The 22nd of April is celebrated as Earth Day all over the world. This is to acknowledge the global climate crisis which is at an alarming state and requires our immediate attention and care.

Planting trees is one of the ways of taking CO2 out of the atmosphere to tackle the climate crisis.

Not only do forests and huge parks act as a huge absorbent of carbon dioxide, but they also provide the necessary habitat for animals, while performing ecological services such as purifying the air we breathe and regulating and moderating the temperature.

Reforestation programmes can stabilize land from erosion and natural disasters and help soil health and groundwater recharge, promote native and endemic fauna and flora and provide economic sustainability for the local community.

APD’s role in protecting the environment.

APD’s founder, late N S HEMA, envisioned developing three of our campuses at Lingarajapuram, Jeevan Bhima Nagar, and Kyalasanahalli into a beautiful garden.

She found solace in the therapeutic values of horticulture and made use of this in mitigating some of the worries of people with disability and to calm their minds. She engaged people with disability in gardening and trained them to be landscapers or gardeners. This kind of training not only gave them a window for relaxation but also livelihood opportunities.

At a time when all of us are worried about greening the environment, APD has more than 5000 trained caretakers who will be the real protectors of the environment in the true sense.

Rainwater Harvesting

APD took a major initiative for harvesting the rainwater in their Kylasanahalli campus, thanks to the grant by Northern Trust.  The project was executed by Biome.

Around 700 kiloliters of rooftop rainwater are planned to be filtered, stored, and reused.

Eight recharge wells of 3 feet diameter and 30 feet depth, 2 recharge wells of 4 feet diameter and 25 feet depth, and 8 recharge wells of 5 feet diameter and 30 feet depth have been built to recharge 200 kiloliters of surface runoff from every 30 mm of rain.

Solar Power

To harness solar energy, APD took the initiative to solarize the entire campus in Lingarajapuram and Jeevan Bhima Nagar. This helped APD save electricity charges by Rs 9000 a month.

APD could do this with the support of Selco Foundation.

Solar power is being used to energise airbeds that are used to prevent bedsores for people with Spinal Cord Injury at Jeevan Bhima Nagar.

Overall, APD is able to save power to the extent of Rs 45000 per month by switching over to solar energy.

Beekeeping

With the help of scientists from the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research and Dr Barghava, APD has started Apiculture which will help in the natural pollination of the gardens.

Plants & Herbs

APD’s biggest contribution to protecting Mother Earth is its Plant Fairs and Workshops. Every year, more than 45,000 people buy plants and herbs from APD, and start their own gardens and kitchen gardens.

The great scientist Thomas Edison once said:

“Until a man duplicates a blade of grass, nature can laugh at his so-called scientific knowledge. Remedies from chemicals will never stand in favourable comparison with products of nature; the living cell of a plant, the final result of the rays of the sun, the mother of all life.

Let the rivers, mountains, hills, sea shores all co-exist along with humans and allow them to survive for the benefit of our children."

Lord Tennyson in his poem ‘The Brook’ has written:

“I murmur under moon and stars,

In the brambly wilderness,

I linger by my singly bars,

I loiter round my cresses.

    And out again I curve and flow,

    To join the brimming river.

    For men may come and men may go

    But I go on for-ever”

So let us all work to ensure that Mother Earth goes on forever. Let’s protect our planet for our children and all living things.