Earth. Our beautiful blue and green planet that we often take for granted, provides us with every single thing we need to live, and yet we hurt and destroy it. In our other articles we’ve spoken about how each of us can help make a positive difference to the environment, and one such way is by growing a micro forest. Of course, we understand that most of you readers are extremely busy and perhaps don’t have the time needed to build a micro forest. But today were going to talk about another easy way that you can help!
Photo Courtesy Damini AroraIn August 2019, the Tree Authority run by the BMC approved a proposal by the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation regarding the felling of 2702 trees in Aarey Milk Colony to construct a metro shed. When the locals of Mumbai heard the news, there was a public uproar that gave birth to a series of protests in order to save the forest. Damini Arora, a marketing expert and environment-lover, was one of the many concerned citizens who took time out of their busy schedules to raise their voices and fight for our voiceless forests.
#ResortAarey is a project that has been up and running since those protests started. Sadly, these NGOs, who were doing genuinely good work and reforesting the Aarey forest, were not very well know amongst laypeople. Damini noticed this and wanted to find a cool way to involve and rope in the younger generation, as one day they will be the custodians of our planet. She wanted to engage with them so that they could learn more about what was happening around them, and so she started Truly Earthly.
Truly Earthly is an organisation that gives you the opportunity to make a difference to the Earth from any part of the world. Here, you can adopt or gift a tree to ecologically sensitive areas in and around Mumbai. Whether it’s your birthday, anniversary, graduation or death anniversary, you can celebrate or honour the occasion by gift a tree to the environment.
So, how does Truly Earthly work? When you place a request for adoption, they get in touch with you and a local botanist to select a local variety of saplings. Once that is done, a member from their team will physically visit the site and plant the sapling. Truly Earthly works with the local communities and NGOs that are a part of the #RestoreAarey movement to nurture and care for the plant you adopt, so that it may flourish and thrive. This ensures that your money goes back into the #ResortAarey movement and gives Mother Nature the love and care that it needs.
Damini has now tied up with an organic store in Mumbai that donates money to Truly Earthly to plant a tree every time they get an order in the range of Rs.1000 to Rs.1500. In the short amount of time that Truly Earthly has been running, Damini has already planted 50 trees and is eager to plant so many more. Since it is impossible to put a physical tag to the trees that are planted, she hopes to work with a team of developers to create a program to track latitude and longitude and virtually tag the trees so that people know exactly where their tree is planted.
Photo Courtesy Damini AroraIn an effort to evolve Truly Earthly into an organisation that helps no just the environment but people too, Damini soon plans to tie up with NGOs like Period Party that distribute cloth pads to women who belong to the Adivasi. She wants to give people the opportunity to uplift these women by ‘gifting’ (sponsoring) them with these basic and yet vital necessities. Of course, that’s not all Damini is currently working on. She also founded her very know digital marketing company that works with and promotes sustainable and eco-friendly small businesses.
Planting a tree might not seem like a very grandiose way to help the planet, but even that one tree makes a huge difference. And if you like, you can even plant more. One for every time to flight you take, in a way to reduce your carbon footprint. One for your child’s birthday or your own. Perhaps you can gift one as a way to celebrate Eid, Christmas or Diwali. Ultimately, it’s up to you to make a difference. As the wise words of Russell Page go, “To plant trees is to give body and life to one’s dreams of a better world.”
Written By Jessica Albuquerque,
Week 35 September 2021
