There are some plants like the snake plant, peepal and Tulshi that release oxygen round the clock. It is no wonder then that the people about to breathe their last are put in front of the Tulshi plant in Nepal. Hindus also plant peepal trees at road junctions. But the snake plant is the most convenient as it is small in size, and content with little water
Climate change has started playing havoc with the whole of the globe. The West is on the receiving end of an astronomical devastation carried out by wild fires. The East, particularly China, has recently issued a drought alert. These disasters occurred in the past too, but they were few and far between. Now these have been striking in quick succession, creating untold sufferings to the people. It has been ascribed to climate change.
What then is climate change? Climate is the combination mainly of precipitation, temperature and wind. Due to climate change, the temperature of the earth has been increasing over the years. The increase in temperature in the north-east of Nepal that is the abode of many glaciers is a subject of concern because the outburst of the glaciers will flood not only the river banks in the mountains but sweep large areas of Madhes as well.
How does it take place then? It is attributed to the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (Co2), methane, nitrous oxide, ozone and water vapour. But the major actor is carbon dioxide. It allows the sun rays to enter the earth but prevents the heat so produced to escape to the atmosphere, ultimately warming the earth.
At one time, in the Ice Age, it was very essential when the world was freezing cold. The volcanoes that erupted at regular periods emitted carbon dioxide, which warmed the earth, making it fit for human habitation. But the same carbon dioxide after the Industrial Revolution, beginning in the year 1850, increased so heavily that it has led to the present distressing state of affairs.
Carbon dioxide is now 412 parts per million in the atmosphere when it was a mere 285around the year 1850.Spanish scientist Joseph Fourier had predicted global warming in the year 1824 when we in Nepal were busy constructing the Dharahara. His wise words fell on deaf ears with the globe facing dire consequences as a result today.
We take oxygen while breathing in and release carbon dioxide while breathing out. The plants during their photosynthesis do exactly the opposite. They take carbon dioxide and release oxygen. In other times, they emulate us. But there are some plants like the snake plant (Dracena trifasciata), peepal (Ficus Religiosia) and Tulshi (Ocimum tenuifloram) that release oxygen round the clock. It is no wonder then that the people about to breathe their last are put in front of the Tulshi plant in Nepal. Hindus also plant peepal trees at road junctions, considering it as the incarnation of Lord Bishnu. They get it married with the banyan tree, placing them over a raised platform commonly known as Chautaro, which also serves as a resting place for people. Especially in the hilly terrain, it acts as a saviour by producing profuse amounts of oxygen for people walking up and down the mountain.
But the peepal tree grows to such a large size that it is difficult to put it inside an enclosure. Its grassy counterpart, the Tulshi, dies every year and it has to be replanted by performing a ritual known as 'hom' by putting on a white strip of cloth, dhoti, in the presence of a priest, which is also quite demanding. But the snake plant is a very easy customer. It is small in size, is content with little water, barely dies like the other plants and performs fairly despite change in temperature. It has been declared as an air purifier even by NASA.
A conventional size snake plant can absorb an average of 2.8 ppm of carbon dioxide, according to a study made in Thailand by Pajari Thnogsanit. Ninety-one of these plants have been stacked in a 5-meter-tall, 13 square cubic metre farming plastic - covered bamboo tower in the precinct of Kantipur International Engineering College affiliated to Purbanchal University, now offering bachelor-level courses in Architecture and Civil Engineering by the columnist with the support of the faculties and students.
Some 20,000 data taken every 10 seconds showed that it absorbed 28 ppm of carbon dioxide per second per cubic metre, making it 883 tons in a year. Taking only half of it, this tower could absorb the carbon dioxide emission of 21 families, taking global per capita emission as 4.5 tons and the family size as 4.5.
Given the global population of 8 billion, the construction of 80 million of such plants will answer the present problem. But for this, the snake plants will have to be grown adequately in a nursery, which is very easy indeed. Just chop it and plant with its top up, and it grows. It begins sprouting in a month. In Nepal, it grows profusely as wild plants.
The construction of the snake plant bamboo tower is not high. One tower costs less than Rs 100,000, which comes to lower than Rs 5,000 for a family. One may ask about the rational for the construction of the tower as the plants have been doing their job already in the place of their location. The answer is that the tower raises the efficiency by maintaining the temperature between 35 and 25 degrees centigrade and controlling the wind speed. A semi-automatic device has been installed which changes the size of the hole at the tower top for temperature and air control.
There was a time when climate change was said to be orchestrated and imaginative. Even former US President Donald Trump believed so. But now, it has been acknowledged as a world problem. Consequently, US President Joe Biden has signed a $740 billion bill to invest in climate change mitigation. It has generated a wave of enthusiasm among the climate change preventing technology promoters around the globe. It is hoped that the commitment made in the last COP 26 Summit in Glasgow will be met with such inspiring initiatives and low-cost innovative technologies.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 23, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.