A special meeting was held in June to celebrate World Environment Day which falls on the 5th, and we had a special guest for the occasion, Dr. Seema Ghate, a Ph. D in Environmental Botany doing research in plants that minimize indoor pollution. She gave a talk on the various pollutants we have in our environment, whether our home or workplace, and a simple solution is to grow plants to reduce this problem. An age old belief that plants emit carbon dioxide in the night and hence should not be kept inside the house is a myth. She talked at length on plants which are beneficial if we keep them not only in our drawing and bedrooms, but even in our kitchen and toilets. She had brought along a few of these varieties which are beneficial if grown indoors for demonstration. Many of them can also grow very well only in water. She also answered all questions which members had regarding their own plants. She agreed that there is very little guidance available on the quality of soil, frequency of watering, type of manure, etc. She has written a very informative book entitled ‘Greening with Eco-friendly Plants’ which answers many of these questions.
