Expressions Vol. 2 Issue 8

1ExpressionS JANUARY 2012

ExpressionSV O L U M E 2 I S S U E 8J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 2

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thereaders’expressions

from the editors’ desk

Shubhodeep PalCopy and Desk Editor, Expressions

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What an exhilarating journey it has been! Two years gone, and quite a bit done. iCARE has become the face of environmental change in Dehradun. Having successfully seated itself in the minds of school children in Doon – arguably the most important and impressionable demographic – it’s now looking to “own” a pan-India audience and effect change on a much larger scale. Already there are promising signs of things to come. Dehradun is no longer the limiting fac-tor. iCARE is now a national organization with its scope and adjec-tives firmly in sync with national as well as local needs. Last year we organized the First Alternate Energy Summit in Uttarakhand to resounding appreciation and praise. This is just a sign of things to come. This is just the beginning.

As we embark on a path of bringing change on a much larger scale, here’s what we believe the theme for the next year should be: No excuses, no complaints. No excuses because tak-ing responsibility is the urgent need of the hour. No longer can we keep shirking our duty and expect our neighbours or friends or elders to bear the burden of change for which we’re responsible. Start with small things. Switch off the lights, conserve energy, conserve water, plant trees. Don’t expect others to do it. The earth needs as many people as possible to pro-tect it. Will you be a bystander or an active agent of change?

And yes, no compaints either. We Indians have a habit of complain-ing too much. We’re too short on action and too big on grandiose words. We need to stop being a nation of armchair critics. If you have a problem with something, either change it or stop cribbing. If someone cuts down a tree, yes it might not always be possible to fight that person. But why not plant another tree instead? If you dis-like something that’s happening, step up to stop it. Stop blaming the country, its politicians, and the system. Stop blaming anyone other than yourself. I often hear people say things like “this country has

no future”. Yes, if young, healthy, able people sit and crib and utter doomsday predictions, this country will indeed have no future. Think something’s wrong? Ask yourself first what you’re doing to stop it.

Most importantly, learn to accept that thing won’t always go your way. And indeed they shouldn’t. Stop dreaming about perfection. Perfection is an illusion. We need and want de-velopment, better living conditions, better homes as much as we need a green environment. Stop kidding yourself that the two can’t exist together. Both types of change are essential: the one that betters our infrastructure, living conditions, economy as well as that that makes our environment safer, the climate cooler. Know that different types of change can co-exist. Be change-worthy!

Karishma GulatiFeatures Editor, Expressions

There is surely a ray of hope when we see youngsters working tireless in ensuring people are made aware about the current environmental scenarios. Expressions is leading the way. Wishing you all the very best. Rajat Sharma

Photo story by Sandeep Mall has left me speechless.

Sonali Chander

The content and the creativity of Expressions is right up with the best.Wishing you all the very best. Karim Khan

Articles by Isabelle Richaud and Christina Bush have and are always among my favorites. Abhinav Shishodia

Congratulations for the success of the Energy Summit. Being a student I wish I could participate in the event. Look forward to many more successful events in the past. Dheeraj Bisht

My favorite article was the one on Water Quality. The article was so informative that after having read it I could realize the seriousness of the issue and what amazes me how ignorant most of us are when it comes to Water and problems relating to the same. Lalit Kumar

Liked your new column – Radio Active. Can’t wait for the Jan issue. Keep up the good work.Wishing the team all the very best in their future endeavors. Swaraj Gupta


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From Dehradun to Rio Isabelle Richaud

The Himalayan Expedition 3 Gunajit Brahma

Snowflake - Winter ’s Butterfly Surbhi Arora

Rhino in Crisis Christina Bush

Radio Active Sean Southey

Jayanthi Natarajan Sneha Pande

ExpressionS ExpressionSthe expressions INSIDE

icareINDIAbringing people together

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PHOTO STORY

BOOK REVIEW

IN THE NEWS

Soumya Sengupta

Kartik Subramaniam

Yudhishter Puran Singh

FOUNDER & EDITOR

Akshay Madan CREATIVE EDITOR & DESIGNER

KarishmaGulatiFEATURESEDITOR

Harshit SinghNEWS EDITOR

Sandip Puran SinghPHOTO STORY SELECTION

Shubhodeep Pal COPY & DESK EDITOR

Pooja Bhatt SENIOR EDITOR

Views and opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of Expressions., its publisher and/or editors. We at Expressions do our best to verify the information published but do not take any responsibility for the absolute

accuracy of the information

ALL EDITORIAL QUERIESMUST BE DIRECTED TO

The Editor, Expressions,51-A Subhash Road, Dehradun 248140, Uttarakhand, IndiaM: +919411114921, Fax: 011-66173614

PERMISSIONSFor permissions to copy or reuse material from EXPRESSIONS, write to [email protected]

SUBSCRIPTION SERVICESFor subscription queries,write to [email protected]

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MainakBhattacharyaMARKETING

cover and magazine design akshay madan

2 SUCCESSFULYEARS

RIGHT FROM THE HEART

I SPEAK FOR ICARE

ICARE LEADS THE WAY

EXPRESSIONS TURNS 1

UTTARAKHAND’S FIRSTRENEWABLE ENERGY SUMMIT

This emagazine is user interactive.Click on above page numbers to navigate to the respective section.

To arrive back on this index page, Click on the bottom left corner of any even numbered page


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World View

Isabelle Richaud

A 30-year-old citizen of the world, Isabelle Richaud works in Antwerp, Belgium for the European branch of TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute, based in New Delhi).

For two years now, icare has delighted thousands of readers with its truly inspiring magazine. Thanks to the dedication

and talent of its young creators, Expressions has become a mas-terpiece of environmental activism in Dehradun and beyond.

Another important anniversary for the environmental move-ment is to be celebrated this year. On 4-6 June 2012 the ‘Rio+20 Conference’ will take place in Brazil to mark the an-niversary of the 1992 Earth Summit. In June 1992, the world’s attention was focused on the Earth Summit of Rio de Janeiro, which concluded two years of preparatory meetings. The Sum-mit was the largest-ever meeting of world leaders and repre-sented a milestone in defining and implementing sustainable development and raising people’s awareness on this topic.

As part of the Earth Summit, national leaders signed the Agen-da for the 21st Century (i.e. Agenda 21), which was intended as a programme of action towards the implementation of sus-tainable development, and which remains a reference on this matter. In addition to setting up a global agenda, this document also detailed an intensive role for local authorities. On the occasion of the Earth Summit, the United Nations Framework

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Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was also adopted, with the aim to stabilise atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. The Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997 as part of the UNFCCC and ratified in 2005, has imposed the first and only mandatory targets for cuts in GHG emissions on most industrialised countries.

The Rio conference was the second of a series of international environmental con-ferences, which started with the Stockholm Conference in 1972, and which accompa-nied the progressive momentum in favour of sustainable development. Out of the Stock-holm Conference that year the United Nation Environment Programme was created, with a mandate to promote the idea of an environ-mentally-sound development.


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Despite more than a century of industrialisation and its associated impacts on the local and global environment, it was not before the mid-20th century that concerns about the global degradation of the natural environment caused by the unfettered pursuit of economic growth started to receive attention. One of the first clarion calls was sounded by Rachel Carson who published her pioneering book called Silent Spring in 1964, in which she con-demned the harmful environmental impacts caused by the use of pesticides. A next stage of concern was attained when the Club of Rome published in 1972 their influential study called “Limits to growth”, which emphasised the finite nature of several natural resources and the consequence of increase in environmental pollution on existing patterns of eco-nomic growth.

In 1987, the UN-sponsored Brundtland Commission released Our Common Future, a report that captured widespread concerns about the environment and poverty in many parts of the world. The Brundtland report underlines that economic development must change course to fit within the planet’s ecological limits. It popularised the term sustainable development, which it defined as development that meets present needs without compromising the abil-ity of future generations to meet their own needs.

The possibility of human induced climate change was raised as early as 1898 when the Swedish scientist Svante Ahrrenius warned that carbon dioxide from coal and oil burning could warm the planet. 90 years later, witnessing irrefutable increases in global tempera-tures and recurrent changes in the climate system, the international community created the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), with a mandate to assess the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding the risks of human-induced climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.

In 1992, the year of the Earth Summit, more than 1600 of the world’s senior scientists, in-cluding a majority of the living Nobel laureates in sciences, signed an unprecedented Warn-ing to humanity, in which they declared that “human beings and the natural world are on a collision course [...] [that] may so alter the living world that it will be unable to sustain life in the manner that we know”, and concluded: “we, the undersigned senior members of the scientific community, hereby warn all humanity of what lies ahead. A great change in our stewardship of the earth and the life on it is required, if vast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated” .

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1 Union of Concerned Scientists, 2001. 1992 World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity http://www.ucsusa.org/about/1992-world-scientists.html2 http://www.actu-environnement.com/ae/news/objectifs-millenaire-developpement-environnement-2015-11047.php4#xtor=EPR-1

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As slow as the process might be, popular and political concerns about the environmental crisis and the need for another model of development has undoubtedly grown widespread since the first environmental conferences in Stockholm and Rio. But because of the inertia of the ecological system (long-term effects of human activities on the environment) and the human system (slow process of change in mindsets and economic and societal mod-els), the state of the global environment has kept deteriorating during the same period.

Numerous indicators converge to reveal the staggering failure of modern society to ensure its peaceful coexistence with the rest of the biosphere. More than ten years after the adop-tion of the “Millennium Development Goals” (MDGs) – adopted by the United Nations in 2000, aimed at creating a more sustainable and egalitarian society by 2015) – the results have been highly deceiving. While progress has been made in the fields of poverty reduc-tion, fight against HIV/AIDS and education, most of the objectives adopted will not be met by 2015. In particular, all the indicators contained in the objective aiming to “ensure envi-ronmental sustainability” are in the red, according to the 2010 report of the MDGs. And, as emphasised by the report, failing to meet the environmental objectives compromise the possibilities to reach the other MDGs .

In this landmark year in the history of sustainable development, it is more necessary than ever to unite forces from North to South, and from local to global levels, and create a new dynamic that relies on sobriety, efficiency, solidarity and responsibility as guiding princi-ples and values. Let’s wish icare and all those who care for our environment a happy anni-versary and many more years of activism in this endeavour.

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http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/envir_e/climate_impact_e.htm

http://www.ucsusa.org/about/1992-world-scientists.html

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Gunajit Brahma an environmentalist, social worker, volunteer and a poet. He is also an entre-preneur working in the area of renewable energy and plans to make it acces-sible to every individual in this world. He is one of the Partner at Renewable Bazaar (http://renewablebazaar.com/) and is doing PGDM (2010-12) at IIM Indore. He enjoys being closure to nature and likes to trek and cycle with friends.”

This is the third part of a series about TheJourney, Visit to an Old Friend, The Climb, Temple of the Snakes, A Folk Song, the Fire, and the Ganges

As I’ve said earlier, the most difficult part of moun-taineering or trekking is descending, and more so is keeping it clean of plastics and other non-biodegrad-able wastes. Most of the ‘so-called’ disposable plates that we used while in Nag-tibba were collected and taken down to the valley on the back of mules by the local hikers, who accompa-nied us. The small plastic wrappers of the energy bars and candies that we were eating found a dump-yard in my new leather waist bag.We started our descent at around 4pm. Since most of us were too tired or sore to carry our own luggage, we paid a small fee to a local guide to carry our luggage. Normally a mule is used for carrying luggage but since it was getting dark and most of the mules were required in the basecamp, the gentle-man agreed to it.

Mr. O N Brahma (no rela-tion), our guide and consult-ant of India Hikes, told us that he would join us later. So Amit, Alok, Divya, Puspa, Panda and I started our descent without any guide. We were able to manage fine, with steep descent and intuitive trails, when we met our luggage carrier. In a typical Pahari accent, he in-formed us that we were de-scending by one of the most

difficult routes and that the easier route is through the sides of the mountain. Since we were already on our way down, we thought of continuing with the trail. While we were deciding on our next route of trails, our luggage carrier ‘vanished’ in front of our eyes, as he hurried down the mountain range (since he was familiar with the terrain).

Shortly after that we heard a voice from behind. It was Mr. Brahma. That was a relief, as we were kind of lost on which route to take. So was Amit. We could hear Amit’s voice though. Later we ‘discovered’ Amit enjoy-ing the cold water of the mountain, from a villager’s stream. We took a few min-utes of rest near the stream and then continued our descent. Meanwhile, it was getting dark and we had only 2 torches and another 6-7 kms of descent left. The remaining light of that day, Oct. 19, 2011, was used to climb down goat trails and a dangerously steep trail. The trails were so narrow (just enough space to place a single foot) and dangerous, that one wrong step and we would have fallen down into the valley in no time, all crushed to our deaths of course! So we were com-ing down very carefully under the leadership and

guidance of Mr. Brahma. As darkness fell, we switched on our two torches. One was in front and the other one with the last person, as we were walking in a line. That downhill trek was in itself an adrenalin rush which we did by singing songs and joking and laughing (more so to overcome our fear). As we reached further below, Mr. Brahma told us that we need to stay close to each-other and not to panic or shout if we hear weird noises of the night; which in a way, informed us that we needed to pass a jungle.For a long moment (so it seems), there was silence. I guess we were undecided on who should make the first sound, the jungle or us. This silence was soon bro-ken when Mr. Brahma start-ed humming a tune from an old Bollywood movie, a Kishore classic. He had an excellent voice: we were informed by Panda that Mr. Brahma had also sung for a few rock bands in Kolkata. Now the worry of the weird noises of the jungle was gone and overpowered with the desire to sing or hum along with our rock singer. Somewhere behind some animals was screeching, some birds were crying but we were busy in our pursuit of bettering our vocals with the singer.

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Dated: October 19, 2011Participants of IIM Indore at the Nag Tibba

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After we crossed the jungle, it took us another hour to reach Pantwari. Arjun, our driver, and Mr. Brahma’s com-

pany for most of his expedi-tions, was waiting for us. Like a hungry pack of wolves we had our snacks and loads of

tea in Pantwari, before we started our ride back to Mus-soorie.

A FOLK SONG

Mr. Brahma took to the wheels at around 8 pm, as we insisted him to accompany and drive us back to Mus-soorie. After about 5 minutes into the drive, the singing session started again, but as none us of had much energy left, after walking about 13 kms and descending over 5000 feet, we resorted to Arjun’s music system in the vehicle, which had a mix of Hindi and Garhwali songs. One Garhwali song in partic-

ular caught my attention. Al-though I heard the language for the first time, I realised I understood the lyrics of the song quite well. The song may not be a folk per-se, but the originality of the song cannot be denied by history itself. The song is “Na Kata Taun Dalyun” sung by Nar-endra Singh Negi. The mean-ing of the song is “don’t cut the trees, friends, don’t cut the trees”. And how history cannot deny that the modern

Chipko movement was start-ed by the brave women of Garhwal, and I suppose this particular song is a tribute to these brave women.After about half an hour of music, when we were all about to go to sleep, Mr. Brahma suddenly shouted in Bengali “Oye Saala, Baagh-er Baacha, Baagh-er Baacha” <Tiger’s Cub, Tiger’s Cub> and our vehicle came to a stand-still with a screech.

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16 ExpressionS JANUARY 2012

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EGyPTIAN VULTURE (Neophron percnopterus)Location: Desert National Park Rajasthan

Soumya Senguptais an animator by profession and is also an avid photographer whose love for photography is beautifully displayed in these wonderful pho-tographs. He is based in Kolkata,West Bengal and can be reached at [email protected]


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GREEN BEE-EATER (Merops orientalis)Location: Botanical Garden , Howrah West bengal

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BLACKWINGED STILT (Himantopus himantopus)Location: Nawalgarh, Rajasthan



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COMMON KINGFISHER (Alcedo atthis) Location: Chandri, West Medinipur. West bengal

GRAy HEADED STARLING (Sturnus malabaricus) Location Malda.West bengal



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DARTER or SNAKE BIRD (Anthinga melanogaster) Location : Keoladeo Ghana National Park, Bharatpur Rajasthan


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BLUE THROATED BARBET(Megalima asiatica)Location Malda .West bengal


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PAINTED STORK (MyCTERIA LEUCOCEPHALA)LOCATION : KEOLADEO GHANA NATIONAL PARK, BHARATPUR, RAJASTHAN

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It’s that time of the year again – a cold chill running all around, fog on the roads, dewey trees and not to forget, the running noses! Snowfall is enjoyed by people of all ages. Several factors affect snowflake formation like temperature, air currents, and humidity all influence their shape and size. Dirt and dust particles can get mixed up in the water and affect crystal weight and du-rability. The dirt particles make the snowflake heavier, and can cause cracks and breaks in the crystal and make it easier to melt. A snowflake may encounter many dif-ferent environmental conditions, sometimes melting it, sometimes causing growth, and always changing its structure.

Although water normally freezes at zero degrees Cel-sius, pure water vapour in the upper reaches of the atmosphere will freeze only at temperatures colder than -35 degrees Celsius. In order to freeze at warmer temperatures, it is necessary to have nucleates — tiny particles around which water vapor will gather and freeze. One of the simple pleasures of childhood is eat-ing snow. Parents wonder whether it is still safe for kids to eat new-fallen snow as it contains large quantities of Pseudomonas syringae, a type of bacteria that causes diseases in tomato and bean plants. Researchers have discovered that the most common nucleates are not fine dust, as traditionally thought, but bacteria, and among such biological nucleates Pseudomonas syringae is the most widespread. The

Winter’s Butterfly

researchers analyzed 20 samples of snow taken from various places around the world, including even remote places such as Montana, the yukon and Antarctica. Bac-teria levels were high in all the samples. Scientists have wondered what the effect of the bacteria would be on health.

Children get exposed to bacteria all the time from dirt when they are in the playground, so the experts feel that there is not much cause to worry. All food is cov-ered with bacteria, and people eat bacteria all the time, but most of the bacteria get killed in the stomach. Thus, we can say people are safe from the bacteria. However some exceptions are also noted. Babies do not have enough acid in their stomach to kill the bacteria. People with cystic fibrosis also are vulnerable to Pseudomonas. However, there are no clinical reports about children becoming ill from eating snow, which may appear to be reassuring to some.

Kids will be kids after all and we cannot stop them from eating snowflakes, but we can caution them and follow some simple routines to keep them healthy:• Licking a little snow off from the kid’s gloves is likely

to be fine• Refrain them from eating a lot of snow as it might

contain particles from air pollution• Catching snowflakes with tongue is fine but eating it

from the ground may not be a good idea• Never eat yellow snowflakes

ExpressionS DECEMBER 2011 31ExpressionS DECEMBER 201130

SnowflakeBegin doing what you

want to do now.We are not living in

eternity. We have only this moment,

sparkling like a star in our hand and

melting likea snowflake...

Mrs. Surbhi Arora a UGC NET qualified faculty member, with around fourteen years of experi-ence in industry and academics. She is a graduate in Commerce and Law. Presently she is pursuing PhD from UPES in the area of Oil & Gas Manage-ment. She believes that our thoughts lead to actions and actions to results. According to her, hard work and con-sistency have to be the two pillars sup-porting one’s achievement.


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HOTEL INDERLOK, ANEKANT PALACE, 29 RAJPUR ROAD, DEHRADUNFOR TABLE RESERVATIONS 99279 66344

GOuRmET GOES TO PuNJAB

muse gives a gourmet touch to one of the most cherished cui-sines in the world. The butter chicken and chicken tikka masala have made their way from the streets of Amritsar and Patiala all the way to Times Square and Buckingham Palace. Come and

cherish the great heritage of desi ghee and makhan.

Just a word of caution, don’t forget to exercise afterwards.

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bookreviewLife AscendingThe Ten Great Inventions of Evolution

Nick Lane

Genre Life/EvolutionRating 4/5 (By Google Books)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

How did life invent itself? Where did DNA come from? How did consciousness develop? Powerful new research methods are providing vivid insights into the creation of life. By

comparing gene sequences, examining atomic structures of proteins, and looking into the geo-chemistry of rocks, scientists have helped explain evolution in more detail than ever before. Nick Lane expertly reconstructs the history of life by describing the ten greatest inventions of evolution (including DNA, photosynthesis, sex, and sight), based on their historical impact, role in organisms today, and relevance to current controversies. Who would have guessed that eyes started off as light-sensitive spots used to calibrate photosynthesis in algae? Or that DNA’s building blocks were formed spontaneously in hydrothermal vents? Lane gives a gripping, lu-cid account of nature’s ingenuity, and the result is a work of essential reading for anyone who has ever pondered or questioned the science underlying evolution’s greatest gifts to man.

Nick Lane is a British biochemist. He holds the post of honorary reader and is the first Provost’s Venture Research Fellow at University College London and was formerly strategic director at Adelphi MediCine, a medical multi-media company. He is the author of three popular science books and many articles. His latest book, Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolu-tion, won the 2010 Royal Society Prize for Science Books – which is by far one of the most prestigious scientific literature awards pursued by science writers. Life Ascending was a favourite amongst all judges and won over so many other popular books from fields of Chemistry and Physics due to the simple reason of the book’s and topic’s intimacy with readers and its nature by which it made readers understand and comprehend the tough-est science in the easiest possible way.

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RHINOSI N C R I S I S

C R I T I C A L L YE N D A N G E R E D

Christina Bushhas been featured by National Geographic, Animal Planet, ABC’s Ex-treme Home Makeovers, The International Anti-Fur Coalition, The Paw Project and many other organizations around the globe. A lifetime supporter of animal protection and education, she works with groups all over the world using her imagery to help save and improve the lives of animals everywhere, both in the wild and in captivity. This is a very rewarding way for her to turn tremendous value into her passion for wildlife, photography and art. Visit her photo-gallery athttp://www.christinabush.com

Scientific nameRhinocerotidae

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The rhinoceros is a large, primitive-looking mam-mal that weighs between 3000 and 4000 pounds, making it the 2nd largest land mammal next to the elephant. There are five remaining species today: the Black and White rhinos that are na-tive to Africa and the Indian, Sumatran and Javan rhinos that occur in Asia. The black and white rhino in Africa inhabit the “big four” countries of Kenya, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa. The

white rhino’s name is derived from the Dutch word “weit”, in reference to their wide, square muzzle, which has adapted for grazing. They are actually gray, not white, and have a long face and a pronounced hump on the neck. The black, or “hook-lipped”, rhinos are odd-toed ungulates, meaning they have three toes on each foot. They have one or two horns and the longer horn sits at the front

of the nose. They are actually not horns, per se, but thickly matted hair made of keratin

(fingernail material) that grows from the skull without skeletal support. The horns are used

for digging in waterbeds to find water and also to guide their offspring. While the rhino’s eyesight is poor, the sense of smell and hearing are excellent. These herbivores lack front teeth, causing them to rely on their lips to tear off grass or leaves while their molar teeth grind the food. They spend most of their time grazing, sleeping and relaxing in the mud, moistening their tough, thick skin.

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photo courtsey: Aaron Steps through Popular Photographyhttp://www.popphoto.com/photo-contest/2011ReadersContest/photos/all/196634


http://www.christinabush.com

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Rhinos have a symbiotic relationship with oxpeckers, also called “tick birds”, that eat ticks off them and noisily warn of danger. The birds also eat blood from sores on the rhino’s skin, promoting healing. For these reasons they are tolerated. Though generally peaceful when left alone, these enormous giants can be ill-tempered and have become more so in areas where they are constantly disturbed and harassed. When aggressively attacking, the rhino lowers its head, snorts and breaks into a gallop reaching speeds of over 30 miles an hour, striking powerful and violent blows with its horns. Despite its bulk, the rhino is very agile and can quickly turn in a small space. They have various habitats, but mainly reside in the African bush areas with dense, woody vegetation such as grass-lands and open savannas. Their home ranges sometimes overlap with each other, which causes them to share their feeding grounds and watering holes. This is where they go daily to graze and also where they are eas-ily ambushed by poachers. The rhino has no natural predators and must only worry about human attacks.

Since the 1960’s the rhino has been conser-vation’s beacon of despair. Tragically, they live on the cusp of extermination due to poaching and the booming illegal trade in sales of its horn. Africa’s black rhino popula-tion has plummeted to just 2,300 since 1993, according to Rhino Conservation. This is a pitiful number considering the over 100,000 that roamed the continent in 1960. Since then, the world rhino population has de-clined 90%, with three of the five species (the Sumatran, Javan and Black) left classi-fied as Critically Endangered, according to CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). Rhinos are constantly being stalked and mur-

dered by poaching rings that kill them and take their horns for sale in the black market to be used for medicines and ornamental carvings.

Rhinos are also victims of political conflict, instability and hunters who want to kill them simply for their heads to put on display. The usefulness of rhino horn as medicine was re-cently debunked by scientists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, despite the long held belief to the contrary. Millions of peo-ple have believed for centuries in the notion of rhino horn as a cure-all for a wide array of illnesses, including fever and “devil posses-sion”. Some believe it to be an aphrodisiac and others eat preparations of various rhino body parts in hopes it they will acquire magi-cal powers. It is even marketed by medical doctors in China and Vietnam as a treatment for extremely serious illnesses, such as can-cer. Estimates for the price of illegal rhino horn are said to be around $25,000 U.S. per kilogram.

Rhinos are dying for no one’s benefit except the criminals and hunters involved in their killings. The world is losing this species strictly for their financial gain and personal pleasures. Elephant poaching in Africa and Asia is being fueled by China’s booming economy causing pointless deaths and possi-ble extinction. This is the ultimate waste and sad travesty. To save their lives, many con-servation groups have to act as the poach-ers do, sneaking up on the rhinos, capturing them and cutting off their horns. As tragic as this sounds, these people are doing a noble thing - attempting to save the animals from poachers and allowing them to live. If poach-ers see a rhino with no horn they will pass it up, as it is of no worth to them. They only want the horn, which drives the money.

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The price of rhino horn has soared in the Far East where it is said to cure every-thing from nightmares to dysentery. In South Africa, where horn is worth more per gram than cocaine, the monitoring network “Traffic” reported that 333 rhi-nos were killed last year, and 193 in the first 6 months of 2011. There have also been thefts of rhino horns from museums and auction houses in Europe, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Sweden. The Natu-ral History Museum in London has now replaced the real horns with fake ones and some other museums have chosen to remove their collections altogether. An-tique horns tend to be particularly prized because they tend to be larger than wild rhino horns. The steep rise in prices seems to be driven by changes in Europe-an law, which is making rhino horn much harder to sell legitimately as well as the economic boom in China. It is now illegal

to sell rhino horn trophies and mounted horns anywhere in the UK. Stuffed rhino heads can still be sold, but each sale must now be approved. To prevent extinc-tion, many rhinos have been relocated to fenced sanctuaries across Africa.

September 22nd has been named World Rhino Day by the South African World Wildlife Fund and was introduced last year to create awareness of the plight of rhinos. Wildlife organizations and enthu-siasts from around the globe are coming together in a combined effort to highlight the plight of rhinos and the futility of poaching. It is being asked that everyone in the world who cares about rhinos to lift your voice in some way for them. Maybe each person’s small effort can somehow help this species with its battle to survive extinction. They are in peril and desper-ately need our help.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”

Margaret Mead

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Christina BushAnimal Magnetism Wildlife

Awareness column

www.christinabush.com/rhinos.html

www.christinabush.com/rhinos.html


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RIGHT FROM THE HEART


I was 21 just graduated from Mumbai university and was back in Dehradun and

that’s when I decided to form an organiza-tion who could in its own little way help give the youth the exposure and the plat-form to showcase their talent and in return help work towards building a more sustain-able and beautiful tomorrow. That was how icare came into existence. It’s been 2 years and the journey has been worth it to say the least.

When this whole idea was conceived I was virtually clueless as to how and where this would lead to, I may have been a manage-ment student who was made to believe that always think where you want to be 5

years from now and start accordingly but I beg to differ. I am not a visionary andneither do I want to be one, I believe in living the moment, it is today I want to live in and make whatever little difference I can.

icare signifies the power that an individual possesses. I am half as talented as others maybe but the point I would like to stress on is that WE as individuals have a lot to offer if we so wish to. It is very easy to look for flaws and find mistakes in the system but we shouldn’t forget we are part of it. One must have the desire and the urge to bring about a change, we shouldn’t think about what our little effort would eventu-ally lead to but rather just concentrate on making the effort. I as an individual care and have the power to be the change we all wish to see in the society we all live in.

Initially the very first year I had the mam-moth task of recruiting like-minded people into the team and to get them all to believe that each one of them has the power to bring about a change, that was one hell of a task because our education system is such that it never really gives the young students a chance to express themselves, never gives them an opportunity to ven-ture out in the real world. The students are made to live and lead a very artificial life. It’s only when they graduate do they real-ize the hard-facts of life and then it’s all about playing catch-up for most of them. But coming back I managed to get a few people to work with and that’s how our journey began, a journey which has seen its on share of highs and lows, a journey which has bolstered my confidence on the power the youth possesses

This past year we have seen lots of develop-ment at the work front, to start with early February 2011 we saw the formation of an altogether separate Dehradun Chapter led by Ankit Shrivastava to take charge of all the work. It was time for me to let my young war-riors battle it out on their own for I always believe our country lacks leaders not because there ain’t many talented people around but because there is lack of faith and trust that the people in power have towards entrusting the responsibilities on young shoulders.

I have all but praises for Ankit and his team. Many people came and went by but his desire and commitment to defy all odds was heart-ening. I will not be getting into the details of what were the main highlights of the past year since you will be reading about the same in the following pages.

Personally for me this year has been tough but yet satisfying in it’s own ways. I would be lying if I said at one point I was not contem-plating questioning myself on the need for me to initiate icare. There were quite a few

people trying hard to break me down but this was my brainchild and I was not going to let go off it without a fight. I have seen dark days but only for me to wake up the next morning and tell myself this is just a phase which will pass by. One factor which always motivated me was the love and support I have got from people from all walks of life. The sad state of affairs in our country is that people ONLy relate success to the car you drive, the watch you wear and the address you stay at but I did not want to be a part of the rat race.

The onus is on us where we want to take this country. I am not advocating that being a social entrepreneur is THE THING that young-sters should venture out into but it is all about being responsible and being accountable no matter what field you maybe working at. you as an individual can make all the difference if you so wish to but that feeling has to come from within. Ankit and his team over the past year have made it all possible and it is time for you all to do the same.

Yudhishter Puran SinghFounder icareINDIA


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ISPEAK FOR ICARE ISPEAK FOR ICARE

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Bremley WB LyngdohIndia’s first youth representative at the UN Millenium Summit

Sandeep MallCo-founder SaveUs

Phil DavisFounder – Tiger AwarenessShalini Mehta

Expressions - Inaugural issue Guest Editor (LONDON)

Shivang MehtaManaging Director – Nature Wanderers

Sean SoutheyExecutive Director at PCI-Media Impact New York

Dr. Ernst KürstenHannover, Germany

I am very inspired and impressed to see how fast and strong the young and brave icare seedlings have grow up in the Himalayan foothills since they were planted 2 years ago. I hope and pray that as your team continues to grow with your roots anchored deep in mother earth, you will all be able to stand tall as mighty trees that can withstand the test of time and any challenge that lies ahead of you. So may you all live long and prosper with great success as you continue to serve and protect the planet for generations to come.

Appreciate the work you guys do at icare. Creating awareness about nature and getting the youth more involved into this is highly commendable. My best wishes and you can fall on me when ever you need anything

Well done for reaching 2nd anniversary. icare as an organization has always been at the forefront of working to bring about a change and their monthly magazine ExpressionS is getting stronger each month. Keep up your good work . Let us all hope it will help at ground level for conservation and encourage oth-ers and moreso youngsters to get involved..

icare is all about initiative….be it the environment, the renewable energy or the involving the young.

It has had a great start a couple of years back, involving new schools in going green and starting programmes with young children making them aware of the world they live in today and how they can help make a small change for a bet-ter tomorrow.

icare’s initiative in the field of conservation, wildlife and nature deserves ap-plause. It’s recent renewable energy summit was a big success.

Here’s hoping that these steps in the right direction will reach out to masses and will bring about a change that we want.

Its great to see icare mature as a publication over the years. Thought provoking articles, good content and an honest team behind the scene. I like the fact that in the last few editions icare took the initiatives of showcasing and promoting young guns working in the field of wildlife, photography and conservation.Wishing you all great success.

As someone who has spent many years working in communications for social change, I am thoroughly impressed by the creative communications, artful design and powerful messaging about our world’s most critical environmental issues of the ExpressionS publication. We, at PCI-Media Impact, are faithful readers and supporters of all that you do. Keep up the great work!

On the occasion of 2nd Anniversary of icare! I want to express my admiration and thanks for the extreemly laudable activities of icare! Especially the maga-zine ExpressionSis always very well made and contributes a lot to the necessary creation of awareness regarding the needs of environmental protection. I hope the icare team will keep its enthusiasm fresh for many more years.



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ICARE LEADS THE WAYPromoting Transparency and ensuringAccountability through RTIIt was on 21st April 2011 that the Dehradun chapter of icare, conducted the first of its kind “RTI Awareness Programme” among the school students. Since then in the bid to promote transparency and ensuring accountability in the current administrative system icare has conducted the campaign with over tens of schools across the Doon valley namely Doon International, Pine Hall, Carman, Sai Grace Academy to name a few.

The right to access information reflects the fact that government information belongs to the people, not the public body that holds it. Information is not owned by any department or by the government of the day. Rather it is generated with public money by public serv-ants, paid out of public funds and is held in trust for the people. This means you have the right to access information about government’s actions, decisions, policies, decision- mak-ing processes and even information held by private bodies or individuals in some cases.

It is notable to mention that the RTI Campaign since its inception has seen over 500 stu-dents from schools being made aware about the effectiveness of the act which has been instrumental in exposing corruption be it the ever famous Delhi CWG 2010 or the Adarsh housing land scam in Maharashtra. The act is one of its kinds which provides the students an opportunity to seek information from the various govt. Departments and a recent ruling by the Supreme Court ensures that University answer sheets are subject to disclosure and constitutes within the term information.

Speaking on the occasion Ankit Shrivastava stated that, “the most satisfactory part of the event is that the school students want to address the problems ranging from water logging, garbage dumping, irregularities in construction of roads and many more through RTI which also reflects the widespread chaos present in the system. As of now the legal cell of icare is carefully examining the information submitted under RTI and will be filing counter ques-tions in this regards”. “It is awareness which is the need of the hour”, he further stated.

Ankit Shrivastava addressing the students of Pine Hall school, Dehradun duringRTI Event

Participating Students of Doon International school

Demonstration of the Postal Order By Yudhishter Puran SinghStudents assembled

during the seminar aka program

The program has been conceptualized by Ankit Shrivastava along with his team which includes Chetna Gurung, Suchita Uniyal, Monika Singh and Harshal Mirchandani all of whom have been instrumental in the success of the cam-paign so far.

Thus through this campaign icare has been able to address various problems of the people to the departments concerned. Thus we are enabling the people and mainly the students to combat corruption as the Act empowers the citizen of our country to actively participate in the governance of the society and give a befit-ting reply to corruption.


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PEOPLE SPEAK ABOUT THE RTI CAMPAIGNMs. Sonika Mann – Executive Director of DIS, opined that it is extremely important for us to realise the benefits and uses of the laws that the citizens of India have been empow-ered with, by the Government. And, considering the fact that legal education or awareness prevails only amongst a few, it is a unique programme that every school or college student should be a part of.

“I would like to congratulate team icare who came to our school and conducted the RTI event with our students. Legal awareness is a must and it is the duty as an educated citizen to exercise our right as laid down in the constitution of our country”, says Dr. Rama Anand, Principal Pine Hall School.

Yudhishter Puran Singh of icare-India stated, “ Ankit and his young team at icare-Dehradun chapter epitomise the change, and they are the real change makers. At such a young age to see them all manage despite their tight busy schedule just reflects what is possible if we have the desire to bring about a change. I on behalf of general council of icare-India wish them all the very best for their future endeavours.

The Youth Ambassador of icare, Silky Jain asserted that, “I firmly believe that nobody can stop you from performing good deeds, and no power, leave aside politicians, can be a hin-drance. If you believe in a cause, perform your individual duties and the rest shall take its own course and this is precisely what members of icare have done in the past few months through the RTI campaign. She further stated that “you could study in the best of colleges across the country, be as talented as anybody else but what matters eventually is how you are able to contribute towards making a difference in the society you all are a part of. It’s a real honor for me working with a team of such dedicated youngsters and kudos to Ankit and his team for taking stringent steps towards ensuring accountability and transparency in the current administrative machinery.

Students of Olympus High school, Dehradun

Students of Constancia school, Dehradun

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Pundir – Principal Constancia School, opined that RTI is one such act which is of paramount importance if we are to bring accountability and transparency in the current administrative machinery and who better than the future of this country to exercise their rights under the ambit of the law.

RK Trehan – Sr. Co-ordinator Carman School, opined that legal awareness in our country is quite poor and it is extremely important for us to realize the benefits and uses of the laws that the Govt. Of India has empowered us with. The students are the future and who better than them to take the initiative forward towards making the administration of our country more accountable.

One of the participating students Shivani Malasi of class XIIth from Carman school echoed that, “I would like to thank icare and its fellow members for explaining us about the RTI act and it gives me great feeling that I as a responsible citizen can file a RTI application if a situa-tion arises in future”.

One of the participating students Priyanka Mehta of class XII echoed that, “I am really happy and thankful to our school and icare for conducting such a useful and informative module with us.” We surely learnt a lot and we hope to have more such programs in future.

One of the participating students Asmita Sharma of class XIIth from Pine Hall school echoed that, “I never knew that filing an RTI was this easy and thanks to icare me and my classmates are aware about the powerful tool given to us by the union of India”.


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expressions crosses 1 year mark

Expressions is, it’s thought, the first ever environmental e-magazine in Uttarakhand. It was a proud moment for all the members of icare for today marked the 1st anniversary of Expressions – an environmental magazine powered by the youth of the valley. Expres-sions belongs not just to those who gave birth to it, or nurtured it and made it strong; it belongs to everyone who cares about Earth and feels her pain

It is notable to note that ex-actly an year back on 12-June-2010 the young team started its foray in the field of online media with an objective of creating awareness among people across the city about the current environmental crisis. Expressions was initial-ly restricted to preserve the beauty of the Doon valley which has seen a sad change due to so many develop-mental changes happening across the city but overtime we widened our scope of concern and the magazine raised important issues. Started of with a bunch of young students, we now have a youth force lending a hand.

Expressions has a reader-ship of approximately 15,000 people from all walks of life, and is deliv-ered online to public librar-ies and is also easily acces-sible to general population who cares for the environ-

ment not just in India but also countries like France, Germany, USA to name a few. Expressions is also sent to consulates, govt. organization in India to help provide information to the people who really matter i.e., policy makers.

Speaking on the occasion Miss Silky Jain Executive Director Tula’s Institute and Youth ambassador of icare-Dehradun chapter stated that, “The impetus is on us to bring

about a change, a change which can only be made possible by the youth. This will only be possible when we push ourselves and start demanding a better planet. Express yourself and you will be surprised what all can be made possible.”

Yudhishter Puran Singh CEO icare-India said, “personally I couldn’t have been happier be-cause the ultimate objective of icare-India is giving the youth a chance, a chance to express themselves and make a difference. Expressions signifies the power of the youth. I take this platform to urge each person to make each day count, it is the small things that eventual-ly matter. Do not think what you can do after 5 years, but think how you can contribute your 5 minutes to the betterment of the planet today”

Furthermore, there was a video conference that took place between various members

through Skype. All the members of icare-India and Dehradun chapter vowed to take this momentum forward and ensure they are able to carry forward the good work with the same zeal and fervor. This day marked cele-brations for all those who have been working day in and day out for the past 12 months.

“It gives me great pleasure to be part of an endeavor that is growing from strength to strength and endeavoring to change the planet for the better. I look forward to the time when the seed we have sown blooms into the most beautiful of plants”, said Shub-hodeep Pal, Copy and Desk editor Expres-sions.

Also present on the occasion wereAkshay Madan the creative maestro behind Expressions, Pooja Bhatt, Akanksha Rana, Arpanjot Singh to name a few.



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held at Tula’s institute organized byicareINDIA

Icare-India in association with Tula’s insti-tute conducted Uttarakhand’s First Renew-able Energy Summit, which was held in Deh-radun on 19th November, 2011. The Theme of the Summit was on ‘Exploring and Evalu-ating the Potential of Renewable Energy Infrastructure’ for the State of Uttarakhand and country at large. The summit included a Energy Audit Competition and Conference Paper Competition for engineering, law and management students which also included plenary sessions and Deliberation by emi-nent personalities of the Dehradun. The session was inaugurated by Prof. DS Chauhan Vice-Chancellor of Uttarkhand Technical University who in his opening speech stated that it is the need of the hour for the youth to take steps towards creating a self sufficient and sustainable green India.

The Chief Guest, Mr. BCK Mishra, Director Operations - Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited was of the opinion that “Uttara-khand has got tremendous potential for creating Renewable Infrastructure and was really grateful to the organizers for taking the initiative to spread awareness about the

current energy crisis and the need to pro-mote alternative sources.

Shri Sunil Jain Chairman-Tula’s institute opined that this summit is first of its kind for the simple reason that this is an entirely youth driven event which is focussing on se-rious issues which have tremendous conse-quences if not addressed at the right time. He further added that Quality of Education under Prof. DS Chauhan has attained new heights.

The Energy Summit saw active participa-tion from top colleges across the state of Uttarakhand namely – Tula’s Institute, UPES, DIT, BFIT, Shivalik College, UIT to name a few. The event was conceptualized to have students from Technical, Management and Legal streams ensuring all the various facets of Renewable Energy were taken into due consideration. The Summit had 3 core-components for the participating students which saw the Engineering students present their Energy Audit reports which were duly judged by Mrs. Sarita Khandka – Sr. Scientist UCOST and Ashsish Vashisht – Professional

Prof DS Chauhan lighting the lamp at the Summit 2011

Silky Jain Ex. Director Tula’s institute and Yudhishter Puran Singh Founder icare-India jointly addressing the delegates

Dr. S Farooq addressing the delegates

Energy Auditor. Similarly non-electrical stu-dents proposed innovative ideas for Energy Efficiency which saw Mr. OD Sharma – For-mer President ISHRAE and Mr. Atul Sharma HOD Tula’s review the same. This sessions was followed by Law and Management students presenting their research papers, reviewing legislations and economic poli-cies about Renewable Energy which was adjudged by Dr.MS Pahwa, Surbhi Arora, SM Peters, Sujith Surendran.

The Energy summit saw over 300+ del-egates who witnessed deliberations from various eminent personalities which also included Mr. JP Tomar – MD PTCUL (Retd), Mr. SK Sharma Dir-HR PTCUL and Prof. Prith-vi Datta from EverGreen Solutions London.

On behalf of icare-India and Tula’s family Mr. Yudhishter Puran Singh and Ms. Silky Jain commended the effort of all the or-ganizing committee which included Ankit Shrivastava, Harshit Khare, Adhideb Bhat-tacharya, Suchita Uniyal, Monika Singh, Ni-kita Mamtani, Harshal Mirchandani, Ritam Ghosh. They further stated that organizing such a mega scale event requires tremen-dous team-work and co-ordination which was clearly evident in the smooth function-ing of the entire event.

The closing ceremony was presided by Dr. S Farooq Chairman CII Uttarakhand who applauded the efforts of Tula’s Institute for being proactive and supporting towards organizing such summits. He further stated that Industries in Uttarakhand have a major role to play towards sustainable develop-ment.

The prize distribution was inaugurated by Mr. Aloke Lal DGP in Uttarakhand who gave away the prizes to Vikas Bhardwaj (DIT), Amit Mohan Saklani (Tula’s), Ria Tandon (UPES), Shivraj Singh Negi (UIT) and Mukul Joshi (UPES). Also present during the cer-emony were Mr. Raj Kanwar, Dr. SJ Chopra, Sandip Puran Singh, Seema Singh.

UTTARAKHAND’S FIRST

RENEWABLEENERGY SUMMIT


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ISPEAK FOR ICARE ISPEAK FOR ICARE

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Haseeb SheikhConservationist from Gujarat

Chaitanya KumarCampaigns Co-ordinator (South Asia) at 350.org

Gunajit BrahmaStudent - IIM Indore

Sotir BebiConservationist from Albania

Nikita MamtaniStudent – University of Petroleum and Energy Studies

‘icare THE WARRIROR’We all have different perspective and a relative vision to the world. A nature enthusi-ast has his own window to the world and things that he sees through it like many other naturalists and activists of his own ‘clan’ are in a perspective of his own. Wildlife with nature is inseparable and its conservation to a ‘nature warrior’ and others like him is at the top of the concern pile. Such ‘warriors’ talk, act and learn about the deteriorating nature, dwindling wildlife and global warming which are all the gifts of human greed in the name of both progress which is quite synonymous to the hidden motives such as success and power on an individual or a national level.

To counter this self destruction of the only place in the universe that we humans call ‘home’, a ‘true’ nature enthusiast or you may call him an nature or environment activist fights against the methods and the idea of ‘self destruction’ both by putting his ‘bread’ in uncertainty and his life in jeopardy. He stands in the heat of the moment of his area of concern and reciprocates to the cause by his studies in depth of the concerned mat-ter. He cannot be everywhere, as this problem is not regional or National but it is cer-tainly global. Therefore his inquisitive approach towards this undying lust for the cause which he stands for, searches for other areas where such problems thrive. His concern entices him to learn of what all is being done to counter such problems and who are the others like him who hold up the baton of ‘hope’ for the generations to come.

The window to his world of concerns, problems, activism, enthusiasm and wilderness is the ‘Media’, especially the electronic one. The news and knowledge that he avails from such ‘informers of the cause’ is his guiding strength and of a few that are involved in such noble cause one is the icare from Dehradun.

I do not just congratulate by thank icare on its noble venture to ‘feed’ such ‘warriors’ for the cause of nature and wildlife with all the information that they need from differ-ent corners of this wide spread out nation. Under the name of ExpressionS, this ‘elec-tronic dart’ hits a nature warriors heart and feeds him with all the information, knowl-edge and satisfies his inquisitive buds to the core. It rejuvenates him and pumps him up to stand shoulder to shoulder with others like him who have dedicated their lives for the cause. It gets him acquainted with others like him and assures him that he is not a lone fighter in this battle to save the planet from those who are committed to ‘self destruct’ Mother Earth.

Thank you Yudhishter and team at icare for this ‘life giving’ pill you have namedExpressionSand you have done more than just ‘well’ to keep up your standards for two years now. I congratulate you and your team and wish you all well with a promise to stand by you when you need and to keep on contributing my ‘moral share’ towards these efforts to save our wildlife, environment and the beloved Mother Earth.

I had written for one of the issues of icare ExpressionS and was excited to see a dedicated team of individuals working on this subject. The magazine has brought to light very useful stories for youth and adults alike to educate them-selves on. Having been working in the environmental sector for about 4 years now, I see a great need for strong networks that embody the innovation and spirit we need to build a better future. icare is on the right path and I wish you many more successful years ahead.

On the occasion of the 2nd anniversary of icare I would like to wish the entire team a very happy anniversary and extend my heartfelt congratulation on the hard work and dedication with which the team comes up with the wonderful magazine, Expres-sions. As a student and a regular columnist of ExpressionS, I really enjoyed writing for the e-zine and reading articles written by fellow contributors. Through these ar-ticles, I learn a lot about environmental issues and how few great souls are trying to solve the problem. ExpressionS is indeed a magazine that is the voice of the youth, and icare the torch bearer that gives directions and motivations to these youth. I wish icare and its entire team all the best for the years to come.

Many successes to icareINDIA - through its intense activity it seems to me as it started yesterday!!! We all here appreciate diversity of themes and exchange of opinions which are reflected in our attitude toward environment - keep continue like this, and update every day the new events of this important side of our life- care to the nature!!! nature is equal with the slogan- be forever young!!! Keep nature all time at fresh existence, and this is reflected to us!!

I share a special relation with icare. It came all of a sudden when I became a part of the ENERGY Conference. I can never forget the immense happiness I got after the success of that event and being an integral part of it. icare, as the name re-flects, is caring about the commons of this country in its own different ways.Its just the start and it has way to go. It is an inspiration for the young generation.I wish icare prosperity and success on all levels.Happy Anniversary.



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Kartik is a class Xth Student whose love and passion for photographyis clearly visible through the photographs being featured. It is young-sters like him that are the future of the country and upon them lies theresponsibility of ensuring a beautiful and sustainable tomorrow. He canbe reached at [email protected].

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Biribireba makes waves in

ghanaSean SoutheyExecutive DirectorPCI-Media Impact

The story is that of a love triangle, but the lessons learned are those

of sustainable development, civic responsibility and environmental concern. Biribireba, a new radio soap opera being broadcast across Coastal Ghana, is not your average drama. Yes, the show elicits suspense, stirs empathy for the story’s struggling characters and keeps listeners hang-ing on dramatic plot twists, but it does more than just that. Biribireba is an example of Entertainment-Ed-ucation (E-E), and weaves important messages about conservation into the drama’s thick plot to raise aware-ness on crucial environmental issues along Ghana’s coast. The radio drama asks people to think, not only about its

fictional characters, but about the real issues of conservation that jeopardize

Ghana’s fishing industry today.

Biribireba is one of more than 100 Enter-tainment-Education programs that have

been launched by PCI-Media Impact (Media Impact) in its mission to affect social change

through creative story telling. In this project, Media Impact has coupled with Hεn Mpoano

through SustainaMetrix. Hεn Mpoano is a USAID funded program that began in 2009 and is being

implemented by a host of partners including the Coastal Resources Center of the University of Rhode

Island – Ghana, the World Fish Center and Friends of the Nation, in the six coastal districts of the Western

Region of Ghana. Media Impact is implementing the initia-tive’s communication programs: radio serial drama, call-in

shows, and a comprehensive community awareness and en-gagement campaign.



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After months of preparation and hours of in-studio recording, Biribireba’s debut episode was launched on Oct. 4, 2011. Soon, the program had to itself more than two million listeners via Ghana’s Goodnews FM and Ankobra FM radio airwaves. The story opened with sound bites of unrequited love, conflict and temptation:In the fishing community of Biribireba, Kweku Anokye is a young mechanic who contributes to the pollution of his community. Anokye is in love with Gifty, but Gifty is dating Officer Bob. Tina, a teacher in the local school, takes action to ad-dress the community’s sanitation crisis because she recognizes the interconnectedness of her environment’s physical degradation and the community’s economic and public health. Former schoolmates, Anokye and Tina reconnect, but Tina is disturbed by Anokye’s lack of concern or responsibility for his role in Eku Lagoon’s pollut-ed state. As Anokye’s friendship with Tina grows and he begins to express concern for his commu-nity and take responsibility for his actions, Gifty (Tina’s cousin) takes notice of Anokye’s transfor-mation and cannot help but be tempted to stray from corrupt Officer Bob.

The transcending aim of Biribireba is to improve knowledge, influence attitudes and redirect the behavior of Ghana’s coastal people towards bet-ter ecosystem management and sustainable fish-ing. In the complex and ever-changing environ-ment of the country’s six coastal districts (Shama, Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Area ‘S.T.M.A.’, Nzema East, Ahanta West, Ellembelle and Jo-moro), Biribireba has taken on a wide range of issues such as population control, responsible fishing practices and the conservation of en-dangered species. Each episode of the drama is broadcast within a talk show designed to pro-mote listener feedback and comments on the environmental themes. Thus, Ghanaian citizens

become personally involved with the social and environmental aims invoked within Biribireba’s 52-episode program. Media Impact has a 27-year legacy of E-E pro-gramming, with its broadcasts having reached more than a billion people, across four conti-nents. The organization’s goals are far reaching. Media Impact establishes lasting relationships with local partners to produce programs that ad-dress the most pressing social and environmental issues. The E-E radio programs encourage indi-vidual participation with national call-in shows, called “radio magazines,” where listeners call the station following the E-E drama to discuss the conflicts and issues raised.

According to surveys, the radio magazine discus-sions receive widespread attention and engage-ment among community listeners and often lead to relevant social projects. Such success is testimony to the power of creative story telling. Preaching people about issues and threats wasn’t working. However, showing people, through fictional characters in a drama, that small behav-ioral changes are not overwhelming, is already motivating people to take action to improve their community.

So far, this creative story telling approach has seen promising response in coastal Ghana. Since Biribireba’s debut episode airing last October, 24 episodes have been written and produced. The next 28 episodes will begin in February. Mean-while, community response has been buoyant. Biribireba’s radio magazine show receives end-less calls, all of which raise thought-provoking discussion on Ghana’s issues of environmental pollution, sustainability and social awareness. The radio drama will be complemented by sev-eral community events, including a theme song

competition, cook-off between local women and soccer games for youth. In addition, the Biribireba campaign team has created a bazaar of promotional paraphernalia, such as billboards, T-shirts, base-ball caps, posters and cloth shopping bags with the Biribireba logo. These public activities – which are festive, promotional and open to all -- will continue throughout the year. Meanwhile, Biribireba’s radio-drama characters are winning over the hearts of lis-teners across Ghana’s coast, thanks to the producers’, writers’ and actors’ keen understanding of Ghanaian culture and tradition.

Biribireba is a story about Ghanaian people, told by Ghanaian people. The voices that breathe life into Biribireba are rich with local identity. Its essence is purely of Ghana. For example, the radio program is broadcast every Tuesday, as this is the day fishermen do not go to sea for fear of encountering the water Gods – which, as the traditional belief says, can lead to an untimely death. Thus, Biribireba is culturally and socially sensitive.

“Biribireba script writers drew upon the Ghanaian tradition of storytelling and built upon local legends to craft a persuasive story to address ecosystem governance and manage coastal resources. This is

a primary goal of Education-Entertainment -- it is designed for the people, allowing them to have as much access and show as much response as possible. It focuses on the most pressing issues of concern as established by the community.

In Ghana, which has a population of 24.2 million (expected to double in the next 20 years), the issues of ecosystem conservation and resource governance are more important than ever. And just maybe, the heart-tugging tale of Tina, an idealistic conservation-ist, Anokye, a man torn between money and social good, and Gifty, a woman who refuses to give up on love, can stir enough positive change within Ghana’s coastal community, and that fiction will turn into a story of reality. And this non-fictional story, Media Impact hopes, is that of progressive change.

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Quality is the result of a carefully constructed cultural environment. It has to be the fabric of the organization, not part of the fabric.

Phil Crosby .

The cabinet reshuffle held in July 2011 saw Jayanthi Natarajan being appointed to the post of Environment Minister. Ms. Natarajan could perhaps be one of the best ministers that India could have got in the present political scenario.

Ms. Natarajan was born and brought up in Tamil Nadu in a Mudaliar family. Her grand-father was M. Bakthavatsalam, a prominent Congress politician and the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu between 1963 and 1967. Jayanthi studied law and became an advo-cate in Madras. Apart from her commercial practice she also did pro bono work for a number of social organizations including the All India Women’s Conference, and the

legal aid board. She also worked briefly as a newscaster for Doordarshan Kendra, Madras.

Today, she holds the portfolio of Minister of Environment and Forests (MoEF). It’s a well-known fact that any change, even a change for the better, is always accompa-nied by drawbacks and discomforts. Like any other person would have, even she faced a lot of hardships when she came to the post. However, everyone could see her heartfelt concern for the cause that she was about to lead.

It has been the age-old tendency of man to repel the change that takes place in and

around him, be it for good or bad. Ms. Nata-rajan had to fight her way out and show everyone why she deserved the post that she held.

Ms. Natarajan has shown an exemplarily in-novative mind. She has not only formulated new laws but has also personally dealt with many of the problems related to the envi-ronment.

She made the roadmap for the Kyoto Pro-tocol and said in reference to it that the link between the second commitment period and a “roadmap” for a legally bind-ing outcomes was still being maintained even though the gap between the ambition level demanded by the European Union and other developed countries and the imple-mentation levels demanded by developing countries continues to be there.

Ms. Natarajan comes across as a cautiously optimistic woman. Recently, in the month of December, Ms. Natarajan attended the Climate Deal in Durban and got a standing ovation in a meeting of 195 countries when they got into a negotiating huddle at the middle of the night. They applauded her for her stirring speech defending the Indian and BASIC countries’ position on climate change. The applause in a closed meeting was notably genuine as there was no press or observers to perform for.

She has been continuously trying to im-plement a new global climate regime. She hauled up Ms Mayawati for apathy towards cleaning up rivers in Uttar Pradesh. She also criticized the state government for not uti-lizing Central funds properly to reduce pol-lution in the water bodies and also pointed

out that industries were polluting select rivers in the state leading to contamination of groundwater in some regions.

She has even proposed a 135-km- long eco-sensitive zone along the Bhagirathi river from Gangotri to Uttarkashi in the Garhwal region. Due to her constant support and guidance even the state of Gujarat, that has been till now, only portrayed as one of the most progressive states in the country with rapid industrial development, has seen a re-markable increase in the forest cover area.

It has only been about 6 months since she took over as the Environment Minister of the country and the number of plans and ideas she has come up with regarding the betterment of the environment has been truly phenomenal. She seems to be trying her best and even though there might still be much left to do, as mature members of the Indian polity, it’s the duty of each and every Indian to appreciate her work and support her.

Criticizing someone is an easy task but to be able to put oneself in another’s shoes and being able to have that zeal of chang-ing the moods of the society is all that counts.

So, let us come together and help our Envi-ronment Minister Ms. Jayanthi Natarajan in her task of creating a better tomorrow be-cause the dream that she has realized today would beautify the future of every Indian.

Kudos to you Ma’am. You really are an inspi-ration!

jayanthi natarajan

the woman who can bring a revolution

Sneha Pande19 year old studying in Graphic era University. With writing as her passion, she utilizes it for her concern towards the environment.


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World’s first hybrid sharks found in AustraliaPTIMELBOURNE, January 3, 2012

Researchers have discovered the world’s first hybrid sharks in Australian waters, indicating that animals are adapting to climate change for survival.

Leading researchers in marine biology have come across 57 animals along a 2,000-km stretch from Queensland to New South Wales which they believe are the result of cross-breeding be-

tween the common blacktip shark and Austral-ian blacktip shark, two related but genetically distinct species.

The inter-breeding between the two species shows that the animals are adapting to climate change and the hybridisation can make the fishes stronger, the scientists said.

A grey nurse shark being fed at Oceanworld Manly aquarium in Sydney.

“Hybridisation can enable sharks to adapt to eco-logical change as the smaller Australian blacktip currently favours tropical waters in the north while the larger common black tip is more abun-dant in sub-tropical and temperate waters along the south-eastern Australian coastline,” Jennifer Ovenden of Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries was quoted as saying by the Herald Sun.

“Wild hybrids are usually hard to find, so detect-ing them and their offspring is extraordinary. To find 57 hybrids along the 2000-km coastline is unprecedented,” she said.

Another researcher at the University of Queens-land, Jess Morgan said it was unusual for sharks to breed in such a way.

She said as sharks physically mate, they makes sure they do not hybridize with the wrong spe-cies.

The find was made during cataloguing work off the eastern coast of Australia when genetic test-ing showed certain sharks to be of one species when they looked like those from a different one.

Colin Simpfendorfer of James Cook University’s Fishing and Fisheries Research Centre said the results of this research showed that we still had a lot to learn about these important ocean preda-tors.

Flamingos slaughtered for meat in KutchTNN | Jan 4, 2012, 03.03AM ISTAHMEDABAD Wildlife experts and enthusiasts from around the world will congregate in the air-conditioned environs of Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar as part of the Global Bird Watcher’s Conference on January 19. But it would make more sense if they met in the marshlands of Kutch and surrounding areas, which have become a graveyard for some of the most endangered winged species in the country - flamingos.

Conservation activists have uncovered a major incident of poaching of lesser flamingos in the Little Rann of Kutch.

Last week, activist D V Girish of Bhadra Wildlife Conservation Trust of Bangalore was shocked when he found a large heap of white feathers in the wasteland near Velasar village in Maliya Mi-yana taluka in Rajkot.

On closer inspection, he found 33 severed heads and legs of lesser flamingos. The torsos were missing, indicating that they had been killed for meat.

The birds may have been trapped and then killed. The lesser flamingos are local migratory birds that flock to the region during winter months from the southern part of the country. Despite being the most populous species of flamingo, it is notified as near-threatened due to its declining population and depleting breeding sites.

“I fear that this is not an isolated incident,” Girish told TOI.

“There is hardly any presence of the forest de-partment officials in the region. We brought the incident to the notice of numerous officials, but no one was willing to own up jurisdiction. I fear some fishermen or an organized gang might have had a big feast.”

Local forest officials say locals in the region often feast on flamingo meat. Even when TOI tried to contact forest officials, everyone passed the buck. S K Goyal, principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife), said, “The matter has not been report-ed to senior officials.


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Local-level officials might be aware, but we will definitely now inquire into the incident.” Last month, TOI had reported deaths of nearly 400 greater flamingos due to electrocution caused by a newly-laid high-tension power transmission line in the Greater Rann of Kutch.

New theory explains how fishes grew intoamphibiansIANSDecember 29, 2011 A small fish crawling out of a drying desert pond underlines a theory that ties up the fishes with the amphibians, reveals a study.

“Such a plucky hypothetical ancestor of ours probably could not have survived the over-whelming odds of perishing in a trek to another shrinking pond,” said Gregory J Retallack, professor of geological sciences at University of Oregon, who led the study.

Challenging Romer’s theory on fish survival, Retallack said that the transitional fossils were not associated with drying ponds or deserts, but were found consistently with humid woodland soils, according to a university statement.Limbs proved handy

“Judging from where their fossils were found, transitional forms between fish and amphib-ians lived in wooded floodplains. “Limbs proved handy for negotiating woody obstacles, and flex-ible necks allowed for feeding in shallow water,” he said.

“By this new woodland hypothesis, the limbs and necks, which distinguish salamanders from fish, did not arise from reckless adventure in deserts. They were rather nurtured by a newly evolved habitat of humid, wooded floodplains,” Retallack said.

“Ancient soils and sediments at sites for transi-tional fossils around the world are critical for understanding when and under what conditions fish first walked,” he added

Dried bamboo groves bring ominous portentsE. M. MANOJ

The dried bamboo groves inside the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary and the adjacent sanctuaries such as the Rajiv Gandhi National Park, Nagar-hole, and the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karna-taka are posing a threat to the wildlife popula-

tion of the Nilgiri Biosphere, a major tiger and elephant habitat.The bamboo groves in the Wayanad forest are the mainstay of the herbivores in the Nilgiri Bio-sphere during summer. With the advent of the

season, migration of wild animals starts from the adjacent sanctuaries in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to Wayanad owing to shortage of fodder and water there.

“This season may be a period of famine for wildlife, especially elephants, wild gaur, and other lower her-bivores owing to the mass destruction of bamboo groves in the area,” forest officials said.

“Bamboo groves, which grow in 100 sq. km. of the 344.44 sq. km. of the sanctuary, have completely withered away except for a few patches after the gregarious flowering of the plants started in 2005,” K.K. Sunilkumar, Wildlife Warden, Wayanad sanc-tuary, told The Hindu.

Nearly 60,000 tonnes, worth Rs.4 crore, of it is ex-tractable. But norms forbid the extraction of plants from the sanctuaries, sources said.

Thorny bamboo (Bamboosa Bambos) is a mono-carpic (flowering only once) plant belonging to the Poaceae family (grass family) and its flowering cycle varies from 30 to 34 years and 44 to 49 years, Ratheesh Narayanan, senior scientist, M.S. Swami-nathan Research Foundation, Kalpetta, said.

Profuse natural regeneration occurs from seeds after gregarious flowering. Seeds have no dormancy and this helps germination under favourable condi-tions soon after seed fall, Mr. Narayanan said.But, protection from fire and grazing is essential for proper establishment of seedlings, he added.

Fire incidents have been comparatively low in the sanctuary for the past two years following summer rain and the conservation measures implemented by the Forest Department. But, combustible materi-als have accumulated in the sanctuary this year and a spark may cause an uncontrollable disaster, the sources added.

Meanwhile, dearth of funds for implementing conservation measures inside the sanctuary, after the Union Ministry drastically cut the funds in the current fiscal, is a major concern.

The Central government is yet to allot any funds for implementing forest fire protection measures in the sanctuary so far, the sources added.

Farmers adjacent to the sanctuary fear that destruc-tion of the bamboo groves may worsen the increas-ing man-animal conflict in the district.

Nuclear disaster response failed, says reportAP December 29, 2011Japan’s response to the nuclear crisis that followed the March 11 tsunami was confused and riddled with problems, including an erroneous assumption that an emergency cooling system was working, and a delay in disclosing dangerous radiation leaks, an interim report revealed on December 26.

The disturbing picture of harried and bumbling workers and government officials scrambling to respond to the problems at Fukushima Dai-ichi nu-clear power plant was depicted in the report detail-ing a government investigation.

The HinduA bamboo grove in Kozhikode.Photo: Special Arrangement


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The 507-page interim report, compiled by inter-viewing more than 400 people, including utility workers and government officials, found authori-ties had grossly underestimated tsunami risks, assuming the highest wave would be 6 meters (20 feet). The tsunami hit at more than double those levels.

The report criticized the use of the term “soteigai,” meaning “outside our imagination,” which it said implied authorities were shirking responsibility for what had happened. It said by labeling the events as beyond what could have been expected, officials had invited public distrust.

“This accident has taught us an important lesson on how we must be ready for soteigai,” it said.Untrained Officials- The report, set to be finished by mid-2012, found workers at Tokyo Electric Power Co., the utility that ran Fukushima Dai-ichi, to be untrained to handle emergencies like the power shutdown that struck when the tsunami de-stroyed backup generators, setting off the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

There was no clear manual to follow, and the workers failed to communicate, not only with the government but also amongst themselves, it said.Finding alternative ways to bring sorely needed water to the reactors was delayed for hours be-

cause of the mishandling of an emergency cool-ing system, the report said. Workers assumed the system was working, despite several warning signs saying that it had failed and was sending the nuclear core into meltdown.

The report acknowledged that even if the system had kicked in properly, the tsunami damage may have been so great that meltdowns would have happened anyway. However, a better response might have reduced the core damage, radiation leaks and the hydrogen explosions that followed at two reactors, sending plumes of radiation into the air.

Gross Failure

Sadder still was how the government dallied in relaying information to the public, such as using evasive language to avoid admitting serious melt-downs at the reactors, the report said. The govern-ment also delayed disclosure of radiation data in the area, unnecessarily exposing entire towns to radiation when they could have evacuated. The government has recommended changes so that utilities respond properly to serious accidents.Japan’s nuclear regulators were in the same minis-try that promotes the industry, but they are being moved to the environment ministry next year to ensure more independence.

The report did not advocate a move away from nuclear power but recommended adding more knowledgeable experts, including those who would have been able to assess tsunami risks. It acknowledged that people were still living in fear of radiation spewed into the air and water, as well as radiation in the food they eat. Thousands have been forced to evacuate and have suffered mone-tary damage from radiation contamination, it said.“The nuclear disaster is far from over,” the report said.

The earthquake and tsunami left 20,000 people dead or missing.

AFPCRUCIAL LAPSE: Workers assumed that the emergency cooling system at Unit-1 was working despite its failure.


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We at icare-india, will facilitate our readers to ask opinions from our Law Experts regarding the social and legal issues of the country.

In our ‘Ask the Experts’ column we have Mr. Vaibhav Gangiwale, Associate, from Khaitan and Co., Mumbai and Mrs. Namrata Walia, Human Resource, Kocchar and Kocchar to offer insights and suggestions on various current issues.

Mr. Vaibhav graduated from Nalsar University of Law, Hyderabad in 2011. He has been actively involved with various research projects at Indian Institute of Technol-ogy Kanpur, Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, Dehradun, National Judicial Academy, Bhopal, Indian Institute of Forest Management and M.P Human Rights Commission.

While, Mrs. Namrata Walia is a regular columnist for ‘expressions’. She has a passion and flair for writing on societal issues of the country. She is pursuing her PHD from Mumbai in Psychology and currently working in Kocchar and Kochhar, New Delhi.

Each month few questions will be selected and FREE legal advice will be provided. So feel free to ask ques-tions regarding any legal or social problems and we would be happy to bring their views to you in regular column.

Mail your questions at

[email protected]

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pert Expressions has a readership of approximately 15,000 people from

all walks of life, and is delivered online to public libraries and is also easily accessible to general population who cares for the envi-ronment. Expressions is also sent to consulates, govt. organization in India to help provide information to the people who really mat-ter i.e., policy makers. Our research shows that the vast majority of our readers regularly read the advertising pages, and respond well to adverts for products, courses and services.

Expressions online e-magazine that enables you to market prod-ucts and services to a select audience. The quality and consistency of Expressions ensures a longer shelf life, maximizing the number of times each issue is read and your advertisements are viewed.

Sponsorship of Expressions magazine gives your organization an excellent opportunity to both reach this desirable audience and be recognized as a supporter of ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION, thus helping in building your social image as well.

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Expressions Vol. 2 Issue 8

Documents

Transcript of Expressions Vol. 2 Issue 8