GUEST COLUMN
VP Dimri
Global warming can’t be denied now. The rise of temperature is seen during the last 50 years after the industrial revolution of 1970 world wide. As a result, variations in different parameters like rainfall, glacier melting, sea level changes, air quality index, etc are visible. There are many reasons for what is known as positive forcing, such as an increase in CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gases. The source of CO2 emission is fuel oil, coal etc. The reduction of CO2 emissions is the best way to reduce global warming. Attempts are being made to inject CO2 into the ground or unused borewells. The approach has also been attempted to enhance oil recovery if we inject CO2 into borewells. The use of renewable energy, such as solar and wind, is currently the best option. Geothermal and hydropower do emit CO2, but less as compared to fuels such as oil and coal. Deforestation is also considered one of the main reasons for global warming. In India, the Chipko Andolan started in Uttarakhand in the seventies which alerted the world against deforestation. However, unfortunately the cutting of trees continues. If we take the example of India, about 25 per cent of our land used to be within a forest area. But today’s situation is different. The forests used to be considered homes for animals. The growth of urbanisation has led to a decrease in the forest areas of many cities. Construction of buildings, road widening etc, need space, and the victims are the flora. Almost all cities and towns in India are expanding at a cost for equally needed development. There is awareness of growing more plants, but deforestation and plantations are not proportional.
Recently, we saw a great move while watching the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 wherein a scheme has been proposed to estimate the number of trees to be planted. This initiative is by the IPL for environmental protection. The number of dot balls will estimate the number of trees to be planted. 500 trees will be planted for each dot ball. There are ten teams in IPL 2025 meaning that 74 matches will be played among these teams. We will not go into the details to know how many dot balls each team has scored so far and how many are expected by the end of IPL 2025. But it may be interesting to know who is the main contributor of the dot balls. There are three main components in cricket: bowling, fielding and batting having different roles to win the match. The fielding and bowling are one side and batting is another side. The responsibility of the batsman is to make runs for the team whereas the bowler and fielders do not want to allow to make runs so as to prevent him from playing as the batsman. However, the bowlers not only bowl but also bat when their team is supposed to score as many runs. So, it looks that a bowler is likely to score dot balls while bowling as well as opposing dot balls while batting in the same match. Whereas fielders are the main source to increase dot balls as they will not allow the batsman to make a single or double by stopping the ball from moving closer to the boundary. There is no control of fielders when the ball is hit for a six. The above analysis shows that fielders’ contributions are more to increase the number of dot balls. We are happy to see that all 11 players in each team are fielders during the match.
Let us quickly see how many trees may be planted with some assumptions. Let us see each match produces say approximately 50 -100 dot balls in 40 overs. So, for 74 matches the number of dot balls may be 3,700-7,400 earned from IPL 2025. Sometimes scheduled matches are cancelled due to rain which may be one or two during the session. If each dot ball gives 500 trees, the number of trees would be 18,50,000 – 37,00,000. What an achievement it would be to facilitate plantation of 25,000 to 50,000 trees per day in 74 days from March 22 till June 3. Let us congratulate IPL and their sponsor TATA for this unique idea to protect our polluted environment. It is another debate which trees are best for environmental protection, to ascertain which botanists and environmentalists can guide us on which trees are known for being more efficient natural air purifiers.
(A Padma Shri recipient, the author is an eminent scientist who has worked in various institutions. Views expressed are personal)
