Kolkata - A select group of schoolchildren, Earth lovers and NGOs had the opportunity to interact with Mr Durgesh Agrahari, Head of Partnerships and Projects, Say Trees India, 24 February 2018 at the Church of Christ the King Mother Teresa Hall, in Park Circus, Kolkata (Calcutta). He shared his views on Climate Change through an interactive session with the participants and members of Green for Life Foundation (the organisers of the event) and Earthsmiles.net during the four hour interaction, having a short break in between to allow the local TV and Press journalists’ time for their bites.

As Mr Agarahari concluded his session with the schoolchildren (The Assembly of God Church School, Park Street, Union Chapel, The Akshar School and Ballygunge Shiksha Sadan,) he asked them what they would do specifically to make the Earth a green place, getting individual answers. Mr. Agrahari and the students then took an oath for a better planet tomorrow; starting with their actions today. Earlier in the program, he also shared briefly on Say Trees and their huge successes in volunteering experiments which sustain the maintenance of the thousands of trees planted by them. Say Trees is a professionally run group of ordinary people extraordinarily determined to protect the environment through their mission of tree-plantation. Located in Bengaluru (Bangalore,) the capital of Karnataka, once renowned as “the Garden City” ‘Say Trees’ was born of the growing environmental degradation of the city’s environs, thank to rampant urbanisation. Mr Kapil Sharma, the founder of this NGO, now resides in the USA. Mr Durgesh Agrahari looks after the ground operations in India.

For the Green for Life Foundation and EarthSmiles.net teams, Mr Agrahari had given a through training session on tree planting, the previous day, February 23. During morning sessions where the participants got to know the nitty-gritty of successfully planting – and then sustaining – trees, they were introduced to not only technical skills for planting, but also the people skills that Say Trees uses to attract and sustain some thousands of eager volunteers.

He also enlightened with, the difference between the Miyawaki method of plantation and the traditional method of plantation. He further emphasised on the adoption of ‘Community Fruit Forests’ Say Trees is hoping to establish in India, having done some pilot runs. In the afternoon the teams made a trip to one of Green for Life Foundation’s “Tree Safe Zones” in Rajerhat (one of Kolkata’s satellite “cities”), a 1.8 km stretch where they have been planting saplings with various schools during the previous year. Giving thumbs up to the location of this site (“The best I’ve ever seen,”)
Mr Agrahari demonstrated briefly how to make proper bunds for water retention in the sapling roots and gave general tips on improving growth rate as well as denser plantation with the Miyawaki method. He suggested ways to control pest wandering into the plantation and also suggested a community Fruit Forest – an amount of fruit trees where the local community could avail of the produce for free.

There is a plan to hold Tree Maintenance events in the near future to keep the saplings in the area healthy and grow them into a mighty forest, sequestering carbon and providing us oxygen… life for the life we gave them! Stay tuned, check our FB page for information on the events, and participate with your whole family!