Volunteering

After settling into the Indian lifestyle for the first week or so, I have recently started my volunteer projects with the Vattakanal Conservation Trust. This organization is run by an eccentric old British couple who moved to India 2 decades ago, and since then have taken it upon themselves to try and fix the environmental problems that exist in this town. Through the establishment of a 15-person workforce, they have paid out-of-their pocket to coordinate projects that have improved the environment and enhanced the environmental awareness of the people within this town. I am currently assisting them with two of the seemingly endless number of projects that they have on the go:

1. Grassland Restoration: There is an invasive tree species here called wattle. It was initially introduced here back around the second world war in order to produce tannin and leather. After that industry died, the tree became commercially useless and instead became aggressive and invasive, taking over the grasslands, marshes and forests by pushing out the native species. So their project has been to remove the wattle in a certain area and restore it to the marshy grassland it once was. After removing the wattle trees, they then dig holes and plant plugs of grass. Also, they have a simple system in place to measure the water level. The idea is that the higher the water level is, the better the marsh restoration is going. I went out with them for a day to measure water levels, remove wattle and plant grasses.

The marsh that we are working on restoring.

Their simple method of measuring the water level. They drop the metal piece to the bottom of the tube on a string, bring it up, and then measure the wet length of the string. 

The grass clumps that I planted!

Me with my grasses.

While out for a hike, Vera and  I pulled out some wattle.

2. Litter Study: As I mentioned in my first post, I am also co-ordinating the production of a document that would include basic facts, photos, opinions, suggestions for improving and reducing the amount of litter in a certain part of Kodai. In this area, there are not enough garbage bins, and no garbage collection. Many of the houses are a half an hour walk away from the closest bin, and so their means of dumping their garbage is to throw it either into the nearby stream or forest. Where there are bins, they are overflowing because they are very rarely cleaned out, and the monkeys and dogs scavenge through and take out the garbage, spreading it everywhere. There are also many tourists that frequent the area, and the expression "take only pictures, leave only footprints" doesn't seem to apply to them. They have no qualms about buying bags of chips or cups of coffee and then throwing the wrappers/empty cups into the scenic forest they came to see. You can't really blame them though, as there are no garbage bins for miles away, and even if they put their garbage into the bus, the bus driver will sweep it out and down into the forest. 


So I have been interviewing tourists, shopkeepers, garbage collectors, and residents to get their ideas on improving the garbage situation in their township. Once the document is done, the Vattakanal Trust wants to bring it to a city council meeting. I hope that it will do some good, but right now the whole situation seems somewhat hopeless. 


Wildlife pics:

A little frog that was on the back of the toilet. You find wildlife in the weirdest of places here!

Biff the Gaur that often shows up in George and Vera's backyard. They don't need a lawnmower because he eats the grass in their yard. At one point he came close enough to the window that I could have reached out and touched him. Gaurs are huge, majestic, powerful beasts.