India is one of the countries worst affected by climate change, dealing with rising temperatures and air pollution. In its sprawling urban centers, gardening enthusiasts are turning their rooftop terraces into miniature farms, making cities more sustainable.
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00:00India is among the countries most affected by rapid industrialization and climate change.
00:07It struggles with air pollution, rising temperatures and topsoil erosion.
00:11Social inequalities are driving people out of rural areas and into sprawling urban centers,
00:17adding pressure on India's major cities, with some of the worst air quality levels in the world.
00:22It's an environment ripe for new solutions.
00:25Sustainability expert Kunal Jagdalay sees urban gardening as an ideal way to decarbonize households.
00:32It's an additional layer on your roof where it acts as insulation to the heat that is being transferred inside the house.
00:40So it reduces, as I said, 5 to 7 degrees Celsius, it will reduce heat that is coming inside the house.
00:49And apparently if heat is coming less, you will need lesser AC.
00:54Based in Delhi, the world's second largest city, Mayang Sharma has turned his green thumb into a thriving business.
01:03He started his journey over a decade ago to cope with the death of his father, also a gardener.
01:08Now he has found success online, captivating over 300,000 followers on Instagram.
01:14He uses social media platforms to promote sustainability,
01:17educating fears on how to transform their rooftops into mini gardens.
01:21Imagine a deli where an aircraft lands or a drone flies by and there's no terrace which is not green, right?
01:29Which is not having fruit plants, vegetable plants.
01:33That would be beautiful, right? And that's the idea behind all of this.
01:37But gardening isn't just about living sustainably. As Mayang Sharma's story shows, it can also be a tool for healing.
01:44The founder of a business called The Greenish Affair, Aditi Katar, shares how greenery helped her deal with mental health struggles and hopes to inspire others to do the same.
01:53People actually started getting plants home because they come with the least responsibility as compared to pets and kids.
02:00So I started my journey like that only because I used to find my happiness here, I used to share it with the people.
02:05And I wanted people to know that how plants can actually help you overcome your stress or anxiety or in my case it was postpartum depression.
02:15Terrace by terrace, roof by roof, these people are working to make urban Indian households more sustainable, inspiring others to add a touch of green to concrete spaces, improving their cities and their mental well-being.
02:28Joseph Oh and Miriam Brunner for Taiwan Plus.
02:31The Blueish SPEAKER
02:32Foundation
02:33Another ASAP
02:44V conventy
02:55Outside
02:58Dr.