sides without damaging walls and which need very little water to grow.
c. Supply the required number of seedlings to the employees at their workplace at cost (Rs. 20 per seedling + transport, totalling about Rs. 25 per seedling).
d. Organise for getting tree guards made and transported to the employee’s workplace. However these would be paid for by the employees or the sponsors identified by them.
- This whole event would need to be given wide visibility to spread this awareness to the entire population of Chennai and create a Chennai that remains green forever.
Timelines: To ensure planting in December, 09, the nursery has to be started by end-August. So the enrolment of companies needs to happen by mid-August and registration of employees by end-August.
Contact: To enlist your company, pls contact Mr. Vinod Hari at hari_vinod@hotmail.com or +91 98410 48949.
