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was planted to ensure continuity. New She fought
areas of the city were assiduously greened against real estate
by administrators, who planted trees, and developers who
residents, who watered and cared for them, wanted to convert
benefiting from the services they provided. a local park that
This practice of greening continued during her children played
the British colonial period of governance, in, taking a case
and later into the 20th century, after Indian all the way up to
independence. Because of the cool climate Honamma Govindayya. Hari- the Supreme Court
of Bangalore – in part due to its location ni Nagendra, CC BY-NC-ND of India. She won
on a plateau, but also because of its lakes and saved a tiny but very important patch of
and trees, created, planted and nurtured green from destruction.
by local residents and rulers over centuries Mass citizen protests in recent years have
– the city became a chosen location for the continued and gained significant victories
British army, and later as a science and for the city’s green cover, including the
industrial hub in south India. reversal of a controversial decision to build
It is no accident that Bangalore, once a steel flyover, which would have destroyed
called India’s lake city and garden city, thousands of trees.
became the country’s IT capital. Today these movements are strongly
Soaring temperatures and rising air supported by social media. In the flyover
pollution case, the twitter tag #steelflyoverbeda
By the late 20th century, this relationship (“beda” meaning “no” in the local language,
had begun to fray. With rapid growth, Kannada) went viral, attracting hundreds of
roads and other built infrastructure gained followers.
importance in the minds of planners. As a Social media has provided an easier way for
consequence, trees were disregarded, and once isolated groups of people to connect and
felled in their thousands for development coordinate, and often to ratchet up public
projects in Bangalore. pressure on nature-blind administrators.
Inevitably, with more private vehicles on Who knows how many would have
the road, and fewer trees, the city became supported Honamma Govindayya if she had
hotter, and the air severely polluted. a Twitter account then?
Citizens soon realised this connection. So Understanding the history of nature
did academics. Our research for instance reveals a very different picture from
demonstrated that trees cool the air by 3 the preconceived idea that, at least in
to 5ºC, and reduce the temperature of the countries like India, where the pressures of
road surface by as much as 23ºC, as well as development and growth are so large, nature
significantly reducing air pollution. and cities cannot coexist.
Social media to the rescue Today, this perspective on the ecological
Yet citizen movements did not fade. In history of Bangalore can help city-dwellers
the early 21st century, the nonagerian worldwide understand why nature in the
Honnamma Govindayya has become an city is not just important for the metropolis’s
epitome of struggles to protect Bangalore’s past, but also essential for its resilient future.
environment. Harini Nagendra, Professor of Sustainability,
Azim Premji University
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #45 | MARCH 2023 19
