The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.

– Chinese Proverb

By Bhavani Prakash

What is this life if full of care, we have no time to plant a single tree?

And what better way to express our gratitude to Mother Nature, compensate for our heavy footprint, and restore the land for generations to come, than to plant a tree? He who plants a tree, as Lucy Larcom the 19th century poet said, plants hope. He plants a joy, he plants peace, he plants youth, and he plants love.

Today, 5th June 2012 is World Environment Day and we take this opportunity to pledge our support to Project Green Hands, an inspiring grassroots initiative of the not-for-profit organisation, Isha Foundation. Its ambitious mission is to restore the green cover in Tamil Nadu, India to 33% by planting 114 million trees.

The programme was lauched in 2004 on World Environment Day, and has enabled the planting till date of more than 14 million saplings in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, with the help of more than 1.5 million volunteers.

In 2010, Project Green Hands (PGH) won a national award in India, the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar award in recognition of its efforts to create environmental awareness and reverse ecological degradation. PGH also has a Guinness World Record of planting most number of saplings in three days: 8,52,587.

Listen to Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, Founder of Isha Foundation, share his thoughts about Project Green Hands and the urgent need to reforest the earth.

Video link here

A single sapling costs only Indian Rupees 50 (less than 1 USD and just over 1 Singapore dollar). Every little counts by way of your contribution. 

By donating just Indian Rupees 50 per sapling through giveisha.org/pgh Project Green Hands (PGH) will plant trees on your behalf in Tamil Nadu, India.  The saplings will be provided to farmers for planting in their farmlands. PGH tracks the exact location of their trees and the details of the farmer who will plant and take care of it.

Project Green Hands hopes to plant 300,000 trees for World Environment Day 2012. The World Environment Day campaign will run for June and part of July 2012. PGH continues beyond that period to achieve its larger objective of planting 6 million saplings in 2012.

Your help to spread the word, and contribution, however small, really matters in achieving these goals to reforest Tamil Nadu. 

FAQs (as provided by Project Green Hands of Isha Foundation)

1. What is Give Isha?

GIVE ISHA is an online fundraising portal through which people can support for Isha Foundation’s social initiatives in Education – Isha Vidya, Health – Action for Rural Rejuvenation and Environment – Project GreenHands.

The featured project currently on Give Isha is:

World Environment Day campaign – Project GreenHands

2. Who plants the trees and where are they planted?

PGH is providing trees to farmers for planting in their farmlands. PGH has been working with farmers in Pudukottai, Erode, Tirunelveli districts of Tamil Nadu.

3. How can trees be tracked?

While taking saplings from PGH, the farmer has to register his name, contact details and location. This is stored in the PGH database. After the plantation is done, a survey will be carried out by PGH to confirm whether the saplings have been planted. So when an individual donates for a tree, he will be assigned a tree from the PGH database.

4. Will we get anything if we donate?

Once you make a donation, you will get an email with tree certificate indicating the total number of trees planted by you.

5. How can we donate?

You can donate online: log on to giveisha.org/pgh and offline: or send an Indian Rupee DD/ Cheque drawn in the favour of “ Isha Outreach” to Project GreenHands ,  Isha Yoga Center,  Velliangiri Foothills,  Semmedu post,  Coimbatore – 641114.

6. How much is the minimum donation?

One Sapling: Indian Rupees 50/- (about 1 Dollar)

 7. After I donate, what is the next step? How do I know what is happening and when the sapling planted?

Once you make a donation, you will get an email with tree certificate indicating the total number of trees planted by you. A tree tracking code will be specified on the certificate. Using this code you can track your tree starting Jan 1st 2013, on projectgreenhands.org/track

8. Why this time gap – why can’t I track the tree immediately?

The planting season begins in the month of September and trees can be planted till December. After the plantation is done, a survey will be carried out by PGH to confirm where the saplings have been planted. After which each donor will be assigned a tree from PGH’s database.

9. If I donate at separate occasions, will I get different certificates? Can I have it in the name of someone other than me?

Yes, you will get a different tree certificate each time you make a donation. If you want the certificate in someone else’s name, please fill in their particulars in the Donor details.

10. Are there any centers/stalls where something is set up for this campaign? If so, where?

No, the donation can be done only Online or a DD/ Cheque needs to be sent to PGH directly.

11. As someone who has donated and is interested in this campaign, how can I help? What can I do?

1. Many people may get inspired just by seeing your enthusiasm for the project. Spreading the word is the most important help you can do to us. You can take the message to all your friends and relatives by send them emails and videos, sharing on facebook, twitter and other social media.
2. Create your own campaign page on the Give Isha site and get all your colleagues and friends to join you.
3. You could also like the PGH Facebook page

About the Writer:

Bhavani Prakash is the Founder of Eco WALK the Talk .com.  She is a sustainability speaker, trainer and writer can be contacted at bhavani[at]ecowalkthetalk.com. Follow Eco WALK the Talk on Facebook, Twitter, Linked IN and YouTube

Share/Save

The UN has declared 2012 as The International Year of Co-operatives. A co-operative is a farm, business, or other organization that is owned and run jointly by its members, who share the profits or benefits. [Wikipedia].

According to the media release of International Co-operative Alliance: “ The International Year of Co-operatives, or IYC, celebrates a different way of doing business, one focused on human need not human greed, where the members (who own and govern the business) collectively enjoy the benefits instead of all profits going just to shareholders. 

The objective behind this year’s focus on co-operatives is to increase public awareness about them and to encourage governments to set up policies, laws and regulations to promote their development and growth. Co-operatives play a significant role in the achievement of Millenium Development Goals.  Here’s the official video: Video link here The 2012.coop website has been created by the ICA especially for the International Year and aims to be a hub for all IYC activity that is going on globally throughout 2012. You can follow The International Year of Cooperatives on Twitter and Facebook 

International Cooperative Alliance is an independent, non-governmental association which unites, represents and serves co-operatives worldwide. Founded in 1895, ICA has 265 member organisations from 96 countries active in all sectors of the economy. Together these co-operatives represent nearly one billion individuals worldwide.

Courtesy: International Co-operative Alliance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to ICA statistics, co-operatives provide over 100 million jobs around the world, 20% more than multinational enterprises, according to ICA statistics. The following is further data from ICA: 

Large segments of the population are members of co-operatives

• In Asia 45.3 million people are members of a credit union. (Source: Association of Asian Confederation of Credit Unions, Annual Report 2007/2008)
• In Indonesia, 27.5% families representing approximately 80 million individuals are members of co-operatives. (Source: Ministry of Co-operative & SMEs, Indonesia,2004)
• In Japan, 1 out of every 3 families is a member of a co-operatives.
• in Kenya 1 in 5 is a member of a co-operative or 5.9 million and and 20 million Kenyans directly or indirectly derive their livelihood from the Co-operative Movement.
• In India, over 239 million people are members of a co-operative.
• In Malaysia, 6.78 million people or 27% of the total population are members of co-operatives.(Source: Ministry of Entrepreneur and Co-operative Development, Department of Co-operative Development, Malaysia, Statistics 31 December 2009)
• In New Zealand, 40% of the adult population are members of co-operatives and mutuals. (Source: New Zealand Co-operative Association, 2007)
• In Singapore, 50% of the population (1.6 million people) are members of a co-operative.

Co-operatives are significant economic actors in national economies

• In Japan, the agricultural co-operatives report outputs of USD 90 billion with 91% of all Japanese farmers in membership. In 2007 consumer co-operatives reported a total turnover of USD 34.048 billion with 5.9% of the food market share. (Source: Co-op 2007 Facts & Figures, Japanese Consumers’ Co-operative Union)
• In Kenya, co-operatives are responsible for 45% of the GDP and 31% of national savings and deposits. They have 70% of the coffee market, 76% dairy, 90% pyrethrum, and 95% of cotton.
• In Korea, agricultural co-operatives have a membership of over 2 million farmers (90% of all farmers), and an output of USD 11 billion. The Korean fishery co-operatives also report a market share of 71%.
• In Kuwait, the Kuwaiti Union of Consumer Co-operative Societies whose members are 6.5% of the Kuwaiti population handled nearly 70% of the national retail trade in 2007.
• In Mauritius, in the agricultural sector, co-operators play an important role in the production of sugar, vegetable, fruit and flower, milk, meat and fish. Nearly 50% of sugar-cane planters are grouped in co-operatives and the share of co-operatives in the National Sugar Production is 10%. Co-operative Societies also account for more than 60% of national production in the food crop sector – 755 of onion consumption, 40% of potatoes and about 70% of fresh green vegetables are produced by co-operatives. In addition, the Co-operative bus sector represents some 30% of the national bus transport. (Source: Ministry of Industry, Small & Medium Enterprises, Commerce & Cooperatives )
• In New Zealand, 22% of the gross domestic product (GDP) is generated by co-operative enterprise. Co-operatives are responsible for 95% of the dairy market and 95% of the export dairy market. They hold 70% of the meat market, 50% of the farm supply market, 70% of the fertiliser market, 75% of the wholesale pharmaceuticals, and 62% of the grocery market. (Source: New Zealand Co-operative Association, 2007)
• In Singapore, consumer co-operatives hold 55% of the market in supermarket purchases. NTUC Fairprice was the 2nd largest retailler in Singapore with a S$1.65 billion in turnover. (Source: AsiaOneBusiness: Dairy Farm is top retailer in S’pore, 20 August 2009)
• In Vietnam, co-operatives contribute 8.6% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The information provided above has been extracted from the ICA website.

Share/Save

Wanda Embar (WE)  is the Founder of Veganpeace, a website dedicated to “inspire people to strive towards a more peaceful world where animal and human rights are respected and honored.” 

Embar, who was born in Leiden, the Netherlands studied mathematics at the University of Leiden and later at the University of Toulouse, France. She then relocated to Wisconsin, U.S.A., where she currently resides. Embar became vegetarian around 1985, by following her older sister’s example. After reading about the suffering dairy cows go through, she turned vegan in 1990. It was then she saw how connected the meat and dairy industry are. 

Livestock is now estimated to cause around 51% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and has huge environmental impact. In this interview, Embar highlights the philosophy behind veganism and some of the key behavioural issues related to it. 

EWTT: When did you become sensitive to animal suffering?

Wanda Embar:

Embar: I grew up eating meat. I was surrounded by cats and other little creatures and loved animals, but I’d never made the connection. Meat was just a normal part of the meal on our dinner table. When I was about 15 years old, my older sister had become vegetarian after a teacher had talked to her class about animal suffering. As a younger sister I just followed her lead. After that I looked up books about vegetarianism in the library and started to read about the issues. I was shocked when I found out how animals are raised and killed for our meals. I was also completely convinced that other people would immediately become vegetarian if they found out what I had just read. My parents were the first people I shared my new found knowledge with. It was a very rude awakening for me when they didn’t react the way I expected them too. I was hurt, upset, but as a teenager, I was especially angry. After that I started to talk to basically anyone who wanted to listen to me about vegetarianism, mostly to my friends at school.

Asian Asparagus Wraps-(c) Vegan Peace

EWTT: Was your decision to turn vegan because of a love for all animals or the belief that animals have a right to a good life?

Embar: I would say both. I definitely have a love for animals, which I’m sure has influenced the decisions I’ve made in life. I was also born with a very strong belief in justice. That’s why I can’t help but care about so many different issues in this world.

EWTT: Was your shift to a vegan diet a gradual process or more like an overnight decision?

Embar: I turned vegan the day I read a paragraph about dairy cows in a Dutch book about vegetarianism. (I’d been vegetarian for about 5 years.) The book talked about how calves are removed from their mothers, very soon after birth. It also mentioned how dairy cows are slaughtered at about the age of 3 to 4 years, whereas they can live to be 25 years old. That’s when I realized that the dairy industry was just as cruel as the meat industry. I was still living at home and remember opening my bedroom door, calling my mother (who was about to buy groceries) and saying that I didn’t want to drink milk anymore. That’s the day I became vegan. It was on February 27th 1990.

EWTT: How did your family react?

Friendly Sheperd's Pie-(c)Vegan Peace

Embar: My mother was a bit worried. I hardly knew anything about veganism yet and didn’t even know whether there were any other vegans in Holland. So it was all still new for us. But my family supported me, mostly because they knew that there was absolutely no way they could possibly change my mind.

EWTT: How about your children?

Vegan Cupcakes-(c)Vegan Peace.

Embar: Since my husband and I, are both vegan, we are raising our two children (aged 10 and 12) as vegan. I believe that a vegan diet is healthier, so it’s a natural choice to raise our children that way. And of course it also makes a lot of sense to raise children with compassion. It’s very easy and gentle to explain to them that a tomato grows on a plant, but I can’t imagine how I would explain to them about  how a piece of meat reaches the dinner table. Children are born with a natural love for animals and it’s beautiful to be able to nurture that.

EWTT: What is the hardest thing about becoming a vegan?

Embar: If I have to answer this question for me personally, then the answer is “nothing”. I’ve never had any trouble becoming vegan and never missed anything. I’ve been a vegan for 21 years now and there hasn’t been a single day where I “missed” something or had a craving for a non-vegan food. I know that’s not the same for other people though. Many vegans (including my husband) are really helped by having other vegans around them for support. I also know that many vegans (especially here in America) really have a hard time giving up cheese. Cheese seems to be more difficult to give up than meat.

                                                                                                                             

EWTT: You believe that going completely vegan instead of cutting down on meat or dairy consumption is the ideal situation. But for most people, isn’t meat reduction a more achievable goal?

Embar: That is a very good question. You correctly assumed that I consider being totally vegan the ideal situation and I would like to elaborate on the reasons why a bit. Firstly – and what brought me personally to ‘veganism‘ - I don’t believe that animals exist on this Earth simply to serve us humans. Unless it’s necessary for our own survival, I don’t see any valid reason to exploit and abuse our fellow sentient beings.

Secondly the vegan lifestyle can be the solution to some other major problems we are dealing with. It’s important for us to realize that ‘veganism’ doesn’t just benefit the lives of the non-human inhabitants of this Earth but us too. Here is why:

We are growing gigantic amounts of grains to be fed to farmed animals, while people in this world are dying from hunger. It takes up to 16 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of meat. That’s a very inefficient way of producing food, which we can’t afford in this overpopulated world.

To make room to grow these huge amounts of grains, we also destroy the beautiful nature on this Earth. We are destroying millions of acres of rain-forests so we can grow crops to feed to factory-farmed animals.

And if that weren’t bad enough, meat consumption has also been linked to major health problems like heart disease, obesity and cancer.

So yes, veganism is the ideal situation for this planet and all the creatures who inhabit it.

                                    

EWTT: Our society is largely non-vegan and most meat is factory-farmed.  How to you stay positive that the transition will come about?

Embar: It is not easy, but I deal with it by trying to understand how humans behave and why they behave that way. We are all born in this very complex world, with already existing norms and values. It is very normal to just want to blend in with our current society and to accept their way of life. That’s the easy way to live and it’s understandable that most people choose to go that direction.

Branding Animals.Courtesy:The Animals Voice

It’s comforting for me to know, that the majority of people seem to have a natural love for the animals that they encounter in life (like pets or zoo animals). It’s also comforting to know that most people would be absolutely disgusted if they were face to face with what goes on in a factory farm. This is both comforting and frustrating, because people seem to have a natural reaction to want to close their eyes and ignore whatever makes them feel uncomfortable, which is made very easy for them since most animal cruelty happens completely out of sight. What also helps me to deal with people, is being very aware of my own imperfections and my own tendencies to want to ignore suffering. When money is tight, I’ll also buy clothing in a regular store, regardless of everything I know about sweatshops.

And what helps me maybe most is the way I became vegan. As I’d mentioned, I became vegan after reading just one simple paragraph about the dairy industry in a Dutch book about vegetarianism. This book was a newer and changed edition of the same book I had read a few years earlier.

After I’d become vegan, out of curiosity, I went to the library and looked at the older edition. I was absolutely shocked and amazed when I found that same paragraph about the dairy industry in this older version. This meant that I’d already read it a few years back, without it having any effect on me at all. This really helped me to understand other people and to know that they not only need the right information, but they also have to be at the right time in their lives to want to change.This all helps me to understand and stay patient, which doesn’t mean that I don’t have moments of frustration.

EWTT: How do you think a transition to a less meat oriented society can come about?

Embar: Every person is different and has their own comfort levels, that’s why I don’t suggest any single way in doing this. Some people might have no problem switching to a vegan diet overnight, while other people are more comfortable incorporating a vegan meal once a week. There is no right or wrong, it all helps. Caring is what matters most.However I encourage people to try eating more plant-based foods. An important reason people might want to try transitioning towards a vegan diet is the message it gives to society. Money is a major tool people have to voice their opinion. The way you spend your money lets society know what actions you do and don’t support. Every time you buy a vegan food product instead of an animal product, you increase the demand of vegan products and decrease the demand of animal products.This might not seem like much while you are doing your groceries, but it definitely counts.

 

EWTT: Do you believe a humane way to raise animals for meat is possible?

Courtesy: Veganpeace

Embar: No. I really don’t believe that it is possible to commercially raise animals in a humane way. Any commercial institution has to make economic decisions, to be able to both exist and thrive. I believe that it is impossible to put animal lives in this equation, without it negatively affecting their quality of life. It is simply impossible to meet the demands for animal products, while treating animals compassionately.                                                       

A few years ago I contacted this small Dutch farm where they raise chickens for eggs. This farm allowed you to ‘adopt’ chickens and to see them on a webcam. I asked them about common issues in the egg industry. A woman, one of the owners of the farm, answered me in an admirable honest way. She told me that they indeed have to dispose of male chicks (which are useless in the egg industry). She also mentioned that when the chickens are about 2 years old, they are slaughtered, because their eggs become too fragile to transport. She mentioned that as long as people demand animal products, they have to make economic decisions like that. And this is of course true for all animal industries, not just the egg industry.

EWTT: What about Dairy? What about milk that comes from cows that are allowed to graze on pasture and be their natural self. No hormones and antibiotics are administered. Would you consume dairy products from such farms?

Embar: No. I believe that the breast milk from cows is meant for their

Dairy Cows Courtesy:Veganpeace

own babies. And like I mentioned in a previous question, I don’t believe it is possible to raise animals in a humane way. Even small farms have to deal with issues like male calves , as male calves aren’t of much use at a dairy farm. And issues like older cows not giving enough milk anymore.

I also would like to mention that “natural cows” don’t need to be milked. Cows have been bred in a way that makes them produce these huge quantities of breast milk. A “natural cow” would produce just enough breast milk for her own baby to drink.

EWTT: What is your view on the following statement “Plants may also feel pain”

Embar: Unless you want to go the fruitarian route (I know some fruitarians), we have to eat plants. The meat industry kills more plants than eating these plants directly. The meat industry has to first feed plants to the animals that produce the meat. Then the animal has to be killed. That causes a lot more suffering then directly eating the plants.

 

EWTT: From the time you became a vegan 1990s to now, do you see any dramatic changes about how people perceive Veganism. 

Embar: One huge change I see is that more people now know what the word ‘vegan’ means. In the 1990s, vegans were basically treated like weird aliens. Today when you mention the word “vegan”, many people even know someone that is vegan in their inner circle. So we are definitely growing as a group. This of course is helped a lot by the presence of the internet, which we didn’t have in 1990. Spreading information has become so much easier now.

People also seem to be more open to accept the vegan diet as a healthy option, even though the old “where to you get your protein” question never seems to go away.

I’ve also noticed how through the years ‘veganism’ is slowly becoming a more integrated and accepted part of our society. In 1990 it was as good as impossible to enter a restaurant and to ask about vegan menu options. Today it still doesn’t always work, but it’s a lot easier (at least in the US). You can even find some “regular” restaurants that use the word “vegan” in their menu.

Vegan Food Pyramid

The quality and selection of vegan products in health food stores has definitely greatly improved these last few years, which helps in making vegan products a lot more accessible. Regular grocery stores are also starting to carry more and more vegetarian items.

 

 

 EWTT: What is the future of veganism?

Embar: My dream is that one day the animal industry will be abolished, but I highly doubt that I will live to see that happen. What I do know is that we will continue to grow and spread information. The majority of people like to follow the general way society is set up and I believe that ‘veganism’ is slowly becoming one accepted way of living. That will make it easier for future generations to decide to go in that direction. It’s never easy to join a minority, let alone be the only one you know that chooses a certain lifestyle, which is currently still the reality for many vegans. I’m confident that will change.

 

What Every Vegan Should Know About Vitamin B12

Very low B12 intakes can cause anaemia and nervous system damage.

The only reliable vegan sources of B12 are foods fortified with B12 (including some plant milks, some soy products and some breakfast cereals) and B12 supplements. Vitamin B12, whether in supplements, fortified foods, or animal products, comes from micro-organisms.

Most vegans consume enough B12 to avoid anaemia and nervous system damage, but many do not get enough to minimise potential risk of heart disease or pregnancy complications.

To get the full benefit of a vegan diet, vegans should do one of the following:

• eat fortified foods two or three times a day to get at least three micrograms (μg or mcg) of B12 a day or
• take one B12 supplement daily providing at least 10 micrograms or
• take a weekly B12 supplement providing at least 2000 micrograms.

 Read more from The Vegan Society

 

**************************************************************************************************************

About the Interviewer:

Bharathi Shiva volunteers as Editor for Eco WALK the Talk.com

***************************************************************************************************************

Share/Save

The Coalition for a GM-Free India is a voluntary group of individuals and NGOs who are fighting against the introduction of the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill (easing the introduction of GM crops) in the Indian Parliament. It was meant to be tabled on August 17th, 2011 but was forestalled due to other political issues concerning the anti-corruption campaign in the country. 

Earlier this year, On February 10, the former environment minister, Jairam Ramesh had ordered a moratorium on the cultivation of genetically modified brinjal (Bt brinjal), an eggplant with 2,500 natural varieties. The Ministry sought long term safety studies before lifting the ban.

However the BRAI Bill is rearing its ugly head again. Here’s the latest press release by the coalition on the reasons why this bill must not go through.

If you support the cause, please sign the petition by Greenpeace India, “Save Your Food – Stop the BRAI Bill” 

Press Release: COALITION FOR A GM-FREE INDIA 

BRAI BILL 2011 IS NO BETTER THAN ANTI-PEOPLE, ANTI-NATURE BRAI 2009: IT IS A BLATANT ATTEMPT TO BULLDOZE STATE GOVTS’ & CITIZENS’ RESISTANCE AGAINST AND CONCERNS ABOUT GM CROPS:

“WRONG BILL BY WRONG PEOPLE FOR WRONG REASONS: ALL PROGRESSIVE PARTIES AND THEIR MPs SHOULD REJECT THE VERY INTRODUCTION OF THE BILL”

New Delhi, August 16th 2011: The BRAI Bill is a blatant attempt to bulldoze through the public resistance and genuine concerns about Genetically Modified crops, and to deny state governments their Constitutional authority over Agriculture and Health, said the Coalition for a GM-Free India in its reaction to the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India 2011 Bill to be introduced in the Parliament tomorrow. The Coalition urged Parliamentarians to object to the very introduction of the Bill in the Parliament tomorrow, stating that ‘it is a wrong bill by the wrong people for the wrong reasons’. The scam-ridden UPA government will only take a further beating in the eyes of the public if it tries to introduce and pass this Bill, warned the Coalition.

“This BRAI mechanism makes the regulatory system even weaker than the existing GEAC mechanism. As the nation remembers, the Bt Brinjal public hearings process saw state governments, farmer organizations, scientists, environmentalists, health experts and rest of civil society come out with huge concerns about GM crops, and the Government through its moratorium decision admitted the failure of GEAC regulatory mechanism and promised to strengthen the regulatory system. How can the same Government bring in a regulatory mechanism which is actually much weaker than GEAC (Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee) and which overrides the state governments, local governments and public inputs?” demanded the Coalition.

“As we have said all along, regulation of modern biotechnology is not like regulation as in other sectors like telecom, where corrupt politicians and bureaucrats can hope to make money. The fundamental basis of regulation lies in the risks associated with modern biotechnology, and the requirement is for a prudent and responsible regulation based on precautionary principles. Therefore, there should only be one primary mandate or objective to this statute: to prevent risks to the health and safety of people of India, its environment and its biological diversity in particular, from the development, handling, transport, use, transfer and release of any living modified organisms. Given such a mandate, this Bill should be introduced not by the Ministry of Science and Technology whose very mandate is to advance biotechnology, but by the Ministry of Health or Ministry of Environment & Forests. The current Bill is objectionable on such fundamental grounds apart from its other failings,” said the Coalition in a press release.

The following are the main objections listed out by the Coalition in response to this Bill: (available here )

1. Wrong Ministry introducing it with wrong objectives: As mentioned above, there should be only one reason why this Bill should be enacted and that should be to uphold the biosafety of the people of India and its environment from the risks of modern biotechnology. If a technology is inherently unsafe, no amount of regulation can make it safer as is the case with the use of Genetic Engineering in our food and farming systems. Given that this statute is trying to replace the current regulatory regime as governed by the EPA’s 1989 Rules which have been expressly formulated to protect health, Nature and environment from the risks of modern biotechnology, there should be a strong, rational reason why the same will not be the objective for BRAI. What new scientific evidence or other evidence has emerged since then that this objective is being changed to also introduce fast-track clearance systems in the name of ‘effective and efficient’ regulatory procedures?

2. Over-riding state governments’ authority over their agriculture and health: This Bill has a clause in the very first chapter (Section (2)) which seeks to keep the regulatory control in the hands of Union Government, in the name of “public interest”. This is unconstitutional and retrogressive, especially given the recent change in regulatory norms in India, rightfully so for the first time, allowing state governments to have a greater say in the deployment of modern biotechnology especially in the context of field trials/environmental release of GMOs.

3. Bypassing the citizens’ Right to Information: This Bill, through Section 28, expressly seeks to classify some information as Confidential Commercial Information and leaves it to the discretion of officials of the Authority to share or not share this information. This once again is regressive, given that the Bt brinjal controversy saw express Supreme Court orders to the regulators asking them to put out all the biosafety data in the public domain. What is the point in incorporating a component of obtaining public feedback through Section 27 (5) if the biosafety data is not put out in the public domain? This is completely objectionable and no political party should support clauses like this.

The same is true to the Oath of Secrecy that the Authority Chair and Members are expected to take in addition to other officials. Why is modern biotechnology and its deployment a secret affair, unless there is something to hide from the public? How can this Authority be trusted to act in the best interest of Indians with such clauses built in?

4. 3-member Authority to decide for all of us?: The Bill essentially proposes that a 3-member Authority, with support from 2 other part-time members will take decisions, even though certain new mechanisms like the Environment Appraisal Panel have been introduced, compared to the last version of the Bill seen in 2010. However, this Authority has been vested with all powers to decide and while it appears that the authority will take recommendations of Risk Assessment Unit and Products Ruling Committee, the entire authority of decision-making rests with this small group of scientists! There are even clauses which prevent invalidation of the proceedings of the Authority by mere vacancies (sic) etc., in this Bill. When an inter-ministerial body 30-member body like the GEAC, which was also taking biosafety recommendations from a group of scientists called the RCGM and acting accordingly, could be found lacking rigour or independence so often in the past, how can this Biotech Regulatory Authority with its 3 full-time and 2 part-time members be trusted and how can Indians place their faith on them? Further, biotech regulation is not just about biosafety for decisions to be taken based on someone declaring something to be ‘safe’. There are issues related to farmers’ rights, consumers’ rights, trade security, sustainable development etc., all linked to modern biotechnology and its applications.

5. Conflict of Interest issues: The clauses meant to prevent conflict of interest are quite weak and only involve restrictions on future employment for one year after cessation of office. Therefore nothing prevents some appointee getting a hefty sum before joining the authority and then clearing applications in the corruption-laden systems all around us. There are not even such restrictions for the officials in the Biosafety Assessment Units or Product Rulings Committee etc., even though they would be doing the recommendations that would form the basis of decision-making later on! As we know, conflict of interest has emerged as a major concern in the current regulatory system.

6. No Needs Evaluation: One of the fundamental recommendations of the Task Force on Agricultural Biotechnology led by Dr.Swaminathan was that “transgenics should be resorted to when other options to achieve the desired objectives are either not available or not feasible.” The BRAI doesn’t talk about any needs evaluation and assessment of alternatives, which was also stressed by the Government in its Bt brinjal moratorium decision – and assumes that all biotechnology and GM crops are a fait accompli.

7. There are no proposals at all for independent testing which is a great problem witnessed time and again in the current regulatory regime too. Worse, there are proposals of notifying labs under this Act that have not even been accredited!

8. There are no improvements being made in terms of open air trials not happening before biosafety is thoroughly, independently and democratically assessed. Using quaint terms like ‘environmental release’ for actual commercial cultivation and using other terms like field trials for open air releases even though they are environmental releases too, the proposed Bill has no improvements to suggest to address the serious lacunae with field trials which are making state government after state government reject the possibility of any open air trials taking place in their state.

9. The Bill has very weak penal clauses (Chapter XII on Offences and Penalties) and in fact does not address liability issues at all: without a liability regime in place, no regulatory regime is complete on this issue. Liability should put the onus of violations on the crop developer primarily and not the users. Further, liability should cover criminal and civil liability as well as redressal/compensation to affected parties like farmers in addition to remediation for damage caused.

10. It is unacceptable that the Bill has a clause (70) which says that no court shall take cognizance of any offence punishable under this Act save on a complaint made by the Authority or any officer or person authorized by it! What is the rationale for this other than to protect offenders? Equally objectionable is Section 77 which prevents civil courts to have jurisdiction on any matter which the Appellate Tribunal under the Act is empowered to determine, wherein there is a bar on any injunction to be granted by any court in respect of any action taken by the Authority.

11. It is also objectionable that this Act will have an over-riding effect over other laws in force since this Bill is indeed inconsistent with legislations like the Biological Diversity Act.

The above few points are only some of the main objections. There are several other problems with the Bill in terms of the Appellate Authority proposed, in its Inter-Ministerial Governing Board and its role and constitution etc. etc.

For more information, contact:

Kavitha Kuruganti, at +91-9393001550
Kiran Vissa at +91-9701705743
Sridhar Radhakrishnan at +91-09995358205

 Your action can make a difference:

If you support the cause, please sign the Greenpeace petition: Save Your Food – Stop the BRAI Bill” 

Further information you may be interested in:

1. India GM Info: Website of the Coalition for a GM Free India

2. EWTT: Dr Vandana Shiva: Traditional Knowledge, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development

3. EWTT: Dr Mira Shiva: Health Effects of GM Food

4. EWTT: Lim Li Ching : GMO Free

Share/Save

Today sees an important report being released by Greenpeace Australia against GM wheat trials in the country. These trials are clearly, as the report alleges, a result of government-industry nexus, rather than for the interests of consumers or farmers.  Featured here are the various GM campaigns in Australia and the people behind them as well as a video interview with two leading GM activists.

Australia is one of the leading food exporters in the world, which is all the more reason for the rest of us outside the country to pay close attention to the developments there, especially regarding the regulation or non-regulation of GM crops.

Particularly disturbing are the recent GM wheat trials which have been approved by CSIRO, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia’s national science agency responsible to the Australian government.

Claire Parfitt, Greenpeace Australia

Claire Parfitt, Sustainable Agriculture Campaigner for Greenpeace Australia filled me in on the details on my recent trip to Sydney.

According to Parfitt, “GM wheat trials have been planted in 5 locations across Australia.  We expect another 4 trials to be planted in the next few weeks.  The development of GM wheat is accelerating in Australia and is extending around the world.  Just this week, the UK government received an application for the trial of GM wheat”

She also added in response to my query about the exposure Singapore has to Australian wheat, it “imports around 350,000 tonnes of wheat in 2010 of which the USA supplied roughly 60,000 tonnes and Australia roughly 100,000 tonnes.  It is also highly likely that Australian wheat is processed in Indonesia and then sent on to Singapore as processed foodstuffs.”

No doubt it is also highly likely that  GM wheat, if commercialised,could find its way into some Asian countries either directly through imports, or by their opening up borders to GM wheat trials.

Greenpeace Australia has in fact released today an important report entitled “Australia’s Wheat Scandal: The Biotech Takeover of Our Daily Food” which alleges that Australia’s national science body CSIRO is in partnership with biotech companies to commercialise GM wheat.   The full-fledged report can be downloaded here.

The Greenpeace report highlights large gaps in the risk analysis on GM wheat including • Lack of specification over which foreign gene has been inserted into the wheat plants • Lack of genetic mapping to determine the number of foreign genes inserted or how stable the resulting GMO is • Lack of testing for toxic and allergic effects of GM wheat and • Failure to provide a credible plan to prevent GM wheat from contaminating in the field.

The key points in the report Australia’s Wheat Scandal: The Biotech Takeover of Our Daily Food which can be downloaded here are:

*Australia is among the world’s top five wheat exporters. GM wheat has been rejected by all of the other major wheat growing nations.

*There is a long history of the evidence of GM contamination in Australia. Details of 29 reported incidents of contamination and 169 breaches of security licenses issued by the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) are recorded.

*This year’s GM wheat trials were proposed and approved while two directors of Nufarm were serving on the board of the CSIRO. Nufarm is the exclusive distributor of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready products in Australia.

* Clearly, the Australian Government is well aware of the risks of releasing GM wheat into the environment. OGTR itself says “Gene technology has the potential to cause unintended effects due to the process used to insert new genetic material or by producing a gene product that affects multiple traits”  and that “ there may be unintended effects due to random insertion of the introduced genetic material…”

*The CSIRO announced that GM wheat from this year’s field trials in the ACT (Australia Common Territories) will be used for human feeding trials. This will be the first time in the world that GM wheat will be tested on humans. However,there is currently no publicly available information on the parameters of these animal-feeding studies and the OGTR does not require testing for potential toxic or allergic effects. The limited public information that is available indicates that CSIRO’s tests on rats and pigs will run for just 28 days before GM wheat is tested on humans. The first two phases of human tests will go for just one day.

*To determine if GM crops are safe to eat, Australia’s food regulator relies on the data provided by corporations invested in GM development. The lack of independent testing is cause for concern, and those independent studies that do exist have produced alarming results. Independent analysis of biotech ratfeeding data, retrieved through a court order, found signs of toxicity in the GMfed rat groups were signifi cantly higher than non-GM fed groups, with greatest impact on the kidney and liver.

Fran Murrell, MADGE Australia

Two leading organisations in addition to Greenpeace Australia which are determined GM Free campaigners are MADGE Australia and Gene Ethics.  I met up with Fran Murrell, one of the co-founders of the voluntary group MADGE (Mothers Are Demystifying Genetic Engineering) who, quite fortunately, was in Sydney that week from Melbourne to deliver a few talks. In the video below, she dwells on the need for better food labelling in Australia, and the campaign by Greenpeace to remove S-26 Soy, a Pfizer manufactured infant formula milk with GM content. Australian mothers had last year protested to remove S-26 soy from supermarket shelves.

Murrell also touched upon the loopholes in GM labelling in Australia. Though there is a requirement for mandatory labelling, several highly refined ingredients such as sugars, oils, starches, soy-based ingredients like soy lecithin, as well as dairy products from cows that have been fed on GM animal feed escape the labelling process.

Vivienne Reiner, Gene Ethics

Gene Ethics is Australia’s leading non-profit organisation promoting a GM Free Australia for the last 24 years. Vivienne Reiner, Media Officer at Gene Ethics highlighted the Steve Marsh case where an organic farmer in Western Australia had lost his organic farm’s certification due to contamination from his neighbour’s GM Canola, and is now using his own funds to bring a lawsuit against his neighbour. Steve Marsh needs financial help to carry this through, and donations are welcome through the Steve Marsh Benefit Fund.

The outcome of the Steve Marsh lawsuit could become an important legal precedent for Australia and the rest of the world. Seed companies like Monsanto can sue farmers whose crops have become contaminated by GM crops, under the pretext of infringing patent rules, despite it not being their fault.  This was portrayed effectively in the movie, Food Inc.

Here is the video interview with Fran Murrell of MADGE Australia and Vivienne Reiner of Gene Ethics.

Video link here

Badly required is a “Farmer’s Protection Fund” as suggested by Greenpeace’s Claire Parfitt whom I mentioned earlier.  It puts the financial liability on seed companies rather than on the individual farmer who finds his field contaminated by GM crops. Here’s an extract from Greenpeace’s write-up on the subject which explains this clearly:

“Australia currently offers no legal protection for farmers whose land is contaminated with genetically modified (GM) seed patented by multinational companies. The result is that a farmer whose crop is contaminated with GM seed that they did not plant, receives no financial compensation for the costs of contamination. The costs of contamination are significant, ranging from the loss of non-GM premiums of $50 per tonne for conventional canola and $500-$800 per tonne for organic wheat to the costs of attempting to remove GM seed and plants over a number of years. Farmers can also be forced to pay royalties to patent owners for use of their seed, even though they did not choose to plant GM seed.

Greenpeace has developed draft legislation to protect Australian farmers by placing liability for GM contamination clearly with the GM companies that hold the patents to GM seed.

…………..

By establishing a Farmer Protection Fund, to be overseen by Farmer Protection Administration Boards in each state and territory, governments can ensure that traditional farmers don’t bear all of the costs associated with GM. This approach also avoids the need for individual litigation that pits farmer against farmer.

The funding for a Farmer Protection Fund would be provided through a GM industry bond, paid by the biotech industry per acreage of GM seed sown and held by government as a deposit against potential damages caused to Australian farmlands. Similar industry funds operate in a number of sectors in Australia, the mining industry for example, to ensure that the Australian government balances Australian’s interests with the benefits of investment by multinational companies.”

It is to everyone’s benefit that we observe closely what happens with the GM campaigns in Australia as we’re all interlinked in a globalised trading regime. We can also support the various campaigns by the organisations mentioned above, by signing petitions and spreading the word around, and equally important as Fran Murrell says in the video, questioning what is in our food and how it is made.

The future of food, believe it or not, is literally in our hands, because it is alert and vocal citizens of the world like you and me who can and need to create a powerful and collective force against the relentless onslaught of global agribusiness that is driven purely by profit and profit alone. We as consumers need to stand up for the health and safety of our families, our farmers and future generations.

**********************************************************************************************************
About the interviewer:

Bhavani Prakash is the Founder of Eco WALK the Talk.com and advocates a GM-free world. She can be contacted at bhavani[at] ecowalkthetalk.com .  Join EWTT on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

**********************************************************************************************************

Further Links you may be interested in:

1. EWTT: Dr Vandana Shiva: Traditional Knowledge, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development

2. EWTT: Dr Mira Shiva: Health Effects of GM Food

3. EWTT: Lim Li Ching : GMO Free

Share/Save

Chipko women hugging trees : Wikipedia

Much has been said and written about the Chipko Movement. It continues to be one of the most prominent and analysed of environmental movements emanating from India. Long before ‘treehugging’ became a fashionable word in the west, women villagers of the Garhwal region on the foothills of the Himalayas (Uttarakhand District in Northern India) were practising it by becoming brave champions of the forests. To resist commercial felling of trees, they hugged them, giving rise to the term ‘Chipko’ which means ‘to stick‘ in Hindi.

The modern day Chipko movement is now nearly 40 years old.  On March 26, 1974, a group of peasant women in Reni village, Hemwalghati, Uttarakhand, India, prevented the cutting of trees by contractors of the state Forest Department.

Vimla Bahuguna

Vimla Bahugana, a Gandhian social worker became one of the prominent women leaders of the movement. Women bore most of the consequences of tree felling. They had to travel long distances to collect firewood. Water sources were drying up, and the soil was getting eroded as their trees were cut for cricket bats and other commercial products. Women were at the forefront of the movement.

Vimla’s husband Sunderlal Bahuguna , 84 years of age, has been a prominent leader of Chipko. Having taken to heart Gandhi’s message that “India is in her villages”, he has walked from Kashmir to Kohima, from the western side of the Himalayas to the eastern side -a distance of 4,870 kilometers to spread the message of the movement. He often says, “We are the runners and messengers. The real leaders are the women‘. According to him:

“Whenever the forest trees were marked for felling, women went to protect them. They camped in huts in the forest. Labourers were brought from Nepal, but women prevented their work by hugging the trees, when they sought a chance to cut the trees at night.  The authorities kept women in jails.  Vimla went with her six-year old child to jail in the movement. Many women went to jail. But they did not yield.  One think I should say from our own experience is that when women are in firm determination, when they decide, they will do it.  They will not leave in the middle. They will do it.  Once women decided that we have to stop tree-felling, they did not yield.  In spite of all the hardships and atrocities they continued the movement.”

The non-violent protests in the Gandhian tradition went on from 1973 to 1981 which led to a ban on tree felling for commerical purposes above 1,000 metres in Uttarakhand, and in the neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh.  Chipko has renewed itself by spreading to other parts of the country such as the Appiko movement in Karnataka, India. It has also found a voice through the agitation by Sunderlal Bahuguna against the Tehri Dam project to dam two Himalayan rivers and more recently by the ‘Beej Bachao Andolan‘ or the efforts to save seeds against the onslaught of genetically modified ones.

Not all writers share the ‘ecofeminist’ narrative, even though it is a very important one. Two other major perspectives represent Chipko as a ‘peasant‘ movement or alternatively a broader ‘ecological’ one. Some analysts and activists question its relevance in the modern day context, especially those who seem to think conservation comes at the cost of development.  Others have argued that over-protection of the forests has deprived villagers of even basic and rightful access to the resources and wealth that are theirs.

Rather than give an intellectual analysis of the movement, of which there are abundant available in books such as  Chipko: India’s Civilisational Response to the Forest Crisis by J. Bandopadhyay and Vandana Shiva:. Forest Futures by Antje Linkenbach , The Unquiet Woods by Ramachandra Guha (to name just three) and articles such as the excellent one in Uttarakhand.org by Amit Mitra from Down to Earth called Chipko: An Unfinished Mission,  I prefer to write here what I have personally gathered from my meeting with Vimla and Sunderlal Bahugana recently at Dehradun, India. It is their core message that I wish to share.

Vimla Bahuguna briefly talks of her experiences in this video:

Vimla Bahuguna told those who were present at Navdanya, Dehradun on 14th March, 2011 how she got her inspiration for the Chipko movement. When I caught a personal moment with her, she asked me if I knew about Sarla Behn (Miss Catherine Heilman), Gandhi’s disciple and advised me to read more about her. Her own activism was groomed under the tutelage of Sarla Behn with whom she had shared 8 years. It was in the Kumaon Himalayas that Sarla Behn had started an ashram for hill women, and her “full-time commitment was to make them realise that they were not beasts of burden, but goddesses of wealth, since they rear cattle and produce food, producing 98% of all labour in farming and animal husbandry.” [1]

Sunderlal Bahuguna

Sarla Behn’s ideas of women’s emancipation influenced Vimla to ask Sunderlal Bahuguna to leave the Congress Party and politics forever as a precondition to marriage, in order for them to settle down in the hills and awaken the women there.

Sunderlal Bahugana passed us a copy of his lecture delivered in Tokyo (presumably in 2009 – the publication date of the pamphlet) called, ” Environment Protection: The Way To Peace, Happiness and Contentment” I share here a few of the passages that I found powerful:

* The revival of our dying planet is a challenge to young people to come forward.  Our society should be replaced by one standing on four pillars: service instead of authority, sacrifice or restraint instead of wealth, peace instead of weapons, and good behaviour instead of high learning.

* So far as diversity is concerned, we are poorer than the primitive man.  This is due to the exploitative character of civilisation. The crisis which civilisation has created can only be solved by the message of culture. Culture prospered in the forests. In India, we have inherited an Aranya (forests) culture.  (And later)… There is a special thing about the culture of the East: we believe in the power of the soul. There are two different things. One is the body.  Another is the soul inside.  And if there is a confrontation between armies, a small army can be defeated by a strong army.  But even if there is one single person with a strong soul and firm determination, all the armies of the world cannot defeat him.

* These movements spread through folk songs. In a people’s movement the appeal is not to the head but to the heart. The message should reach the hearts of people. The beginning of our movement was thus from folk songs to awaken people. There were no speeches. There were no books. There were no newspapers. But there were folk songs. And people immediately came forward and joined the movement. Once an idea becomes implanted in the hearts of the people, it becomes their own thing. I do not think that when we make a good speech that people will repeat it. But they repeated folk songs.  And they go on repeating it.  The songs of the Chipko movement echoed in the hills and dales in the forest everywhere. Children, uneducated people, or women working in the forests and hills while cutting the grass and collecting the firewood, were singing these songs.  This is one special thing about the Chipko movement.

* Do not forget that you have been bestowed with three gifts. The first is the head to think, the second is the heart to feel, and the third is hands to construct.  Whatever is in your head, take it to your heart first and then act with your hands.

Vimla and Sunderlal Bahuguna at Navdanya, Dehradun sharing their experiences

I end with Vimla Bahuguna’s words that day that I hope will reverberate in humanity’s hearts:

” My husband and I have come a long, long way to share this message. The old are not redundant. The young are often inspired by elders in most social movements. The message of the elders is the voice of experience. We have learnt that power and money are not indicators of a good life, nor do they form the road to a meaningful life. Lead a simple life for the benefit of everyone. The hard won freedom (Indian Independence) is in danger of being lost, if we don’t understand the environment. Our model of development is totally skewed. Don’t spoil the environment, treat it is as your friend, so all of life can live in harmony. This is the challenge that we appeal to the young to take up.”

Further Links you may be interested in:

[1]Google Books: Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Development

YouTube: An Account of Chipko

Outlook India:  Green Jappi (Chipko in Japan)

Share/Save

Passer Domesticus (House Sparrow)

Who would have thought that the humble and ubiquitous house sparrow (Passer domesticus), normally taken for granted in urban surroundings is actually now an endangered species?   According to Veterinary World , in most of Europe and countries like India, sparrow populations are rapidly declining – with bird counts showing a drop in London alone by 71% between 1994 and 2002.  (In Singapore however, the local species of sparrow – the Eurasian Tree Sparrow has shown an increase from 1996-2005 according to Nature Society Singapore)

Concerned about the apathy towards this disturbing trend especially in India, ornithologist Mohammed Dilawar has emerged as a champion of the sparrows. He was featured as one of the Time Heroes of the Environment in 2008 and has set up Nature Forever Society, which raises awareness about the issue, and also distributes nest boxes to encourage the public to bring sparrows into their homes and neighbourhood.

Nature Forever Society (NFS)  launched World Sparrow Day in 2010 on 20th of March, along with Eco-Sys Action Foundation (France) and Avon Wildlife Trust (UK), and other national and international organisations.  Mohammed Dilawar spoke to us about his passion for the sparrows and how we can get involved to help protect them.

BP: How did you get interested in the conservation of sparrows?

MD: I’ve always been crazy about birds and animals from a very young age. After television in India opened up to foreign channels in the 1990s, I used to watch Discovery Channel which gave me a lot of exposure to documentaries based on research projects. This inspired me to study zoology and environmental sciences.

At Nasik where I used to teach at college, I was going through some literature in 2005 when I happened to come across something that caught my attention – that house sparrows were declining in the UK.  It occurred to me that we are often engrossed in what happens to bigger, more glamorous species such as the tiger, whereas common species are often ignored.

Except for one report by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research documenting a drastic drop in sparrow populations in southern India, I found that there was no research on house sparrows and that really got me motivated to  support their cause.

BP: Why are the house sparrows  disappearing?

MD: There is no single reason for their disappearance – in fact a newspaper in the UK offered a cash prize to anyone who could solve the mystery of why sparrow numbers have declined. The award is still to be claimed.

There are various possible reasons. One main reason is that modern buildings are made like matchboxes with little or no nesting holes for sparrows. The rampant use of pesticides means less insect food for sparrow young.  The microwave pollution from cell phone towers all over the country could be another factor as it disturbs their navigational skills. Even the rangoli that women used to put outside their homes is no longer made from rice flour which the sparrows eat, but from chemicals. There used to be abundant food grains for sparrows from small shops and godowns which were not well protected before. But now we have airconditioned shops with little spillage of grains.  Homes would have hedges as borders with bushes of local plants like henna that sparrows could use to make nests. Now most homes have concrete walls and barbed fences with exotic plants.

[For further reading on decline of sparrow populations, read the Veterinary Society report]

BP: Why do we need to protect sparrows?

MD: We’re connected by 10,000 years of companionship – in fact more than with cats and dogs. The sparrows are an important bio-indicator of the health of the urban environment , like how the canary is to the mines. The disappearance of sparrows is a serious reminder that something is seriously wrong in our urban habitat.  They are ambassadors for urban biodiversity as everyone knows the sparrows. They are also an umbrella species – in protecting them, we’ll be saving other flora and fauna too.

BP: How do you engage people with Nature Forever Society ?

MD: I think there is apathy towards conservation of common flora and fauna. That’s why it’s so important to engage the common man in conservation. After all, house sparrows are dependent upon human habitation. It is important for them to become stakeholders in conservation. Rather than seeing pictures and presentations, it is only when people get emotionally attached that they are likely to champion their cause.

For this we came up with the “Adopt a Nest Box’ idea. When people actually see sparrows make a nest and have chicks, they develop a bonding with the birds, even considering the sparrow chicks as their own babies. Then it becomes easy for them to become sparrow supporters.

We have distributed thousands of nest boxes throughout India. It earns us a small revenue to keep our work going. Our sparrow mentors have spread throughout the world. We welcome people from all walks of life to become sparrow supporters.

BP: Tell us about World Sparrow Day on March 20^th, 2011

MD: Even though I believe every day should be a sparrow day, it’s good to declare a day because it brings together various people all over the world on a common platform to talk about the issue and concentrate on the cause. This year Nature Forever Society teamed up with Burhani Foundation to distribute 52,000 bird feeders on March 6, in the run up to World Sparrow Day.

Our annual World Sparrow Day event will reinstate the significance not only of the sparrow, but all the common birds and biodiversity which are often overlooked and abused by virtue of being too commonplace. In 2011, we got feedback from all over the world and decided to celebrate the day not only for the house sparrow – but the 26 species of sparrows found across the globe.

By participating in World Sparrow Day we hope to create awareness, and also to persuade policy makers to take action for the conservation of the various species of sparrows.

How you can help World Sparrow Day and Nature Forever Society:

1. Share the World Sparrow Day link on social media – tweet the event, share on facebook
2. Arrange a picnic, community gathering, walk, birdwatching, or trek in support of sparrows. Use your imagination to organise an event and register it on the World Sparrow Day website
3. Participate in the online BiodiverCity Photo competition for World Sparrow Day
4. Get a nest box/bird feeder for the sparrows ( If you’re in India you can order one from Nature Forever Society
5. Volunteer your efforts for NFS  if you can promote nest boxes in your area or community, any technical help for maintaining website, making videos etc.
6. Make a financial contribution to NFS or get organisational sponsorship for their efforts. (NFS is not funded by any government or non-governmental organization and they rely on public support and generosity for conservation activities). You can donate by sending us a payable at par cheque or a DD in the name of “Nature Forever Society”. You can also deposit or make an E-Transfer directly into their account.  The bank details are:  Bank of Maharashtra (Savings) A/C – 60035270083 IFSC code required for RTGS and NEFT transfer is MAHB0001435. NFS is registered with Income Tax Department under section 12A.  (Registration no – PRO/12AA/2010-2010/8/36) )For further info, connect with Nature Forever Society by email  info@natureforever.org and on Facebook

BP: What is your hope for the future?

MD: What gives me hope is the sparrows. I feel happy and blessed whenever I see them. I get new energy and inspiration being with them.  Even when there are roadblocks, there are always ways to go around them. Solutions are far more superior to problems.

The sparrows have also put me in touch with so many wonderful human beings throughout the world. There is so much positivity out there. It gives me hope that we can empower people to save sparrows. We have to, otherwise we’ll have a big hole in the web of life and if it collapses, we will be cursing ourselves.  Instead, it makes sense for more and more of us to connect to do the best we can.

About the interviewer:

Bhavani Prakash is the Founder of Eco WALK the Talk .com and is a sustainability writer, speaker and trainer. She is passionate about the role of individuals and communities in bringing about the much needed change we need to see in the world.  She can be contacted at bhavani[at]ecowalkthetalk.com. Follow Eco WALK the Talk on Facebook,Twitter, Linked IN and YouTube

Further links you may be interested in:

India Together: How Dilawar’s box is bringing back the sparrows

YouTube: The Great Sparrow Mystery

Share/Save

Details of the event are as follows: 

PERSONAL + PLANETARY HEALING with HOMA ‘ENVIRONMENTAL’ Therapy –an ancient Ayurvedic Science

Taught by Volunteer & Organic Farmer Lee Ringma from Australia

Weekend: Fri 2 – Sun 4 July or Sat / Sun 3-4 July 2010

At ocean-facing Tanjung Sutera Resort (Johor, Malaysia)

Humanity and Nature are suffering the effects of Global Warming/Climate Change. We are facing super-bugs, droughts, crop failures, overwhelming pollution and sicknesses.

To overcome these challenges, the ancient Ayurvedic Science of Homa Therapy & Agnihotra is being taught, and applied all over the world by urbanites and villagers, by organic gardeners & farmers.

Ayurveda receives U.N. recognition as one of the most comprehensive health systems in the world. Now we have a chance to experience and learn this simple age-old remedy in nature’s lap.

Homa Therapy from Ayurveda, says Lee Ringma, is gifting to the World a comprehensive organic farming system called Homa Organic Farming. This is showing remarkable results worldwide, producing high quality and quantity crops, as well as remedying diseases in crops and livestock.

Homa Therapy is a 10 min daily practice called Agnihotra. A small healing fire is lit in an inverted copper pyramid at sunrise and sunset. It can be performed anywhere: in one’s home, balcony or garden or farm.

Its effectiveness is derived from a combo of the ancient technology of pyramid power, resonance and the special planetary biorhythms called sunrise and sunset. Wherever Agnihotra is done, a flood of micro-nutrients and life force stream down into the environment, purifying atmosphere, people, animals, plants, soil and water over a 3/4 km diameter.

This environmental ‘therapy’ is healing the minds and bodies of people in many countries. It is healing people with Cancer. It is transforming crops infested with disease into healthy and nutritious plants. See Homatherapy.org for more information.

HOMA THERAPY ‘EXPERIENCE’/Workshop – by DONATION

Homa Therapy is always taught free-of-charge by trained volunteers as it is the need of the hour to empower people to bring their environment back into a healthy, functioning condition and, thus themselves, their families, their communities, their farms.  Lee Ringma is the co-founder and director of Homa Therapy Australia (with her husband Fritz). She is being sponsored on her second Malaysian workshop-tour by the Homa Therapy group practitioners of Malaysia.

NB: There will be a donation box at the workshop to cover costs etc. And if you wish to contribute to the cause of spreading Homa Therapy and the building of Homa Refuges worldwide. Agnihotra kits, books and healing tools also available for purchase .

Highlights !

* Agnihotra healing on the quartz-crystal beach/Meditating by lily ponds
* Hands-on Agnihotra workshop * Videos/Powerpoint Presentations on Homa Organic Farming
* Rose Healing Circle…Guided Meditation to send healing to troubled spots all over the world + demo of healing tools.
* Walking the challenging Dinosaur Trail (2 kms),
* Qigong or Yoga – breathe in ion-laden sea breezes.
* Night walk to Kampung Sedili Besar – at mouth of Sungei Sedili Besar
 
Delicious, Light + Energising Fresh Vegan Meals -Tropical Salads/Veg From Tanjung Sutera’s own Organic kitchen-garden, fresh coconuts + local seasonal fruits; healing teas, soups, + root vegies. Organic brown-rice, condiments & tea + coffee.
 

How to Get There: Check the Tanjung Sutera resort website for map. Tanjung Sutera is on the East Coast of Johor, south of Mersing, beside Sungei Sedili Besar. It is a 2 ½ hour drive from Johor Bharu (40 mins from Kota Tingii) and about 5 hours drive from Kuala Lumpur.  

COST of HOMA Experience Packages for Accomodation + All Meals  

1.Weekender Fri 2 – Sun 4 – Cost: Accom + All Meals in Chalets, two in a room, air-con, shower/toilet attached.

From Singapore – S$ 175/- per person. From Malaysia – RM 345/- per person.
For Transport in Mini Bus from Singapore (Newton carpark) add S$45 return
(Bus transport can also be arranged from KL + JB)

2.    Saturday Night/Sun from Lunch-Sat to Lunch-Sun
Accom + Meals only: S$ 95/- or RM 205/-
For transport in mini-bus add $45 per person
Saturday Only – Agnihotra Sunset. Lunch + Dinner –S$/- 45 or RM 80/- per person
 

Mini bus departures from Singapore: from Newton Carpark Friday 2.30 pm (arrive about 5.30 pm) + 7.30 pm (arriving about 10.30 pm) Sat: 7.30 am BOOKINGS A MUST (Restricted to 40 paxs for overnite stays)

Contact Facilitator: Betty L Khoo-Kingsley, Hon Consultant Biodynamic Gardener/Author of Cancer Cured & Prevented Naturally.   

Please email booking/enquiries to Betty Lau Khoo-Kingsley. Please give Your name, H/P  number+ email and which option you are booking – If booking for more than one person, please give all details of that person(s). * Battybooo@gmail.com or SMS               65 96489531         65 96489531

Further links you may be interested in:

1.  EWTT:  Can One Man and One Cow really save the planet? : Seeding the real Green Revolution

2. Rays of Hope:

Farmers in India are committing mass suicides due to the condition of the land. Today this has become an international crisis. A positive outlook and the will to go on is fast decreasing amongst this life support system of the Indian agricultural economy.

“Rays of Hope” is a short film, by Mary Lee Weir, documenting a group of organic farmers in South India, who have taken a unique, positive step toward self sustainability, by uniting together to cover 200 acres of land. In this area these Christian Farmers are to become self-sufficient in food and medicine using an Ancient Vedic Technique for healing the atmosphere, called Agnihotra.

Share/Save

Permaculture is a design science which emulates the diversity and sustainability of natural ecosystems. It does not pollute or degrade the environment, but enriches it, at the same time meeting human requirements. When applied to an urban landscape through innovative use of space, it actually leads to energy efficiency, reduction of food miles and fossil fuel usage, and provides healthy, nutritious, local food.

The first ever Permaculture course is going to be conducted at Singapore from the 28th to 31st of May.

For more details about this course, venue, cost, registration, timing and other details, please check the website of the organisers

http://permaculturesingapore.wordpress.com/introduction-to-permaculture-workshop/

Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity!

Share/Save