And now, time to green up Mumbai

When you step out of the Malad train station, the last thing you expect to see in the dusty heat is an explosion of greenery atop adjacent stores. The roof, bedecked with fruit-laden pots, herbs and flowering shrubs is welcome. And as you get closer, you notice the tiny sparks of colour flitting from plant to plant. This butterfly garden is Sprouts Environment Trust’s latest initiative, a part of their attempt to bring the best of nature into the city-dwellers’ backyards this Earth Day observed on the tenth of October every year.

The “perfect ten” day was marked by events throughout the city that attempted to clean up and rejuvenate Mumbai. Anand Pendharkar, the environmental activist who founded the trust, is optimistic about the potential of roof gardens. The roof garden he has established on top of the Sprouts Earth Shop is divided into three parts —composting bins, growing leafy vegetables, and fruits, herbs and plants that attract colourful guests.

Sprouts Environment Trust aims to generate ‘Public Ownership of the Environment and its Resources’ among members of the society. They aim to bring about environmental equitability (social,
political, resource and educational equality) through awareness, research, capacity-building, development, adaptation and dissemination of relevant material, participatory media and creating a sustainable and replicable model in areas with resource limitations.

“We have been working on the issue of urban restoration by adopting small spaces that would be good for diversity,” says Pendharkar. He points out that global warming has made food production everyone’s problem. “We want to tell   Mumbaikars that they can grow their own vegetables, and reduce carbon emissions by composting garbage in their balconies and terraces, like we have done.”

Pendharkar offers visitors saplings from the roof garden that they can take home. Adrienne Thadani, co-owner of Fresh ‘n’ Local, a group thatteaches kitchen gardening,  works with Pendharkar, teaching people the basics of growing plants and vegetables in the city. Her next workshop will be held on Tuesday. This interactive workshop will focus on what soil and pots to use, which plants and vegetables will grow best in the coming months and different watering techniques.

Sprouts collected bio-degradable garbage from street vendors, composted it and created the food garden. “A regular household generates about 30 truckloads of garbage a year. Even if we compost half of that, we help the environment by preventing garbage from going into landfills, which occupy
cultivable land. This will help reduce carbon and methane emissions released when garbage is burnt, and control disease,” says Pendharkar.

To know more, and to participate, email sproutsonline@gmail.com, or log on to www.sproutsenvttrust.org. To participate in Adrienne’s workshop, call Bombay HUB on 3222 0475.