Moi at Childerns park

Oh yeah I spent a day at the Guindy children’s park(GCP)!
One of these days I got a call from Murali asking if I cud spend sometime with the Kids at GCP. I thought it was a good idea to spend time with kids of Sevalaya (orphanage). But later (when I was there) I came to know that this was TERI sponsored program and that students from some 30 schools were coming. I was to give them gyan on environment and to spend time with them and to go around the park. For the uninititated, GCP has lotsa trees, animals, snakes and lotsa info on ecology. There is also a snake park in the adjoining campus.
So what shud I do? I had to think, decide and implement in few minutes what I had to share with the kids.
I thought I will say a few words about how we (my generation) and my previous generation screwed it up by thinking only of ‘development’ and ignored the ecology. We used up so much of the natural resources indiscriminately that now it’s a great environmental blunder. Then some more small examples of how we over did as a community.

Then I had to put things easily and give them 3 points. 3 easy steps for them to personally implement and carry home and start from NOW.

1/ Trees are the best solutions. Almost all problems will come to this as a solution. (oxygen, food, shelter, shade, rain, global warming, what not?). to make things easy I asked them what all man needs to live. All that they said were got from trees. Then when I asked them what are needed to grow a tree? All that they said was what we were wasting or not using like CO2, manure, soil, (waste) water, etc and ofcourse sun for photosynthesis..but they didn’t mention Man! Yes, man to water it and take care of it until it catches up.
So asked them all to plant saplings anywhere and everywhere, maintain it for 2 seasons and they would have done a great job for their own future. In essence We cant just plant like the politicos do for photo op and leave. But plant every where- in and around schools, home, neighbourhood, on the way home.

2/ Carry cloth bag or jute bag or an old plastic bag. Just don’t get/buy a new carry bag ever any more. These substandard carry bags which live for just a few seconds and that too only to help (y)our laziness is a NO-NO. all of u shud avoid carry bags and any more of plastic in any ways will do a great good to the world.

3/ Water. The next world war can only e on this. May be 2 decades from now people may not believe we used to take bath in 10s of litres of fresh water and we washed our cars with fresh water. So re use waste water (to garden etc) and be very conscious of usage of water. Try and pitch in more towards reuse of water and waste water recycling.

I would have liked to add or replace one of the above with “avoid overt consumerism”. IMO the mindless consumerism, buying so many things just about anytime anywhere and anyhow is a bad burden on ecology.
What say u?
Would you folks have any different thing to say?
Come on shoot. This shall help- me, the kids and ur own future.
So comment here folks..

Note: towards the end, one student came to me with all innocence and asked me, ‘so what did u do?’. I didn’t get it, she again asked ‘u said u screwed up..so what did u do..’ oops..kiddoo, I said my generation in general..so no gossip about me personally..sorry to disappoint u:-)