Indian Wildlife Club Ezine (May, 2014)

On 19th April 2014, a few of us gathered at South City Club, Gurgaon to spend a whole day discussing, presenting and absorbing a very difficult topic “Living in harmony with Nature”.  The choice of April as the month to initiate our first –ever ground level workshop was not accidental.  April is celebrated worldwide as “Earth Month”.  Devoting one full day to deliberate the state of the Earth today, seemed to be the best way to celebrate our only home.

Ashish Shahand Shashi Sharma who facilitated the  day’s  events invited the group’s attention  to how  living in harmony with nature is our –human’s –need rather than nature’s.  Our current pace of use of natural resources has tilted the balance and its impact is  already visible in climate change, seasonal changes, land use changes and disappearing forests.

   

The use of audio visual aids (some drawn from BBC Documentaries)  was very effective in understanding how all systems in nature are arraigned to support Life on the Planet.    Watch Ashish concluding his presentation with his simile of Earth as an Egg, which was the   ‘Ah Ha’  moment for all participants.

Dr Surya Prakash, from the School of Life Sciences at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, kept the audience spell bound with a  well researched presentation – ‘ Birds and Butterflies as Environmental Health Indicator Species in and around Delhi.  His photographs of birds and butterflies from JNU campus brought home the fact that nature had endowed every neighborhood with its bounties,  beauty and wonders and that environment conservation starts right inside and around our homes.

SP, as he is widely known, presents data of Big Bird Day over the years

Participants felt hugely benefited by the presentation made by Mr  Barun Aggarwal ,  Director, Breathe Easy at  Paharpur Cooling Towers.  He emphasized on creating minimum conditions for  healthy ‘Indoor air quality  by using specific  plants and simple air filtration equipment.    His research which proved that four “mother-in-law’s tongue” plants per person  can purify the air in a bedroom, was an eye-opener.  

Delhi based Paharpur Cooling Towers have developed both commercial and residential applications for creating healthy Indoor environment   Visit their site   http://breatheeasy123.com/   for a free checking of the air quality inside your home! 

Barun Aggarwal

By the end of the Workshop, the participants developed an appreciation of the fact that changing our lifestyles to minimize negative footprint was imperative for our own survival.  Given how nature and natural Systems work, nature (as represented by planet Earth) evolved over billions of years before we entered the scene and can well carry on evolving at its  pace without us. 

Given the insights that scientists have developed presently, our planet is unique and as of now the only one that can support Life. The balance of elements of nature that prevails and supports life is unique but a very fine balance.  If we wish to continue to enjoy the beneficial host environment, we need to do our bit in minimizing disruption that our lifestyles create. 

  

The Workshop achieved its objective of 

i)Deliberating on the current state of environment 

ii)Networking with a group of individuals from NCR who are actively involved in protecting the harmony of nature and environment with human beings as part of it.  

iii)Everyone felt there was need for more such serious workshops to further the dialogue on #living inharmonywithnature.

(Shashi Sharma is a corporate consultant.  Visit his website http://www.ssbcindia.com to see what he is upto other than being an environmental evangelist)