Green Earth Movement
An E-Newsletter for the cause of Environment, Peace, Harmony and Justice
Remember - “you and I can decide the future”
· HE TAKES ON THEIR MIGHT
· Readers’ Letters
· GEM Inspirational series
· I forward GEM to all my e-contacts. Do you?
· Advocate to launch website for civic matters
· Bridging the city’s green gap
· Still heaped under garbage
· Slumdogs go green! Recycling in the Dharavi slums
· Is cleaning up Bangalore
· Light a candle instead of cursing darkness· Campaign against plastic bag usage launched
· Ganga is now a deadly source of cancer, says study
· SDB watershed, Biogas and Solar Power
· South Delhi garbage dump a home for a family of 6
/· Green pigeon in Sanjay Gandhi national Park
· Justice Katju slams media
· Pakistani girl gets Mother Teresa award
· Church must play greater role in healthcare
· Church chalks out 100 crore charity work
· Hindus bemoan loss of temples
· Six hour long Hindi film on Jesus released
· Rickshaw puller who turned farmer and inventor
· Citizens forcibly inaugurate skywalk
· Common man’s rock star
· GEM PLUS – appeal for help, vacancies etc· GEM LAUGH TIME
· For Christian readers
BIBLE FOR THE SIMPLE (with Bible Quest 42)
JAN. 2013 issue
(please open the other attachment)
Thought for the week …
"In Bombay 512 journalists write and report about the Lakhme Fashion Week but only two local journalists write about the condition of farmers in Vidharba. Close to 2,50,000 farmers died due to various problems but unfortunately it did not become news to media." Justice Katju
(see article later)He takes on their might
Indian ExpressLaid-off employee turns full-time green crusader, earns friends and threats
When Raju Nalawade had come to stay in Dombivli MIDC area in 1989, he had no idea he would turn David crossing swords with Goliath, the powerful industrialists’ lobby. What he started as a green initiative on a local scale has now become a full blown movement against pollution by irresponsible companies, earning him friends, as well as threats.“From 1989 to 1995, I quietly watched as incidents caused by negligence by companies kept piling up. Gas would leak from myriad factories in MIDC area, untreated waste
would be released into sewers, fires would break out spreading harmful gases. While companies got insurance money and moved on, residents were the ones to suffer,” Nalawade says.
In 1995, Nalawade became a member of Milaap Nagar Resident’s Association in Dombivli and decided to use it to promote environment friendly initiatives like planting trees and cautioning people against littering or burning garbage. In 1997, Nalawade lost his job when the engineering firm he worked with in Thane shut down along with several others after they went bankrupt. Nalawade had a talk with his wife, a schoolteacher, and finding her support decided to take up pro-environment activities full time.
“I soon realised that companies dealing with hazardous chemicals were the biggest threat. This year alone, a pavement dweller and a stray dog died after inhaling fumes from untreated waste released into the sewers. A month ago, some fumes from a nullah next to the municipal school in Gandhi Nagar affected students and teachers alike. Soon after that, a fire broke out in a chemical company and residents were plagued for an entire day by harmful emissions,” says Nalawade.
He is armed with data, dates tables and news reports which he promptly presents to the MPCB and other authorities whenever there is an inquiry. He still holds an annual plantation programmes at Milaap Nagar and nearby areas. He regularly writes to authorities about environment and industrial safety violations, and his letters have at times sparked official inquiries, sometimes resulting in action.
Over the years, his work has earned him enemies, too. “Threats are now a way of life. I sometimes get anonymous calls from public telephones, at other times, strangers approach my friends and give them cryptic messages to be delivered to me. But I also have the support of all the residents, who are quick to assure me they will stand by me no matter what. In a world driven by corruption with little value for hard and honest efforts, this brotherhood is the only thing that keeps me going,” Nalawade says.
READERS’ LETTERS
From,
Fr Felix,
I fully support this. I believe we need to protect theenvironmentand nature, which has been given to us by God, and which we owe to the generations to come.
Please count me in for any support.
Thanks.
Gordon Jacobs
From,
Dear Rev. Fr. Felix Rebello,
I have been receiving your very well-presented and inspiring GEM newsletter, which I look forward to receiving and go through with great interest. Thank you very much and congratulations to you and your team. Wishing you fulfillment in all your very worthy endeavours.
Yours sincerely,
Pheroza J. Godrej
From,
Dear Fr. Felix
Thank you very much for your emails and flood of information which is very useful. God bless you and your ministry to protect God'sgift to us, the nature.
With prayerful wishes andregards
Fr.Gilbert Aranha, Executive Secretary CCBI
From
Dear Fr. Felix,
Many A Thanks for yet another "GEM" of a "GEM" issue. Much useful tool for enlightening the stakeholders.
B. Rgds.
G. A. Soman, Principal
GEM INSPIRATIONAL SERIES
STOP THINKING THAT YOU ARE USELESSBy: Swami Sukhabodhananda, TOI, Speaking Tree
The art of wise living involves the art of wisely discovering one’s talent and then optimising it. Nature has given everyone some talent or other. The mind is not serious enough to discover what that talent is. One is lost in making comparisons with the other, thereby adversely affecting the quality life. The moment you compare with the other, the focus is on the other, and hence energy is not available to look within yourself.
Why silently whip yourself by branding yourself as useless? Thus, one’s hurt body (psychological) increases; with this hurt body, if you see the other, then you do not objectively see the other, but you see with the backdrop of your inner hurt. This in turn distorts the perception of the other and hence deepens conflict. Please see this disorder within. With this disorder, even if you are ‘better’ than the other person, your inner bitterness continues and hence you will not be able to enjoy your success.
No wonder comparison has become prominent among principal stress creating agents and hence psychological disease. We are constantly taught to compare from childhood. Parents compare you with other children, boss compares you with the other and hence this inner chaos.
Comparison Is Good Servant, Bad Master:
Now, how can we live life without comparisons? Can there be growth, if there is no comparison? You have to relate to comparisons wisely. If you wisely use comparisons and not allow comparisons to use you, then you will profit from comparisons. Hence, your brain has to search for such a way.
How can one go about that? Let us say your colleague’s performance is better than yours. Pause for a moment and learn to enjoy your colleague’s success instead becoming jealous. If you become jealous, you become bitter. If you enjoy his success, see how nature has made him talented, and then you will not be bitter. Then, your mind is in a happy state, such a mind then looks into what are his winning strokes and what is his cutting edge, and thus you will learn from him rather than be bitter. With a happy mind, you will see how your colleague has discovered his talent and in that process you will look, explore and search into what is your talent. The art of such exploring is the first step for creative living. The key is to search for your inner talent.
Once, a group of illiterate people found a treasure box which had a number lock but did not know how to open it. They tried all methods including black magic, dancing around it, spitting on it. They could not open it. Finally, theywere disgusted, andwent their way after leaving the treasure box. After some days, a knowledgeable man saw it, found out the right combination of the lock and opened it and found the valuable jewels.
One is like a treasure box. One’s jewel of talent is hidden in the treasure box of life. One has to find the right combination and open it. Thus, learn to discover your talents and abilities. With this attitude, your work life, family life and social life will be a source of inner awakening. Be sensitive to the possibilities of life.Follow Swamiji on our website,www.speakingtree.in
I AM A
PROUD
INDIAN
HELLO MY DEAR FRIENDS,J.F. Kennedy once said, “do not ask what your country is doing for you, but ask what you are doing for your country”. Every year, during the National days like ‘Republic Day’ people quote this saying. This quote makes a lot of sense. There are many citizens who always want others, especially the government to do things, which they themselves can easily do. They forget that, they are the part of the government and hence, they too are responsible for the running of the country. Once example – we see filth and dirt all around, on the footpaths, roadsides, outside the housing colonies, institutions and so on. We expect the municipality to come and clean our surroundings. Instead, do we question ‘who is responsible for this filth and dirt’? It is due to our lack of civic sense and negligence we dirty our surroundings and expect others to come and clean it. We have always one justification – “we pay our taxes”!
As patriotic and Responsible Citizen, one important project, I want to take up in my Housing Colony is the project of ‘Zero Garbage’. When every family in my building segregate the household waste into dry and wet, we can keep the surroundings of our colony clean. If all our neighbouring buildings do this, the message of cleanliness will spread to wider and wider areas making our country and its environs clean. As a housewife I want to spread this message to all around. Only when I do something for my beloved country, I can boldly say, I AM A PROUD INDIAN!
Hope you too would like to call yourself A PROUD INDIAN by giving something in
return for your country, for all the benefits and privileges you enjoy. If you agree
with this, tell others about it, by forwarding this mail to all your e-friends.
Advocate to launch website for civic matters
Radhika Ramaswamy, DNA,
In a bid to address the city’s civic issues and bring fast-track solutions, a city-based advocate along with a group of friends are launching a website called thewatchdog.in. Citizens across the city can access the website and talk about civic issues they are facing in their neighbourhood and get them solved. Issues can range from garbage, traffic, road conditions to
encroachments, pollution and government schemes. Godfrey Pimenta, an advocate and activist who conceived the website said, “The website is more or less a movement for a better tomorrow. There are a lot of issues that bother the general public but they don’t know who is the concerned authority to approach. Therefore, most problems remain unsolved. “
Describing the objective of the website, he said, “Once people put up an issue on the page, we will get it verified with the help of our volunteers, then channelise a memorandum and take it up with the local municipal authority like an assistant engineer. If the issue does not get resolved at the basic level, we will flash the number of the local authority in the website, so that he gets flooded with calls from citizens and is pressurised into taking actions. Following this, we will escalate the matter until the problem gets resolved or a logical conclusion is reached.”
The website also plans to empower every citizen to raise the issue of corruption in daily life. Godfrey said, “We want to bring accountancy and transparency in public life. If citizens find anomaly in civic undertakings or misuse of power by BMC or MMRDA, they can immediately report to us through the website.” The website will be rolled out to the citizens from Dec 13.
Bridging the city’s green gap
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bridging-the-city-s-green-gap/1036022/0NGO Swechha sets up shop in Bandra to sell recycled beauties
/In the heart of Bandra, the fashion district of Mumbai, a recycle revolution has been quietly taking roots for the last six months in the form of the store Green the Gap. It is, however, not just a colourful shopping destination where waste is upcycled into impressive products but a place where consumers are “empowered to make choices”. The store sells everything from Ts, bags and wallets to home accessories such as coasters and stationery.
A close look at some of the products reveals use of tetra packs of Real or Nestle, but the logos are beautifully camouflaged in the design on the cloth Green the Gap buys from waste depots. After Delhi, the store run by NGO Swechha is spreading the message of recycle and reuse in Mumbai from near Bandra’s popular hangout Toto’s Garage. Swechha has been working for the last ten years to raise awareness about environmental issues and provide employment with reasonable wages to disadvantaged people.
“We have about 15 tailors. Including volunteers, we are about 30 people,” said Vimlendu Jha, a post-graduate from Tata Institute of Social Sciences who founded Green the Gap and Swechha. Jha, who designs most of the products sold by Green the Gap,
/ says many items had names of volunteers and those working behind the scenes. The store website that urges consumers to “Help trash turn over a new leaf” displays products such as Amrita purse, Sahiba bag, Raju wallet and Didi P clutch. For those who suffer guilt pangs for using leather, Green the Gap offers bags, wallets, ashtrays and hip flasks made of recycled tyre rubber.
The people behind the eco-friendly store believe for developing countries, recycling waste is economically more viable than installing incinerators. Committed to the idea of fair trade, they say many poor people in urban areas find employment in the waste sector, however, employment conditions need to improve. The products costing between Rs 75 and over Rs 1,000 are also sold in other stores and Jha said in about a week, online purchases would also be possible.