IT workers are logging on to environmental activism

TECHIES WITH A GREEN TOUCH
IT workers are logging on to environmental activism
The Times of India

THE exhausted environmentally conscious can heave a sigh of relief: the techies are here. While Bangalore owes its burgeoning economy to the software development in the city, pretty soon, it may be thanking the IT workers for cleaner air and greener environs.

Techies, individually, collectively and with their companies have taken up various projects and have been spotted in domains that have thus far remained the prerogative of activists.

According to a journalist, “The apathy of our city was represented (or rather ill-represented) when the one man who has done more for the environment compared to all corporate and government initiatives put together, was in town. Lone ranger Sunderlal Bahuguna passes through our city and there are five people to meet him: one environment activist, two journalists and surprisingly, three techies.” They spent over an hour with the ‘green Gandhian’ gleaning simple truths on nature care.

The recently concluded tiger census at Nagarhole also had some interesting newcomers. “It was heartwarming to see techies take up the cause of wildlife. You don’t normally associate them with outback work. But here they were, kitted and ready for the jungle. There were 20 of us who took up the work and five were software engineers,” says environmentalist Santosh Kumar.

Further, two of them, seemed to have drawn inspiration from an article in BT about a man who built a forest. They were more than pleased to meet the man himself, Krishna Narain, at the census. His work in converting 65 acres of wasteland into a thriving forest seems to have spurred them to do likewise. “We have taken up six acres near Dharmasthala, as a start. It is already a forest of sorts. We plan to protect it and allow it to grow and become a natural habitat for wildlife,” says Naga Kiran, who has taken up this cause along with his friend Killi Valavan. Both are software engineers in the city.

Killi, on his part, has also been a part of several green initiatives taken up by his company. This includes planting trees along Agaram lake; working on the green health of Bannerghatta and setting up information kiosks on wildlife and environment awareness.

Bharath Ratna Kumar and Jyothi S, call centre employees, spend time in the evening to visit their neighbours to ask them if they would like to care for a tree. They present people with saplings provided by their companies and also do follow up work to see that they are looked after.

Yet another IT firm takes it upon itself to plant 1,000 saplings every year within the city. Says Jyothi, “We can do the planting and all forms of distribution work, but a bit of help from the authorities by way of tree guards and watering sapling planted by roadsides will go a long way in giving back the green to the city.”