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Monday, May 10, 2010

The green and the green

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Hello Hello...its been too long since i was visible/discernible in this space. I was busy  in doing a comparaitively useless task named GRE. But now i am happily outta it, resumed  my fav task :)

well, the things which make me smile are not much right now. It is arid, hot, burning, sultry..whatever! Pune is *&*&^%^%$^%$%#**&^%*$# HOT! go out in the sun for ten mins and all you become is drowsy and parched. I know, the heat wave is particularly fierce in this regions of the country, but to add to the misery, Pune is losing most of its green cover. Here are some things i  noticed/came across/heard in last 10 days

1. when the 'oh so prestigious' CYG happened in pune in 2008, 119 trees- Big-ghane ped- like banyan and peepal- were cut down  on baner-balewadi road. Isn't this an outrageous no? have we ever thought how much of human and natural effort was wasted in several hours? How many years would a tree need to become a big one like the original? We needed just a day to cut them down. AND even that would have been ok if the trees were replanted. I perfectly understand the desire of our politicians to showcase pune's roads as the big, smooth, international standard types. so it is given that the trees have to go. How else would the road look like that? but did anyone bother to replant these trees anywhere else? well, it is not a secret that the tree can be dug out with its roots intact and then planted elsewhere..why did not they do it? We just see the roads widened..did we ever think where are all these trees?

2. i stay on FC road. I observed that in last few months- especially after the one way was implemented, road has lost some small trees- not the big ones- but there were some small trees all along the road- the are gone!!! where? who did cut them down? and when??? and what can we do about it???

3. The area which is the backside of wakdewadi- there is a major cut down happening. It was all over the newspapers a couple of weeks ago. As expected, this was done for some construction purposes. XYZ builder did it. it turns out that nobody had granted him permission to cut the trees down. still, right under everybody's nose, in open sunlight, he cut them down. nobody pays any attention, and n no of such cases keep on happening. And now i cant even look out of my balcony  in the afternoon, so can't many people, as it is just so blazing! you cant look out because of the sun! WHY don't we realize that this is the result of the decreasing green?  Pune used to be covered with green- if not like konkan- at least some green cover was definitely existing. Please tell me areas apart from University, model colony, koregaon park , which have thick green cover. Look at baner. balewadi, hadapsar, Satar road, Kalyaninagar, Yerawda, pune-mumbai highway- do you realize that there is so less presence of green???

WHY? WHY?? WHY??

its obviously because of the other green. The money, honey! Cut the trees down, build houses so that people who need housing eternally will buy them. Cut trees down, and widen the roads, so that some more fund from the taxpayers could be used under the pretext of improving the infrastructure of the city. Cut more of them down, and build malls, which is where the moolah rules. Oh yes, and dont ever plant them again. If we plant them again, we ourselves are wasting the efforts now, aren't we? forget about the natural green. Be happy with this brighter, shinier and more useful green. be blind to the increasing heat. be blind to the environmental change. Be blind to everything concerned with our own environment. ignore it, if possible. Show me the money- its all about money honey!
and then what next?

I perfectly agree with this mall verse i read in Singapore( which is pretty green country btw):
only after the last tree has been cut down
only after the lat river has been poisoned
only after the last fish has been caught

man will realize
MONEY CAN NOT BE EATEN.

best of luck, you all. choose the green wisely!

3 comments:

Nikhil said...

Few people anywhere in the world actively hate trees. They simply weigh the costs and benefits of cutting down the trees as opposed to growing their businesses.

It's basically a large economic game (as in game theory):
1) No one owns the trees, so there is no owner demanding payment for the destruction of those trees.
2) If a given property developer doesn't cut down those trees to build a building, someone else will (the prisoner's dilemma). The result will be less rent, and fewer jobs.

In sum, it's a tragedy of the commons. Because of #1, property owners have no data telling them how much that tree is worth. So for them, it's worthless. If the trees actually had property rights (were registered to the PMC), the property owners could then negotiate a price for cutting down the tree (Rs. x plus the replanting of y trees). In addition, people are more likely to protect (prevent the cutting or killing of) things that have an obvious value. If that tree is worth Rs. 50,000, I'll be more likely to judge the tragedy than if it's worth something intangible like 'beauty' or 'shade'.

Valuing things qualitatively by removing money from the equation seems like a nice idea, but that's not how humans think. And continuing to regulate natural resources as an all-or-nothing game (as the Gov't of India continues to do) is a futile effort.

Sneha Gore said...

@nikhil...well analyzed.. :) but still.. :(

Muukta said...

:) Something needs to be done! Me baryach kalapasun wichar karat hote! Sinhagad road chya shejari raja ram pula samor ji tekadi diste ti farch treeless ahe tithe tree plantetion karayla haway!
Karaycha? Lets ask everyone else also! Khoop samadhan denara asel!