Conservation is a click away

The theme of World Environment Day (June 5) this year is ‘Connect to Nature’. The whole idea is to leave your comfortable couch, quit staring into your phone or laptop, step outdoors and experience nature the way it should be done. As good as it sounds, we know that giving up on your phone is too much to ask for many. Although, there are many ways you can keep yourself connected to nature, even through technology. A variety of apps and websites are at our disposal to help us know more about our environment and even help conserve it!

Varun Hemachandran, who started a tree mapping initiative in Chennai post the Vardah cyclone says the app — Talking Earth, which is now active in four cities has close to 100 volunteers. “The app helps citizens check the status of trees in their locality and take up issues with the civic bodies regarding falling of trees. The data available on the app also helps environmental activists as proof in court cases.”

Talking Earth, which also tracks and provides information about the aged or weak trees helps civic bodies identify them and replace them with other trees.

Ulhas Anand, founder of Eco Edu, an environmental organisation has been propagating the use of technology to bring people closer to their surroundings. “It’s not all that bad when you see a kid glued to his phone,” he begins. “There are many apps and e-books available which provide information as well as entertaining content on nature. The eBird app is a central repository of birds. For example, If you were to visit Puducherry for the weekend, you can look up what birds are found there and when and where to spot them. There are a plethora of such apps, right from identifying trees, to frogs and insects, and even for stargazing,” he says.

Apart from this Ulhas suggests people to join the many groups dedicated to nature lovers on Facebook and WhatsApp. “These apps are so user friendly. For example, the app called Envis FRLHT helps you identify the names of trees even if you know only the vernacular names of them.”

Arun Krishnamurthy, founder of Environmental Foundation of India (EFI) says that sensitisation and public awareness almost entirely depends on social media these days. “The EFI Volunteers app, helps the members of my initiative keep track of the progress of various projects and also stay informed of the projects coming up,” he says.

Let’s celebrate this Environment Day by using our mobile for nature, for a change.