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Tuesday, 15 June 2010

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You owe me some trees Mr/Ms Politician

It’s more than two months since we got a new Parliament. Some were elected, some re-elected, some thrown out, some dubbed ‘also-ran’ and some lost deposits. Almost everyone who got elected spent bucks. Big bucks. Some of course spent mega bucks and some campaigns, in contrast, were batta-sized, or of ‘buddy’ dimension, shall we say?

All of them, except one or two, polluted the electorate, sorry district, vandalized walls, broke our ear drums, made it impossible for us to enjoy our surroundings and didn’t even let us have some peace in our own houses, barging in with campaign-kaarayas and tossing leaflets into the garden without saying ‘excuse me’.

I wrote in March this year, quoting the then Environment and Natural Resources Minister, Patali Champika Ranawaka, that 300 big trees (which would have taken decades to grow from sapling to green giant) need to be cut to make the amount of paper needed for the poster campaign of any big-spending candidate. Considering the fact that trees don’t grow at the speed at which politicians’ wealth and girth expand, the restorative ratio, conservatively estimated, would be to plant 300 trees for every tree that had to be cut down to feed the poster-hunger of Mr./Ms. Politician.

That’s 90,000 trees. I add to this a further 180,000 (the extra 90,000 is a conservative assessment of ‘inflation’ given the propensity to destroy even as tragedy after tragedy is precipitated by destructive human activity) as ‘advance’ for the next election campaign (few politicians choose the option not to re-contest). So, by 2017, these politicians have to plant 270,000 just to compensate society in general and generations yet unborn for their callousness, greed, arrogance and downright irresponsibility.

Politicians remember elections and electors only after Parliament is dissolved or when the relevant terms comes to an end. Remembering is our business, I suppose. So let us remember and let us remind; maybe that’s what responsible citizenship means.

I calculated. I took the number of days until the next election (beginning from April 8 and assuming that this Parliament will also sit its full term through. I divided the tree-dues by the number and came up with 123. That’s the number of trees that each politician (winners and losers all) have to plant EVERYDAY until the next election.

I am going to forgive them for not planting a single tree all this time. Oh, I know, politicians are busy, developing the country, keeping the masses happy, ensuring food security, resettling IDPs, vilifying Sri Lanka abroad, facilitating foreign intervention, fighting each other, robbing the people left, right and centre and enjoying the good stuff, whatever ‘good’ means to them. Still, this is a non-negotiable as far as I am concerned.

I will not vote for any politician who has not done his/her 270,000 trees. President Mahinda Rajapaksa can set the tone here. He is the self-proclaimed custodian of all creatures, all plant species, heritage, customs etc.

He must find a way to make sure that 123 trees get planted everyday somewhere in this country. It would be a wonderful example for his party members to follow and something that the Opposition would have to do as well just to keep abreast.

If all Members of Parliament did this, we would be 60.75 million trees richer come April 2017. Add the President’s 270,000 and the number will reach 60.92 million. Throw in those who lost and it will more than double this amount.

Add the Provincial Council Elections and the Local Government Elections and we would have a Green Sri Lanka. Well, not really, because what is grown will also be cut, but I think the act of planting (and especially when you plant as many as 123, even if it is just a matter of tossing a seed into a hole or pressing a sapling into a pot) has a way of making it tough on heart to cut a tree or watch one being cut.

My guess is that if all politicians (well, let’s be realistic and say 10 of them) do this, I really wouldn’t care about who gets elected. Anyone who can see value in a tree, will see the worth of conservation and will be persuaded to lead a less destructive life.

Such an individual will recognize that human beings need one another and more than this, are nothing if not for the presence of their fellow creatures, plant-life included.

Years ago, President Ranasinghe Premadasa got very serious about tree-planting. Take the Galgamuwa-Thambuttegama Road. Or the road to Aukana. Tree-lined. A green tunnel. It’s a joy to travel on those roads. This is a country where you throw a stick into the garden and it takes root. This is true. It is so easy. The President, in his Mahinda Chinthana policy document spoke of agriculture, api wawamu rata nagamu (let us grow, let us build our nation). It is not about vegetables, fruits, rice and other grains, pulses, roots etc. It is about forest cover. Mangroves. Rain forests. And trees. Trees. Trees. Any. Wherever. Everywhere in fact.

There are millions of trees awaiting planting. They are waiting for you Mr./Ms. Politician. You don’t have to wait for His Excellency to give the Green Light.

The Green Light was given by Arahat Mahinda two millennia ago. Not that our ancestors needed such a go-sign of course. Make a song and dance if you like, I don’t mind. But remember this, on the second Monday of every month, I will come into your lives like a debt-collector and tell you, ‘You owe me such and such an amount of trees, Sir/Madam’.

I am being nice. Just don’t make me angry. You won’t like me when I am angry, Mr./Ms. Politician. Well, actually, I am just flinching lines from the Incredible Hulk. It is no joke, though. I am waiting. Let the blameless begin. How about you Mr. Moragoda and Mr. Champika Ranawaka?

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