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Exnora Green Cross

Tree planting is an important work of Exnora Green Cross. Undoubtedly trees are one of the wonders that God has created. Trees are the largest and the longest living things on the earth. They live much longer than animals. Trees are able to live for many years (The Californian Giant SEQUOIA may live for more than 3000 years), because they can form new sets of cells every year. Bristle cone pines can live even up to 5000 years. The honour of being the tallest tree is given to the Coast Red wood which can grow as tall as 120 meters. Indeed, trees are the most amazing and wonderful things in the world. They are a scenic beauty to behold.


The Damage Done So Far:
While trees play the constructive role of protecting human life, human beings have been destroying trees without realizing that they are ruining themselves, by their own actions of destruction.

We have already destroyed 89% of rain forest which we had in the 19th century and the remaining 11% is under serious pressure of total ruin. Every minute, humans cut down 60 acres of tropical rain forests the world over. Twenty years from now, we will have no rainforests at all. There will be steep depletion in the quantity of oxygen and quality of air in the atmosphere. Global Warming will get accelerated .There will be an increase in the content of Carbon dioxide. The result is anybody’s guess.

A three hundred year old tree can be brought down by an axe in three hours. But it can never be created again unlike another product. You have to wait for three hundred more years to get back a tree of the same size and usefulness. Even the planting of three thousand saplings can not compensate the one tree cut today. Hence tree felling should be avoided as far as possible.

Global warming can be stopped only by saving trees and planting more and more trees.
Day in and day out we come across news about various threats to nature. There is a big question mark on the very future of life on earth. Reproduced hereunder is alarming news on the environment.


POLAR WARNINGS
Scientists have long warned that the Polar Regions may be the first to show signs of Global Warming. Evidence that it is already occurring here comes from British research bases in Antarctica.

In mid-1994 they reported that, over the past 40 years, an average temperature in the peninsular region of West Antarctica has raisen by 2.5 degree C, ten times the Global average. Scientists believe the drastic warming may be a consequence of the break-up of ice sheets in the region. The War die ice shelf near the peninsula has shrunk by more than 1,000 Sq. Km., in the past 25 years. The warming is most intense in West Antarctica. Here the ice sheet is precariously perched on top of submerged islands and could suddenly disintegrate. The disappearance of the West Antarctic ice-sheet would raise sea levels worldwide by an estimated six meters.

Thousands of things have to be collectively done at once to arrest this trend. However the people, individually and collectively, are doing thousands of things to accelerate the catastrophe that is waiting at our door steps. Now let us see how we have become a threat to nature and ultimately a threat to ourselves.


Action Plan:

Pollution on account of industries and automobiles has become difficult to control and too much of control would result in closure of industries and also displacement of employees. One action which is within our reach and easy to fulfill is tree planting. We need to plant more and more trees as the content of Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing day by day.

Please go through the following instructions for forming Exnora Green Cross in your centre with the permission, support and guidance of the parent Exnora Innovators’ Club and or Exnora International. The Director, Environmental Objective of the Exnora Innovators’ Club will be Ex-Officio Advisor of the Exnora Green Cross.


The aims and activities of the Exnora Green Cross:
(You can entrust each activity to each member)
  • To protect the existing Trees & Forests.
  • To plant more and more trees.
  • To discourage Mono-cultivation (same type of crop) in forests.
  • To plan and plant a variety of saplings in order to create plant-bio-diversity particularly in forests.
  • To save trees which are likely to fall, by strengthening the soil around the tree.
  • To re-erect and replant the trees that fall during cyclones or by strong wind.
  • To convince a person who has cut down one tree to plant at least ten saplings.
  • To adopt and maintain parks.
  • To encourage street gardens.
  • To create and maintain Traffic Islands with greenery.
  • To bring waste lands under tree cultivation.
  • To promote kitchen gardens/Terrace gardens/water and pond gardens/rock gardens in each one’s domicile to the extent possible.
  • To convert all available public open space and empty space into gardens/parks.
  • To start Exnora nurseries.
  • To encourage social forestry everywhere.
  • To plant tree saplings on the hillocks.
  • To plant trees on the banks of rivers and canals and bunds of lakes to prevent soil erosion and to protect the banks and bunds.
  • To plant trees having medicinal properties.
  • To develop botanical gardens in town/village growing all types and varieties of saplings.
  • To propagate and execute aforestation programmes.
  • To conduct brain storming sessions and seminars on Tree planting and bring out innovative ideas.
  • To carry out on going research in the science of tree planting.
  • To propagate the necessity of growing trees among the community and motivate people to join, participate, support and co-operate by explaining the causes and consequences.
  • To carry on sustained and systematic propaganda against excessive use of wood and total dependence on it.
  • Whenever possible, use of wood should be avoided.  Substitutes have to be used. More substitutes have to be innovated. There should be a reduction in the use and consumption of tree products (e.g. paper).
    In brief, to create a GREEN WORLD.

ADMINISTRATION
Exnora Green Cross will be led by a President.  He must have as many numbers of volunteers as possible belonging of all age groups. There should be a Vice President, a Secretary, a Joint Secretary, a Treasurer and six Committee Members, each in charge of a particular activity related to tree planting as mentioned in the objectives. The Exnora Tree Bank requires a custodian. People qualified in horticulture and botany should be enrolled. Experts among them should find place in the council of advisors.


Record Book
The Exnora Green Cross should maintain a Record (Record Book) of saplings planted, types of saplings, when planted (date), location, the name of  Exnora Green Cross member who planted it and the name of the person (Tree Guardian) who has adopted it or the name of the person who has taken the responsibility of watering and protecting the sapling.


Bulletin
An exclusive bulletin (made of recycled paper) can be published on the activities of Exnora Green Cross.  Useful tips and plans on tree planting can be provided in the bulletin. Outstanding achievements made in tree planting can be published. There can be interesting and informative articles on trees and their qualities. The articles can describe the benefits that can be derived from each type of tree. Photographs of rare trees can find place in the bulletin.


Tree Guardians

The easiest thing is planting saplings. But the difficult work is to protect water and nurture the saplings. In this regard the Exnora Green Cross members should motivate the residents nearby to be the Tree Guardians and request them to adopt one or two tree saplings. The duties of the Tree Guardians will be to water, fertilize, remove weeds and shrubs and protect saplings. In addition, if they are willing, they can also be requested to sponsor the cost of tree guards and saplings.

The children can be designated as Tree Guardians. Their name as Tree Guardian as well as the name of the sapling (including Botanical name) with the date of planting can be written and tied either to the tree guard or the sapling. It will be indeed an exciting experience for the parents to watch the children grow and through their children the plants grow.


Tree Planting – Your First Duty to the Mother Earth
Members should spend their leisure time by helping to carry out Saving the Earth Exercise by planting trees and allotting a couple of hours on Sundays and holidays for this work.

Residents who celebrate their birthdays and wedding days (wedding anniversaries) can be encouraged to plant saplings on those days, making the occasion more memorable. Even Exnora members can give tree saplings as a Birth Day Gift. (The sapling however should be planted by the Exnora member or he should facilitate its planting). If every citizen plants trees on his every birth day, global warming will stop within a few years. Important days like New Year, Republic Day and Independence days can be celebrated by Tree planting. Any meeting can commence with planting tees (like the prayer) Marriage rituals can begin with planting trees. Trees can be planted in memory of the deceased, even in burial grounds. Songs about trees can be written. Tree guards can be obtained through sponsorship. Business houses can be approached and requested to sponsor the tree guards.
They have to be explained the benefits

  1. Service to nature and
  2. Very good continuous publicity and consequently their earning of enormous goodwill the tree guard will bear the Company’s name on a broad board fixed on the tree guard.
(Once the trees out-grow the tree guards, they do not any more need the protection and hence the tree guards can be removed and reused by re-erection for protecting a new sapling being planted). This exercise can be repeated any number of times as long as the tree guard is not completely worn out. Cheaper tree guards should be tried (like nil cost-Thorn Tree Guard). Grown up saplings also can be planted which do not need the investment in tree guards. The tree saplings can be obtained from the Forest Department, the Municipal Body and Exnora Tree Bank if you have one in your centre. For the industries it is an opportunity to correct and compensate the damage done by their chimneys.

The Exnora Green Cross members can visit the industries and advise them to plant trees. They can inspect and give a plan. With their permission the members can do the tree planting, themselves. They can involve the employers and workers. They can be requested to adopt and water the trees. They can be requested to plant trees on their birthday and wedding anniversary and to nurture the plants thereafter.

The Exnora Green Cross should take up with all the schools and the Education Department for including in the curriculum the subject of trees and about tree planting. Painting competition essay and speech competition on the subject of Trees can be conducted. They should start Exnora Green Cross in all Schools and Colleges. The students who join and serve will be issued with certificates. The students can be encouraged by the school to plant a sapling on their birthday and to nurture the plant thereafter.

The Exnora Green Cross should acquire all the required implements like crowbars, shovels, forks and other tools. They should keep sufficient stock of seeds, saplings, sand, red sand, compost, fertilizer, pesticides, iron net, tree guards etc. Skilled gardeners either part time or full time can be employed. The members also should themselves get fully trained and must be able to do “A to Z” work in trEE planting. They can have a uniform (Green Colour pants and green colour T-Shirt) and an Arm band.
More than anything else an activity like tree planting does the greening of the mind too. Tree planting is the most constructive move towards environmental protection. Those who engage in tree planting will become as useful as trees. The President should enroll the committee members in charge of Green Cross from each and every Civic Exnora.

Those who want to start Exnora Green Cross take it up with the Parent Exnora Innovators’ Club (Director, Environmental Objective) or in the absence of such a club with Exnora Green Cross Inter National Coalition, C/O. Exnora International, New No.20, Giriappa Road, T.Nagar, Chennai – 600 017. Phone: 28153376


 
   
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