Seeding back life into the lifeless is environmentalist Pradip Krishen’s purpose. He is known to have restored natural habitats in unforgiving desserts where even nature has turned its back on itself. He is fortunate in that way. He found the thing that truly meant the world to him, which was to save the world in his own small way. But even a man with good intentions has his limitations.
As a lone crusader, he has used his mind and might to protect the ecology, but he needs campaigners who will restore stressed landscapes with him. In an attempt to reach out, Krishen will present a talk at India Habitat Centre called Rewilding: Strategies for Restoring Large, Stressed Landscapes. This is part of the Architecture and Society Series, wherein burning issues are staged.
In his talk, Krishen will speak about ways of sustainably restoring the natural ecology of a rocky, arid landscape, which is tied intrinsically to the larger issue of environmental responsibility. “It’s about allowing the land to express itself, understanding what processes go on in the soil, looking for indicators that will help to solve some problems, and most of all, getting to know your plants really well because they tell you a great deal about the landscape in all its many facets,” says Krishen.
Over the years, he has fostered a strong relationship with ecology. He doesn’t see himself separate from it, perhaps that’s why, when he sees his surroundings being brutally treated, he feels disappointed. “Take Delhi for instance. I sees the evidence of a city that is plunging headlong towards ecological disaster. It’s not just the poor quality of Delhi’s air, its also aquifers and the pollution of this precious store of water. Just look at Delhi’s avenue trees and parks, or the poor sewerage and the condition of the Yamuna river, there’s no respite from premonitions of a looming disaster,” he says.
He feels furious about lack of mass apathy and government indifference. All around the world, there is a far greater consciousness about mitigating damage done by modern advancement, but India, despite being among the worst planned and managed in the world, according to him, there is little intervention. “The fact that not one political party in India today has a single word to say about the environment is telling of the situation. It simply doesn’t figure in any of their planks or electoral promises. One day after Diwali, we have to recognise that we don’t seem to care even when the quality of the air threatens our health and the lives of our children. We’re in a shocking state of denial,” he says.
Krishen has been a native plant gardener mainly in Rajasthan where he has created and restored natural habitats in desert rock and sand. “In my talk, I will speak about my personal experience of working in Jodhpur using a strategy that is loosely called rewilding which attempts to restore a degraded habitat become as natural as possible,” says Krishen, the author of Trees of Delhi and Jungle Trees of Central India.
Date: November 15
Time: 7 pm
Venue: Habitat World, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road.