By Valsala Menon
Mother Earth is constantly striving to cope up with the cruel onslaught of ruthless felling down of trees inflicted on her, and clearing large forestlands for industrial and urbanization purposes. These contribute in negative ways to the environment, as we all are well aware. This annihilation of Indias lush forest land brings in its wake a host of issues like contamination of air, land and water, pollution, population bursts, and lots more besides, and we end up creating permanent damage to our planet. The shocking result as we all know is global warming and climate change. In such a dire situation, what can help extend the life of the planet?
The damage done to earth is reparable and our denuded forest cover can be brought back but only if we act Now! – says Shubhendu Sharma. He is the founder Director of a Bangalore based firm, rightly named Afforestt. They are committed to reviving forests; We work towards creating maintenance free, self sustainable greenery that will bring back our rich biodiversity - explains Shubhendu Sharma.
Afforestt has created 17 such forests in 5 cities spanning the country. Along with four other friends, Shubhendu started living his ideology of creating more forests. Apart from that, they have made this endeavor their livelihood as well. Over the last four years, this unique team of environmental engineers has been helping both individuals and corporates all over India and abroad to create forests in the open spaces they own.
The team at Afforestt believes that the earth has not been irrevocably damaged and that the innumerable forests that have been ruthlessly destroyed over the years can still be reclaimed. We do this by creating them. We are at a stage in our planet wherein we cannot afford to just talk about saving Earth, but to actually save it.
This firm is an end to end service provider for creating natural, wild, and maintenance free native forests. A highly qualified and self motivated team of professionals ranging from environmental engineers, biodiversity experts, and architects work passionately on and off site to provide the best solutions at the lowest possible costs.
Shubhendu Sharma is the brain behind Afforestt. He was working with Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd when he happened to attend a talk show by Akira Miyawaki. That changed his life. He started taking an active interest in flora and as a first step, started planting local species around his own home. He even commenced to closely monitor the growth of forests. In just 18 months, he had made up his mind to devote his life to afforestation.
In just four years, and on 4000 sq. ft. of land, he has created a small yet dense forest of 1200 trees that are taller than his home. Whats more, it is entirely maintenance free and self sustaining. Interestingly enough, wild birds and small animals, hitherto never seen before, have made it their home.
It was in January of 2011 that Shubhendu Sharma joined hands with other likeminded youth and set up Afforestt. Now, together, they have created 17 forests for individuals and corporates.
How long would it be before more of us woke up to reality and joined hands with Shubhendu Sharma?
A writer by profession, a journalist by intuition and an author by passion. Has worked with several start-ups and acclaimed magazines and dailies and has explored several beats of writing. Formerly Associate editor, Ability Foundation, Adyar, and also Associate editor, Eves Times, a citizen centric magazine. Regular contributor to the Chicken Soup series, with work published in many. Currently penning down her first novel, she is always game for challenges in the literary space. Drop a mail : valsala.menon7@gmail.com