Saving the Roadside Trees

Mist laden mornings, with a wispy ethereal drape over every place which otherwise would have looked so common. Stately trees lining black asphalted roads, leading out to a mystical nowhere, on a white canvas that only nature could have painted. That was the Bangalore I grew up in: that was the Bangalore I lived in as a schoolboy.

The mist has lifted for good. The smooth roads have become pockmarked with potholes. The stately trees are maimed or gone. Drab ‘matchboxes’ line roads where pretty gardens stood. It is now looking as if Bangalore has greyed prematurely.

Just like the Sun warmed up the day, lifting the wispy misty veil, telling us it is time up for school, it is looking as if we would miss the bus if we do not get ready in time. We need to learn why we, with a quirky Midas touch, seem to be prematurely aging everything around us: everything that we touch.

Look at the trees, or at least what is remaining of them. They are all in a pretty troubled state. We cut them down saying roads need to be widened. Look at where the traffic piles up and any one can see it is at the junctions. Widening the road by removing the trees would just not help move vehicular traffic any better. Every time a branch of a tree comes down in the rain and lands on some auto or car very wilfully parked underneath, the tree is cut. Quite a severe and ruthless punishment indeed. But if we look at why the branch came down, well, it is illuminating.

Pollution from traffic weakens trees. Normally the sugars which are produced during photosynthesis are converted to higher carbohydrates or structural lignin, elsewhere. The former is not as easy to digest as the sugars, and the lignin exceedingly so. Therefore, there is very little pest and disease organisms could capitalise on. Pollution affects the movement and conversion of sugars to higher carbohydrates. So, the sugars start accumulating in the leaves and shoots. Pests and parasites then begin to colonise and thrive there. The consequence is that the tree begins to suffer and weaken.

In many cases the situation the tree grew in, would have been amidst low one or two storeyed buildings, and the trees grew above that height. With high mulitstoreyed match-boxes which tend to trap winds and deflect them down, the turbulances trees are exposed to are much greater than the turbulance levels they grew to bear. Weakening by the pollutants and the increased force of the winds causes branches to break. Add this to the cutting of the roots and we have all the ingredients for a nasty fall.

So what must we do? Strengthening trees by root applications of fertilizers revives them very effectively. An active, yes, proactive, tree health maintenance effort by competent plant pathologists and pest control experts is a must. Amputation is certainly not the way out. We after all require cures and not a surgery.

Maybe the ethos, sophistication and culture of our rulers is always reflected by the greenery that we sport. The mist might have lifted for good, but laying waste a whole city is certainly no solution!

 

[2 August 2008. Published in the Deccan Chronicle]