Are there any reliable stewards of this blue planet, today?

Environmental, eco-friendly, green, etc., have become fashionable words. Makes you look very contemporary. It may not save this earth, though. That can happen only if the present generation takes stock of its actions. Today, every textbook, newspaper, magazine talks profusely about environmental problems in vivid details. However, this is a far cry from environment friendly living.

It sustains us. Do we care?
Schools are always busy with projects and programmes on environment, even though children have lost the awe of nature, the curiosity, and most of all respect for nature. Their life is far from the fields and farms. It is dominated by malls, supermarkets, TV shows, and virtual friends. Today’s children don’t even know where water comes from, even though their projects are filled with statistics about plants, animals, rivers around the world. It is no longer a knowledge/awareness problem, it is an attitude problem. ‘How will my action or inaction make a difference to this earth and my surroundings?’ This vital question is not addressed by any school/college exam or project.

The objective of teaching Environment Education (EE) in schools is to bring about an awareness, provide knowledge, build attitudes, develop skills, and encourage participation in nurturing our nature.

A cursory look at the objectives of EE will reveal what is amiss and why, in spite of so much of emphasis on EE and introducing it at all levels, the expected outcome is not seen. The reason being, like all subjects, EE too has become just another subject. The only objectives that got fulfilled are ‘knowledge’ and ‘awareness’. The development of attitudes, skills, and participation got submerged. Hence, we need to stop and think about how we can achieve the vital objectives of EE.

We have caused substantial deterioration of our environment and in turn of the quality of life. We have lost the rhythm of living in harmony with nature even though we know so much. It is imperative that we inculcate the right values and attitudes in the next generation to ensure a sustainable future. But how? More books, CDs, videos, TV shows? No. Lead the children outside the classroom. Go on nature trails, walks, and treks. The attitude to be a faithful steward of the earth will be inculcated only when they come in touch with nature.

The outdoors…
Bringing the children closer to nature will teach them to appreciate, understand, and protect nature. You could explore the outdoors by going on nature trails, treks, or camps. In this article we will talk about nature trails.

What is a Nature trail?

• Usually a beaten path through a wild region. Done by foot, boat, animal back, bicycle, any eco-friendly transport. Distance may be 50 meters to a few kilometers.
• Remember in every natural place – mountain, wooded area, riverside, beach – there is much to be explored, recorded, communicated, and evaluated.

Planning the trail
While selecting a trail, ensure that you choose a theme, such as the river, birds, animals, rocks, insects, reptiles, or plants. Even a spider or an ant could give you a lot of opportunities for exploration and observation on a trail.

The place that you choose should have a bit of a rough terrain to put your fitness to the test, and should also be suitable for adventure, exploration and of course enjoyment. Avoid environmentally sensitive and fragile areas. The expert could be of help.

Organizing the trail

• Time your trail according to your theme. For example, if you are interested in frogs, ferns, fishes, migratory animals, which can be observed only in a particular season, then plan the trail accordingly.
• The trail shouldn’t be too long or too tough if you are going with small children. See that the trail is feasible for the target age group.
• Schedule for rest, breaks, water points, physical problems. The time to start the trail should be in accordance with the weather. Appropriate water points, breaks, rest, etc., should be planned in advance.
• Your route must have enough to keep the children interested and see that you don’t cause any destruction to the environment.
• Plan the route in such a way that it is a bit adventurous and gives more opportunities to observe. Crossing a tiny stream, negotiating climbs, rocky places make the trail interesting and challenging. It encourages cooperation and understanding of nature.
• The facilitator/expert must have good communication skills and technical knowledge,. A thorough knowledge of the place, its flora, fauna, its uniqueness, along with an interesting communication style makes the trail meaningful.

Trail tips

• The topography of the place should be taken into consideration while planning for the trail. The dress and footwear should be in accordance to both topography and weather.
• Check for necessary equipment. Binoculars, spotting scopes, cameras, video cameras, sound recorders are essential on a trail.
• Time required to cover the distance. The time required to cover the distance should be estimated taken into consideration rest and breaks.
• Special conditions on the trail. The spots of special attention on the trail like slippery place, infested place, presence of a particular plant or animal should be made clear to the group before the trail begins.
• Make sure that you leave the place as undisturbed as possible. Sufficient information about the plants both big and small, insects, reptiles, and others should be given during the briefing before the trail begins. The delicate interdependence and the harm that stamping or crushing can do to plants and small animals should be made known.
• Carry First aid supplies and plan what you may need to do/whom to call in an emergency. Also ensure that the group is protected from ticks, leeches, etc. You can use insect repellent sprays/ointments and wear appropriate clothing/footwear.
• Carry adequate food, water. Give proper instructions.

Most important is to brief the group about the trail movement in groups, the time for breaks, use of observation checklist. Most important of all, not to make any kind of noise, rather speak softly. Record all observations as photos, drawings, and descriptions. Rather than going near the object, use binoculars. Use a sound recorder.

While on the trail
Keep the group alert by asking, theme related questions during the breaks to get their responses and clear doubts.

• Practice conservation while walking the trail. Do not soil the trail. Avoid littering. Bring back your waste paper, plastic, etc.
• Avoid trampling over undisturbed spots. Use the beaten path.
• Keep observation checklist, books, reference materials at hand.

Ending the nature trail
The trail should not end abruptly. It should end with detailed discussions about the observations by different groups. Photos, videos taken could be shown. The observation checklists could be shared. Reference books, field guides should be used to explain the observations, and clear doubts. The experience should allow the group to relate theoretical information, prevalent environmental challenges with observations. Current local environmental problems may become more real and vivid.

Tomorrow’s Citizenry
Moulding a sensitized and responsible generation remains the aim of education. More specifically EE gears towards achieving the five objectives mentioned earlier. Unless the attitudes, skills, participation objectives are achieved, environmental problems will inflate. The Objectives of EE cannot be achieved by assimilation of vast knowledge only, rather by real life experiences of one’s surroundings. Nature trails, treks, camps are all beneficial to achieve the multipronged objectives of EE at all levels. Nature trails may sound very insignificant, but they can sow the seed for environmental conservation in young minds.

There is an urgent need for more individuals who are eager to find innovative solutions to perennial and irreversible problems the world is facing. We are moving towards the inevitable condition – an uninhabitable earth and severe scarcity of resources. Can we give this planet, our home, a chance to sustain life rather than head towards catastrophe?

The author is Associate Professor at GVM’s Dr. Dada Vaidya College of Education, Ponda, Goa. She can be reached at aneena2007@gmail.com.

Just like with everything else in life, when you take something from the Earth you have to give something in return. Learning how to use the resources that we have efficiently is now not just a matter of empathy for the natural world, but an urgent necessity. It is because of this that it is essential that we embrace the concept of sustainability.

So, what is sustainability? Simply put, it is the ability to satisfy the basic needs – environmental, social, and economic – of the community in existence today while ensuring that the ability of the future generations to meet these needs is not compromised. It is about enjoying a better quality of life while caring for the environment and enabling those in the other parts of the world to enjoy the same.

In recent years, many schools and colleges have included environmental science in their curricula. And as has been emphasized in various forums, the study of the ecology and the environment, however, has to go beyond the classroom and into the playground of reality. It is in the schooling age that there is an opportunity to inculcate a sense of ownership and responsibility for the world we live in. The idea of sustainability must, therefore, be deeply integrated into school curricula and practices.

Education and awareness
While it is difficult for children to intuitively understand the dynamics of big issues like climate change or rising sea levels, environmental activists have translated these issues into everyday mantras that are easy to grasp and follow – the four Rs, for instance. It is essential to emphasize the importance of these: Reduce, Re-use, Recycle, and Re-think, while dealing with water, waste, air, energy, and bio-diversity.

Reduce

• Promote the saving of energy by emphasizing the importance of switching off electrical appliances when not needed or the use of alternatives (like halogen bulbs).
• Conserve water by making signs to remind others to do so or keep track of the quantity of water each student uses in a day.
• Encourage students to walk or cycle to school or to use public transport, reducing the number of cars on the road and the pollution that goes with them.

Re-use and Recycle

• Incorporate recycling in school activities using newspaper for art work and to cover books.
• Place bins within the school for paper and cardboard and plastic (re-used to make folders, bird houses), separate from the rest of the waste.
• Start a vermicompost and compost program to handle food waste.
• Use the compost to grow vegetables, if space allows, for the children to learn gardening and the benefits of organic farming.
• Collect rain water to water the plants.

Re-think

• Lead by example and use a jute or cloth bag instead of a plastic one.
• Promote healthy choices, replacing chips with fresh fruit and colas and fizzy drinks with healthier options like water, buttermilk, and juice. This will not only make one healthier, but avoiding packaged products will have a positive effect on the environment in the long run.
• Hold discussions on topics like doing one’s bit to take care of animals, in addition to the more macro topics like alternative sources of energy and global warming.
• Screen videos like the ‘Story of stuff’ (http://www.storyofstuff.com/), which looks at production and consumption patterns.
• Ensure the inclusion and participation of everyone in the school and its surroundings.

You could perhaps ask the children to come up with additional ways of achieving sustainability that relate more closely to their surroundings and lives.

For schools located in urban areas, buying office equipment from local firms, which are closing down, will help reuse the equipment and save money. Encouraging staff and students to take up car-pool arrangements could reduce the fuel used. Given the Indian climate, the use of solar panels or windmills will help reduce the carbon footprint, as can be seen from the practices of the Centre For Learning (CFL), Bangalore. Mr. Ashok Biradar, Administration Coordinator, says that the windmill and two solar panels installed take care of all the lighting, computer, and heating facilities of the centre, with only the kitchen and canteen being on the regular grid. While the cost of installation is high, the benefit of being ‘green’ is a good bargain, not to mention the low monthly electricity bills.

Visits to a landfill, gardening, volunteer drives to clean up the surroundings, field trips to observe the food web to get a greater understanding of the various forms of life, and similar initiatives would motivate children to take things further.

For instance, Vikramshila Education Resource Society, a non-profit NGO based in Kolkata works on the philosophy that the use of dialogue and participation ensures holistic learning. For instance, the topic ‘Water’ is dealt with in a manner where questions about its sources, supply, quality, usage, availability, and treatment of the waste water become part of the discussion. Drawing from daily life experiences, children get to share their views, brainstorm about ways to tackle the water crisis and discuss the importance of water in their lives.

Understanding the link between their current actions and the impact it would have on their future, students would come to accept sustainability as an integral part of their daily lives.

At the end of the day, the focus of schools should not just be on academic achievement but on inculcating a sense of environmental ownership and responsibility in the students. As to the Earth, the only planet known to harbour life, by leading healthy, environmentally friendly, and energy- efficient lives, we can give something back.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rethink

earthian – A program by WIPRO intends to help with this. Their annual awards program has been designed to propel critical thinking, reflection, and analysis by students, on issues such as climate change, cities, homes, policies, and technologies, to get a better understanding of sustainability. Students of schools and colleges have to make suggestions and come up with different approaches to counter environmental and ecological challenges.

The award money given to the selected institutions would enable the implementation of a ‘sustainable campus’ with facilities for water harvesting or utilizing solar power. It could also be used to create a lab for innovative projects and experiments. The students of these institutions would have the opportunity to interact with research organizations and specialists. Mr. Lingaraj Dinni, manager of the Sustainability Program Office says, “Teachers are an integral part of the program and the students, being active participants, could become the agents of change.” Read more about the awards at www.wipro.org/earthian.

The Gobar Times Green Schools Award, conducted every year by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in New Delhi, is given to schools that have implemented practices to efficiently manage natural resources. The students form teams and do a survey of the environmental practices of their own schools. Salwan Public School, New Delhi, is one of the schools that participated in the programme over the past few years and has consistently come in the top ten. The school has recharge wells and dual-system flushes to help conserve water. Collected tetra-pack cartons are recycled into books. Ms.Radhika Lalla, who is in charge of their eco-club says, “Although the students are involved, to make a greater impact more schools and the community should come together.” CSE also has an Environment Education Unit that conducts a two-day school training programme for teachers, students and others interested in bringing about changes in their school practices. Read more about the awards at www.cseindia.org.

The author is a student of MA Communication (Print and New Media) at the University of Hyderabad. She can be reached at dchoudary@gmail.com.

The one thing that comes to most people’s minds when a tree comes in their way is an axe. They don’t think twice about cutting down beautiful trees that might even be a 100-years old. However, there is one person who does things differently – businessman/artist/environmentalist – Vijayaram, who has started the Society for Awareness & Vision on Environment in Hyderabad. Apart from anti-plastic campaigns, distribution of clay Ganeshas, water harvesting, and tree planting, SAVE now offers the service of tree translocation.

As shown in the photo-essay below, a tree needs to be prepared before it is translocated. Depending on the size, it costs anywhere between Rs 10,000 to Rs 30,000 to translocate one tree. Apart from money, this cause needs a deep love of nature, time, and dedication. Vijayaram needs all the help anyone can give him to further this endeavour, especially in the light of the fact that 5000 trees are going to be felled when the metro-rail project takes off in this overcrowded city. Vijayaram says, “If the government could allocate some place to translocate these 5000 trees, it could become a beautiful green space that the tourism department could subsequently develop.”

Contacts: Phone:040-2764 0006 / Email: letssave@gmail.com / http://www.the-savefoundation.org.

Vijayaram doing a puja as a gesture of asking forgiveness of the tree

The lower branches are cut for ease of transport

Straw is wound around the whole trunk and the tree is tied using a thick rope to give it support

A growth hormone is applied to the secondary roots; the base of the tree is filled with soil and a bag is tied around it. This is then left for three months, during which time the roots and the straw-covered trunk are watered every day. Proper watering is extremely important.

Teachers could help by creating awareness among children in schools or by signature campaigns to the government

The tree is shifted three months later, after another ceremonial prayer to the tree. Note that the earth has been freshly dug to uncover the bag.

A lot of manpower is needed during the shifting, especially if the tree is in the compound of a building. Utmost care is needed so the tree does not fall on any structure and no one gets hurt.

The tree is brought down carefully…

…a crane picks it up and takes it to the place where it will be re- planted with the hope that it will thrive in its new environment. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t… a lot depends on the care given after the tree is re-planted.

My first forays into understanding the need for what is today called “locale specific” learning was made when I visited the Andaman and Nicobar Islands some eight years ago. The islands are unique in many respects. They support a variety of habitats – tropical rain forests, deciduous forests, mangroves, littoral forests and beaches and coral reefs. These habitats are a hotspot for biological diversity and support a number of endemic species of plants and animals. The islands are also home to the Onge, Jarawa, Great Andamanese, Shompen, Sentinelese and the Nicorbarese tribes. All these tribes, excepting the Nicobarese, face extinction.

As I travelled around the islands, I discovered how rich the place was in history, geography, culture and wildlife. However, our interactions with the school educational system (with department officials, Headmasters and teachers) and with school curricula and text books showed a sad disconnect between students’ immediate surroundings and classroom learning.

There was no exposure to the wealth of the islands’ species and the ecosystem diversity, or to the threats that the islands face. One may ask why all this is important enough to warrant inclusion into school-level curricula. The reasons are many. The tragic tsunami of 2004 threw up a stark reminder of how important learning could be for just sheer survival. One may recall reading how Tilly Smith, a young student, helped save the lives of scores of persons in Thailand because, having learnt about it in a geography class, she was able to recognise the receding tide as a sign of an impending tsunami. If this were common knowledge to coastal communities, then far more lives would have been saved.

The islands threw up many examples that showed that learning about the environment one lives in is linked to survival, safety and livelihoods: the knowledge that corals are living organisms and that coral reefs protect the coast and hence are not to be treated as stone to be used for construction purposes; that stands of mangroves are a first line of protection against a storm; or that species that are introduced to the islands from outside may cause a lot of damage to the habitat like the Spotted deer and the African giant snail have done, to mention just a few.

Children’s early reading and learning experiences must move from the familiar to the unfamiliar. This facilitates success which is crucial in the early years of education. We often forget how strongly children relate to their immediate surroundings and their experiences. This was vividly illustrated to me by a child who lived in a small village in the Himalayas, who was very concerned when I told her that I lived in a city where there were no mountains. “How does the sun rise everyday if there are no mountains?” she asked – she was so used to seeing the sun rise from behind the mountains!

My subsequent travels to a very different bio-geographic region (the cold deserts of Ladakh) reinforced the case for site-specific learning. In one of my early trips to Ladakh I interacted with a group of class X students who were in an English Conversation class. Given my interest in wildlife, Isoon found myself asking them what wildlife Ladakh had. Pat came the answer: ‘Tigers.”

In all the formal years of schooling that this group had been through, their text books spoke of tigers and lions. The charts displayed on the walls of their classroom had pictures of elephants, zebras, rhinos and giraffes! Nowhere in their entire school learning did they hear of Snow leopards, marmots or blue sheep. Their education did not teach them to feel proud of the Ladakh urial, a species of wild sheep that is endemic to Ladakh! Nor did it help them feel concerned about the Tibetan antelope whose underfur was used in making shahtoosh shawls.

The problem with the text books is not limited to what they do not portray: what they do portray is equally problematic: trains, coconut trees, ships, road traffic signals, etc. Take for example, a class 4 EVS text book prepared according to national guidelines. The book has a chapter on “Care and Protection of the Environment.” Some of the activities that it indicates as wasteful are: each family member driving a car, the son bathing under a shower, a fan left on by the daughter. None of these will apply to a region like Ladakh, where most children walk to school, many rural houses do not have taps let alone showers, and where the only appliance used to regulate room temperature are room heaters in winter! The chapter on balanced diets will not help Ladakhi children to learn how they should make their diets healthy. The recommended list of foods does not include what they eat!

How does one expect primary school children living in the Himalayas, over 11,000 feet above sea level to relate to these with ease? Most textbooks had no reference to Ladakh at all. And if they did (usually only at middle and high school levels) they were full of erroneous facts: a desert region with no vegetation; a vast sandy desert; an area where all settlements are along the River Indus and so on.

The sad situation was partly corrected by an innovative collaboration called Operation New Hope (ONH) between the government in Leh and a local NGO called SECMOL. Under ONH, locally relevant text books for English and EVS were produced for the primary school level. The EVS text books for classes 4 and 5 were published by the Jammu and Kashmir State Board. These text books were produced for Leh district in 2003 and 2004. They are currently being used in all the government schools in the district.

A glance at the list of contents tells us how relevant and meaningful these are to Ladakhi children: they include chapter names such as Wild Plants of Ladakh; Making a Building Warm; Wild Animals of Ladakh; Life in a Farming Village; Some Historical Monuments of Ladakh and The Life of Nomads.

The examples that have been used to illustrate the need for locale specificity are from two ecosystems that harbour rich biodiversity. However, the need to move from the familiar to the unfamiliar and to enable children to observe, understand and feel for their local environment, are as important in any ecosystem, region, city, etc.

“How local should locale-specific be?” was a question that was posed recently at an environment education conference. There will be no simple answer to that in a country like India, which has such different regions, cultures, peoples, languages, lifestyles, etc. However, the challenge facing our policy makers, administrators, educationists, text-book writers and teachers will be how best to address such diverse needs. How do we make school learning meaningful to children’s present situations and to their future lives?

The author works with Kalpavriksh, an environment action group. She is a trained special educator and has worked with children with multiple disabilities in Delhi for 10 years. She can be reached at: kvedu@vsnl.net

I have always loved the picturesque, bizarre yet beautiful balancing rocks of the Deccan. They are like the clouds… designed by nature, and open to many interpretations. They are as awe-inspiring as any other wondrous creation of nature – the sea, the river, or the snow-capped mountains or the rainforests.

Having grown up in Warangal and Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh, I have always been surrounded by these rockscapes. The name Warangal itself comes from the word ‘Orugallu’, which means ‘single stone’. As children, when our parents drove us to Hyderabad and back, we always watched out for the balancing rocks of Madikonda just before Kazipet, and we knew we were home. My children do that now, each time we go to visit my parents. These balancing rocks stand there just as they did during my childhood, and during my father’s childhood, so he tells me.

As teenagers, my brother and I, with our cousins and friends, used to climb the rocks close to my home. There was something mysterious and exciting about the climb, and though fagged out, we felt free and happy afterward.

It was after a gap of several years that I re-discovered the joys of climbing rocks. Faced with depression and a minor (but seemingly major to my mind) health problem owing to the sudden death of my friend-philosopher-guide, I was searching for something that would help me get back to my state of well being. I decided to take up some physical activity, and so joined a group in Hyderabad that goes trekking on the rocks.

This time the rocks played a therapeutic role. It did me good to get away from the polluted city and breathe some fresh air; the climbing gave me much-needed confidence in my physical ability, and being with a group made me feel better emotionally. I slowly recovered from my ailment, and once again reached a stage when I could breathe deep and feel plain and simply happy at just standing there, on top of a rock or looking at wild flowers that I could never find in the best of parks in Hyderabad.

I began to feel close to nature again. On one walk we found peacock feathers, on another a porcupine quill, on yet another, we spotted a fox. Peacocks were common as also multi-hued chameleons thatalways seemed deep in thought! Sometimes we saw a snake or a rabbit or a strikingly patterned insect. The most recent thrill was when I spotted a red velvet mite (birba buddi, arudra purugu, often called “velvet boochies” by school children), an insect I had not seen for years. I was overwhelmed at this opportunity to show it to my children.

Apart from the flora and fauna, the rocks themselves were fascinating. The shapes were always different and the balancing rocks never ceased to amaze. I discovered the ‘mushroom rock’ in Central University, the ‘hamburger rock’ in Gachibowli, the ‘mother and child rock’ near Kaithlapur, the ‘tortoise rock’ in Jubiliee Hills, and many others.

And each time I was among the rocks, I felt humbled… like the rivers, the seas and the mountains, how much these rocks may have witnessed! Before them, we are but a speck of dust that is blown in the wind…

But you may be wondering, why this sentimental personal journey in a magazine for teachers?

It is because these rocks are now endangered – they represent excellent material for concrete, sought by the greedy and rapidly expanding real estate machinery. People in general, and teachers in particular, need to be sensitised to the beauty and importance of rocks so that they can in turn educate children.

On one of our recent walks to the rocks near Kaithlapur, off Sanathnagar, we found that the rocks were in the backyard of a construction site; nevertheless, we climbed up only to find the huge boulders drilled with holes. Dynamite would soon blow them up and these seemingly unconquerable, millions-of-years-old granite monoliths would give way to ugly dwellings for human beings. It was a tragic sight. This sight has become common on the outskirts of the city, as also around other cities that share a similar landscape – in Karnataka and parts of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. One often sees blasted rocks being processed by huge stone crushers.

I believe that a sensitive human being can make a difference to the world. And if one sensitive adult can make it her/his duty to influence even a few children, over the years there will be many more sensitive adults than there are now. We need to do something to preserve the gifts that nature has given us, or our children will be forced to live in gray-brown, tree-less and rock-less, car – and building-filled surroundings.

The Society to Save Rocks, with whom I go on treks, has been doing a lot of good work to protect these granite formations in and around Hyderabad. The Society was started in 1996. Anyone is welcome to join, participate in the efforts to preserve rocks, and go on nature treks to different rocky areas. The treks happen on the third Sunday of every month, and are usually held in the afternoon, and sometimes in the morning. Occasionally there is a whole-day trip, such as a very interesting trek I recently participated in, to Devarakonda in Nalagonda district.

The Society to Save Rocks also conducts treks on demand for school children (about 30 primary school children/45 high school children). So if your school is located in Hyderabad, or even if you are located in any other part of India but headed towards Hyderabad for an excursion, it would be a good idea to take the children on a rock trek (Tel. +91 40 23552923; E-Mail: fraukeq@excellmedia.net, frauke@saverocks.org; www.saverocks.org).

Now, don’t be apprehensive – this trek is not like the pictures you see in ads for adventure sports, where they climb steep rocks dangling from a rope. This is simpler and anyone can do it at their own pace…I always feel inspired by the senior citizens (70+ even!) who come on the toughest of treks.

So, put on your caps and shoes, gather together a bunch of kids, and head for the rocks.

As my children say, these balancing boulders… ROCK!

The author, writer and editor, also conducts natural studies activities for children. She can be reached at sadhana_bluepencil@yahoo.com

What you can do to preserve rocks

Every citizen can spread awareness about the beauty and antiquity of the Deccani rockscapes, and the need to preserve them. You will be surprised how many people have never had a good look at those intriguing formations!
You could:

• approach property owners, architects, service organisations and builders and make them aware of the possibility to incorporate rocks in housing colonies, house plans and gardens (our architects can give advice);
• become a member of the Society to Save Rocks and have access to all activities; contribute to the Society’s Newsletter;
• actively participate in identifying rock formations for preservation;
  promote Society action programmes that work with HUDA, the Municipal Corporation, the Revenue Department and Department of Mines and Geology, as well as other government agencies – in Hyderabad and elsewhere;
• help in organising the Society’s events like exhibitions, concerts, film screenings, lectures and awareness work in schools and colleges.

Please contact: Society to Save Rocks, 1236, Road No. 60, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad 500 033, Andhra Pradesh, INDIA; Tel. No. +91 40 23552923; E-Mail: fraukeq@excellmedia.net, frauke@saverocks.org; www.saverocks.org
(From: http://www.saverocks.org)

Working to save a geological heritage

Rock sites constitute a very important geological heritage of the Deccan-southern peninsular India. These rocks are observed to cover considerable areas of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and are amongst some of the oldest rocks in the world. Geologists estimate their age to be 2500 million years.

The rocks contribute to the interesting landscapes and serve an important ecological function. What fascinates the common person is the fantastic shapes which they have assumed and the peculiar position in which they sit on top of each other, or in mutual neighbourhood. They harbour flora and fauna and many are known to support water conservation by recharging the groundwater through subterranean passages. They are also responsible for the formation of lakes and other water bodies.

Unfortunately, most of them are threatened by quarrying for metal or stones for construction. Their destruction will mean not only loss of a rich heritage having intrinsic as well as recreational and tourist value, but also of national features having botanical, geological and zoological importance which may hold the key to our future environmental health and environmental programmes.

Some persons in Hyderabad concerned about the rapid destruction of this geological heritage formed the ‘Society to Save Rocks’ in 1996 (http://www.saverocks.org). Their aim was to protect these unusual and fascinating rocks, which, due to increasing construction activity, were falling victim to quarrying and blasting. They gave names to various rocks in the environs of their city depending on their shapes. The Society mobilised public opinion and moved the government against indiscriminate destruction of rocks. Apart from aesthetics, the role played by rocks in the ecology of the area was also stressed. As a result of these activities, the government declared nine rock formations as protected under the Hyderabad Urban Development Zonal Regulations. (From: Rock sites of Andhra Pradesh, Volume 1, published by Society to Save Rocks, 2004).

Note: In February 2009, another 15 rock sites have been notified by the government as Heritage Precincts, on the recommendation of the Society.

Some environmental issues

Other parts of India also have their unique landscapes – rocky and otherwise, and flora and fauna that play a very important role in maintaining the balance in the ecosystem. Encourage the children in your classrooms and homes to take note of how things are changing in their surroundings in response to the demands of urban spread and the growing population. Some examples of environmental concerns in other parts of India:

• Sparrows are disappearing from many places all over India.
• The pollution of river Ganga in Uttar Pradesh endangers people as also dolphins and many other fish that live in it.
• The Olive Ridley turtles in Orissa are being affected by pollution, nets, bright industrial lights and the building of the Dhamra Port near the beaches.
• Red pandas have disappeared from Sikkim because of tree-cutting.
• In the tiger sanctuaries of Madhya Pradesh (Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Pench), tiger numbers are dwindling.

Some success stories include Romulus Whitaker’s efforts to save the three endangered Indian crocodile species by setting up the Madras Crocodile Bank in 1976; another is that of the declaration, in 1984, of Silent Valley in Kerala into a national park, owing to efforts by conservationists who protested against the setting up of a hydroelectric project there; and the famous Chipko movement in Chamoli in Uttarakhand where women hugged trees to protect them from being felled.

These instances show that if common people make up their mind, a lot can be achieved.

(Information taken from: ‘Amazing India: a state by state guide’ by Anita Vachharajani and Amit Vachharajani; Scholastic India 2009)