Echoes of Eco November, 2015 Vivekananda Kendra- nardep Newsletter Vol:7 No:9 In this issue: Sacred Forests in Tamilnadu The Happenings Green Rameswaram Visions of Wisdom: Man to become better creature Change your lifestyle West is a Waste! Hymn for Good Action Living beings are born of food, Food is born of rain; Rain is born of yajna (Punya); and Yajna (Punya) is born of action. - Bhagavadgita 3.14 Service to humanity is the highest form of worship Swami Vivekananda
A person who consumes the least and contributes the most is a mature person, for in giving lies self-growth. Swami Dayananda Saraswathi The above is an excerpt from the book published by VK-nardep on Local Ecological and Cultural Traditions. The book brings out the importance of belief systems, rituals etc. in influencing even global ecological behavior. It brings out how in preserving forest resources the concept of sacred forests play an important role; how customs and traditions make the population adapt an ecologically healthy life style; and how certain local rituals are importantant for bio-diversity as well as personal empowerment. For more information on Green Rameshwaram please contact:secretary, Vivekananda Kendra-nardep, Vivekanandapuram, Kanyakumari -629702 Email: vknardep@gmail.com Phone: 04652-246296 www.vknardep.org Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra nardep, November 2015, Vol. 7 No: 9
You, the Self, are the Whole, Yet you feel small, limited, only because you do not know the reality of yourself, of who you really are. Swami Dayananda Saraswathi Happenings this month: SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE Happenings this month: Renewable Energy Happenings this month: Networking Workshop on Capacity building for Adaptation of Technology was conducted on 26 th to 28 th of this month. 38 participants attended the programme. The programme was sponsored by NARBARD, Chennai. The Resource persons were Shri.V.Ramakrishnan, S.Rajamony and Smt.S.Premalatha. Training programme on Cost effective Bio manure held on 28 th Nov. The resource person was S.Premalatha Training programme on Bio Manure plant was conducted at TRC, Kalluvilai on 28th of this month for 3 persons. Er.V.Ramakrishnan was the resource persons Construction of Bio-Methanation Plants: Fixed type 1 cum - 6 (IFAD - KK) Portable type 2 cum 1 Portable type 6 cum - 1 Green health home worked for 8 days and treated 219 patients. Dr.Ganapathy interacting with the patient. Shri.V.Ramakrishnan attended International workshop at Colombu, Sri Lanka from 17 th to 19 th Nov. 2015. 83 participants from 15 different countries participated in the deliberation NPK rich Bio-manure with Rock phosphate, Cattle dung, cow urine and consortium of bacteria A neat and clean Bio-methanation plant and that too at Govt. subsidized canteen at Chennai VK-Nardep s posters on Biomethnation at International Workshop on Small and Medium Scale Biogas "Innovations Driving Effective Growth at Colombo
The planet earth today is inverted. Human beings cover the entire globe while Nature survives in isolated pockets. In sum, the effect on man of wildlife has been disastrous Kumaran Sathasivam Green Rameshwaram work Plantation of 200 saplings near Olaiguda on 4 th Nov. 2015 by the community 40 Students of St.Jospeh Hr.Sec.School & Govt. Hr. Sec. School are cleaning the area for plantation of trees Papa Vinasha (removal of sin) Teertham cleaning is on Dredging of dirty mud from Jatayu Teertham (traditional water body) Sarabha Teertham A traditional water body buried in the sands of time. A work of Archeology dept. carried out by the team of Green Rameshwaram project A team of Green Rameshwaram project succeeded in locating all the 42 traditional water bodies (teerthams) which are outside the temple. The above picture belongs to Vibhishana teertham
Are you growing spiritually? Can you love others? Can you feel oneness with others? Have you peace within yourself? And do you radiate it around you? That is called spiritual growth. Swami Ranganathananda Green Rameshwaram work The famous Parashurama Teertham getting ready. Earlier it was buried in the sand and pigs were roaming all over the place Completed Parashurama Teertham. Not only the water body is restored but also the possible encroachment avoided and the entire area is neat and clean and so better hygienic conditions for the neighbourhood Social Engineering at Dhanushkodi. Sis.V.Saraswathi interacting with the school children Big Banyan tree! Is it at Adyar, Chennai No! there are many places in Rameshwaram island where you will find huge Banyan trees
The problem is you, the solution is you. Be a contributor not a mere consumer. Swami Dayananda Saraswathi Green Rameshwaram work Cleaning of Shivan temple near Hanuman Mandir by the Green brigade of Rameshwaram Kapi Teertham near the Pamban bridge was waiting for its renovation. The work started in November Private public partnership? Nay! All stakeholders including Pamban panchayat joining the hands by not only providing tractors but also manpower Enthusiastic community participation in cleaning the age old Kapi teertham opp. to Ramakrishna Tapovanam school
Visions of Wisdom Man to become better creature The environmental crisis is an outward manifestation of a crisis of mind and spirit. There could be no greater mis-conception of its meaning than to believe it to be concerned only with endangered wildlife, manmade ugliness, and pollution. These are part of it, but more importantly, the crisis is concerned with the kind of creature that man is and what we must become in order to survive. The science of genetics, biochemistry, physiology, pharmology and ecology have begun to reveal the linkages between the behavior of man and the environment out of which we evolved and to which we are, in important ways inexorably bound. Science has not exorcised the presence of evil in the world, but it has revealed its nature. Lynton K.Caldwell Professor and Recognised as a world expert in the area of politics and Environment Change your lifestyle The real challenge is to find a way of dismantling the consumer society and replacing it with a society which in satisfactions and pleasures which make shopping and material acquisition pale by comparison. The switch depends on individual lifestyle changes and an increase in creative expression, as well as on a restoration of community bonds and determination to find ways of demonstrating a way of life which is attractive and exciting. As our values change, our ideas about appropriate consumption will change naturally and painlessly. Telling people that they will have to consume less is a mistake. We ought to be talking about a more satisfying and sustaining society, not one of hardship and deprivation. By demonstrating that we can find our satisfactions in our work, in physical activity and the natural world, and in loving relationships, by living with vitality and joy and courage without becoming smug or puritanical, we have a good change of promoting the necessary changes in the values of our society Karen Christensen American entrepreneur & Environmentalist West is a Waste! We must resist the violence of Western civilization. Their wealth is founded on a history of plunder, genocide, colonization and war. We must oppose the violence inherent in capitalism itself. We must resist the continued exploitation of the rest of the world by the West. This exploitation is propped up by unequal terms of trade and military might. We must resist the globalization of culture that consumerism necessitates. We must resist the superficiality of mass produced, pop culture and they way it threatens to displace local indigenous cultural production. We must abandon imitative life styles that seek to replicate the hedonism, waste and decadence of the West. Makarand Paranjpe Indian poet & professor Vivekananda Kendra nardep, Kanyakumari-629702 Phone:91-4652-246296 www.vknardep.org