:: Delhi Greens ::

The North East Center for Environment Education & Research (NECEER), Imphal in association with Department of Biotechnology, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi Greens and World Institute of Nature, Pune invite concerned citizens to the Enviro Lecture Series, a quarterly lecture series starting from September 2010 in Delhi. Academicians, scientists, researchers and experts/activists will deliver lectures on different issues of Environment and Biodiversity of the country especially with respect to Northeast India.

Northeast India is the most biodiversity rich region in the country and comprises eight states, viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. It occupies 7.7% of India’s total geographical area supporting 50% of the flora (approx 8000 species), of which 31.58% (approx 2526 species) is endemic. Due to this presence of large number of endangered and endemic species, the region is recognized as a biodiversity hotspot.

The region is yet to be explored thoroughly and efforts need to be made to  connect it with the rest of the country. Time has come to create a platform where Northeast India can showcase its diversity and for the rest of the country to know Northeast India. Enviro Lecture Series is thus one such initiative in the right direction. The lecture series will highlight the biodiversity richness of the region, characterize the ecotourism potential of the region and the spell out the threats due to the changing climate in the region. The participants will get an opportunity to know in details the mystical and enchanting land of Northeast India.

Know North East India

Date: 19th September, 2010 (Sunday)
Time: 10 am to 3 pm
Venue: Auditorium, Faculty of Engineering & Technology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi

Registration Form | Last date of registration: 5th September 2010

• All participants will receive participation certificate and NECEER’s new publication BioDiverse.
• 100 participants will be selected for the September lecture (from registered candidates).

The topics for the September Lecture Series include Wildlife of NE India, Plant Diversity of NE India, GIS and RS in Wildlife Conservation, Biodiversity Conservation & Political instability in NE, Climate Change and Northeast India and Impact of Climate Change on Biodiversity of NE.

For further information, contact: neceer.imp(at)gmail.com

Image courtesy NECEER

Previously on Delhi Greens:

• Save Loktak Lake Campaign Begins in Delhi and Imphal
• March 7th, 2010: Save Loktak Lake Campaign

India Cyclothon 2010 is a mass participation cycling event for professional, amateur and casual bikers. The event intends to promote the cause of cycling and its various benefits, namely heightened environment consciousness and health. BSA Hercules India Cyclothon is the only excuse you need to get up and go have fun on your bike!

Whether it’s traffic-free mass participation rides through our cities or cycling as a competitive sport to encourage excellence among the best in the country, Sport18’s India Cyclothon presents opportunities for elite and amateur cyclists, for beginners, children, families and even institutions to express their solidarity for a cause by saddling up and cycling in traffic-free mass participation rides in urban areas.

Date: Sunday, 29th August 2010

Venue: Free Church, Sansad Marg

Junior Ride: 07:30 hours
FICCI Corporate Ride 07:45 hours
Amateur Ride: 07:55 Hours
LG Green Ride: 08:10 Hours

Now in its third edition, after a successful run in Bengaluru (5867 attendants) and Mumbai (6271), the Cyclothon’s, as it is popularly called, Delhi leg is scheduled for Sunday, 29th August 2010. The event has four categories: LG Green Ride, FICCI Corporate Ride, FICCI Amateur Ride and Junior Ride.

Toxics Link and India International Centre (IIC) invite entries from green film makers for “Quotes from the Earth”, an environmental film festival. Its time again for green filmmakers to show that they care for the environment, want and will make a difference! The Environment Film Festival, 2010 will be held on 4th-5th Dec 2010 at India International Centre, New Delhi. The films should be in and around the environmental milieu and be able to bring to the fore a subject/issue/concern on it. The films should preferably be recent, however a film from the past not gained much public attention but deserves it is an amiss. Of the entries, the films to be screened will be selected by a panel that includes experts from the field.

Quotes from the earth is a discursive platform to highlight the environmental challenges at the national and international level through films which happen to be one of the most powerful medium of communication and discussion. Since 2004, “Quotes from the Earth” has been an attempt to highlight the environmental challenges faced by people not only in India but also at the international diaspora,with a focus on water, hunger, survival, climate change, livelihood and so forth. With a plethora of films screened and thematic discussions gathering eminent academicians, vibrant activists and dedicated filmmakers the focus of the film festival since its inception has been to generate awareness and it is strictly non-commercial.

Interested Film makers should in your entries with the completed application form latest by 1st of September 2010. For further information and to download the application form, click here to visit Quotes for the Earth 2010 website.

Previously on Delhi Greens:

• Quotes from the Earth 2008: Environmental Film Festival
  

Advit Foundation invites the citizens of Delhi and Gurgaon to come together and join hands in support of the carbon offsetting plantation programme carried out with the Delhi Metro near MG Road Metro Station, Gurgaon. The programme is meant to develop and enhance the green belt under the Gurgaon Metro track.

Date: 8th August, 2010 (Sunday)
Time: 8 am
Venue: MG Road Metro Station (in front of City Center Mall)

While the green cover of Delhi has reportedly enhanced in the past decade, rampant urbanization and urban sprawl in the satellite towns has led to a considerable decrease in number and diversity of trees there. However, in order to sustain a healthy NCR, it is critical to address this issue at the earliest and promote the development of city parks and forests in the NCR in line with the pace of green work in the NCT.

For more information and to participate, contact mathangi@advit.org or 9868202906.

Young Ecologists Talk & Interact (YETI) is a first-of-its-kind conference for students and researchers working in the discipline of ecology in India. YETI is unique in being organized entirely by student volunteers from across the country. The event is meant to serve as a friendly, inspiring platform for early-career ecologists to present and discuss their work, exchange ideas and strike up collaborations with contemporaries from across the country.

Following the success of first YETI last year, the 2010 YETI (Second Conference) is also being organized in Bangalore and it is hoped that the YETI conference will travel to other parts of the country.

Date of Conference: 5 – 7th October, 2010
Venue: Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

Who can participate: Researchers pursuing a Ph.D./Masters degree/Post-Doc/working as project assistants or affiliates at institutions, universities, non-government and other organizations involved in ecological research across India are invited to participate in YETI by presenting their work either through talks, speed talk-cum-posters or posters. Anyone interested in ecology is also welcome to attend YETI.

Registration fees: Registered participants will be requested to pay a sum of Rs. 500/- at the venue during the event. Only outstation registered participants who are presenting their work at YETI will be provided accommodation free of cost.

Abstract submission deadline: 15th August, 2010.
Participation and registration deadline: 1st October, 2010.

Click here for futher details and to apply.

Though FOOD is a basic, integral part of our life by which we seek to keep ourselves alive, it is something that we hardly give any deep thought to – how is food being produced, by what technologies and with what implications, who is controlling decisions around food production and consumption with what reasons, what role can we play etc., are all questions that we hardly mull over! These are global questions faced by every person who lives on this Planet.

Are we walking into neatly laid traps where we cannot exercise democratic choices of knowing and deciding on what we are eating, how food will get produced and what food will get produced and how it will finally reach us? Is this trap a part of the profiteering plans of large multi-national corporations and are we willingly walking into the trap? Are “modern agricultural technologies” even able to sustain the lives of the millions of farmers feeding us and helping them stay alive? Are there no alternatives to the current ways of producing and consuming food?

Through a 3 day ‘Filmy Feast’ festival being hosted by the India Habitat Centre in collaboration with Youth for Safe Food, all concerned citizens are invited to get some food for thought! on the politics of food production and agri-technologies. You would also be able to meet experts on the subject and film makers during the film festival.

Date: 29th, 30th and 31st July, 2010
Time: 7 pm (two films slotted for screening each day evening)
Venue: India Habitat Center, Lodhi Road, New Delhi

Download: Filmy Feast Festival Invitation

Some of the emerging issues around Food include food safety, a citizen’s Right To Informed Choice and Right To Know what s/he is consuming which could be violated by the entry of technologies like Genetic Engineering in our food and farming systems.

Previously on Delhi Greens:

• Invite: Indian People Tribunal on GM and Bt Brinjal
• 30th January: A Nation wide Fast to Protect Our Food Sovereignty

If you were desperate to do something for Bhopal, and didn’t know what to do, here’s something you can do. Join the Rally. Bring your friends and family. Bring your own placard.

WHERE: Mandi House to Jantar Mantar, New Delhi
WHEN: 24 JUNE, 2010. 11 a.m.
WHY: To condemn the latest betrayal of Bhopal

The official copy of the report of the Group of Ministers on Bhopal has not been released to the media. But the media has been selectively and confusingly reported on certain parts of the recommendations reportedly given to them by inside sources. These reports make it seem as if:

1. The GoM is recommending enhanced compensation for Bhopal victims to the tune of Rs. 1500 crores
2. The GoM is recommending that the Centre will pay for clean-up and recover the money from Dow Chemical.
3. The GoM will recommend the Government to address the issue of liability by pursuing Anderson.
4. The GoM will recommend that Rs. 720 crores be handed over to the State Government to take care of rehabilitation.

A senior bureaucrat who was present at the GoM meeting revealed some startling details:

a) Only 41,000 people, out of 5,72,000 people exposed and injured by the gas leak will receive any compensation. 5,31,000 people, who received paltry sums of Rs. 25,000 from the earlier settlement for life-long ill-health, will receive nothing.

b) The GoM has reportedly committed Rs. 300 crores. This is wholly inadequate for cleanup of more than 10,000 tons of toxic wastes, a contaminated groundwater aquifer. Also, no provision has been made for the medical care and compensation of the 25,000 or more people who have been forced to consume this poisonous groundwater and have developed serious and lifelong illnesses as a result. As for recovery of money from Dow, the Government has indicated it will merely await a verdict from the Court and will do nothing to actively pursue Dow Chemical.

c) While much noise is made about extraditing Anderson, not a word has been mentioned about enforcing the appearance of the other foreign accused — i.e. Union Carbide Corporation USA, and Union Carbide Eastern Hongkong.

d) The Rs. 720 crores given to the State Government will suffer the same fate as the Rs. 530 crores already spent by the MP Government for rehabilitation of Bhopal victims. Till date, not one person has been gainfully employed as a result of MP Government’s economic rehabilitation schemes. Victims are paying through their nose for medical treatment at private clinics because of the horrendous state of the hospitals set up using a big chunk of the Rs. 530 crores.

A Supreme Court Monitoring Committee that looked into medical rehabilitation has severely criticised the medical infrastructure and said that the need of the hour is more doctors, better administration and better quality medicines. Instead of investing in these, the Government of Madhya Pradesh has submitted a proposal in which a bulk of the funds will be used for construction of new wings. Several dozen lakhs of rupees will be used to purchase fictitious equipments like “automatic micro-organism [sic] detection instruments” and non-equipment items such as “identification & sensitivity of micro organism [sic]“.

Called and Organized by:

Children Against Dow Carbide
Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangarsh Morcha
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sanghatan
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangarsh Morcha
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh
Bhopal Gas Peedit Sangarsh Sahyog Samiti
Bhopal Group for Information and Action

Toxics Link’s Environment & Health Public Lecture Series

“We must not forget that when radium was discovered no one knew that it would prove useful in hospitals. The work was one of pure science. And this is a proof that scientific work must not be considered from the point of view of the direct usefulness of it. It must be done for itself, for the beauty of science, and then there is always the chance that a scientific discovery may become like the radium a benefit for humanity.” - Marie Curie

The role of radioactive substances is largely hidden especially in developing countries like India. With radiation becoming a key concern in today’s time, bringing information in the public domain is needed. The recent radiation exposure and loss of life has caught not only people’s attention but also center’s concern. Its time we come together to share the burden of dealing with the precarious situation.

Toxics Link cordially invites concerned citizens to a talk on Radioactive Hazards: a pertinent issue facing the country. Lecture is open for everyone.

Key highlights

• Harmful effects of radiation
• Radiation hazards in medical practice
• Safeguards against the hazards of radiation
• Legal and policy framework for handling disasters involving radioactive materials
• Institutional mechanism and capacity building for nuclear/radiological disasters
• Strategy and Standard Operating Procedures
• Challenges of nuclear/radiological disasters
• Environmental impacts and role of community awareness in dealing with radiation

Panelists/Speakers:

1. Dr. A. K. Chaturvedi, Medical Director, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute
2. Dr. Arun Sehdeo, Coordinator, National Institute of Disaster Management
3. Karuna Raina, Climate and Energy Campaigner, Greenpeace

Date: 25th June 2010, Friday
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Venue: Conference Room 1, India International Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi (In collaboration with India International Centre)

For further information, please contact:

Anjali Pandey: anjali@toxicslink.org
Suparna Dutta: suparna@toxicslink.org
Nitin Jain: nitin@toxicslink.org

Delhi Greens, with support from the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML) and Oxfam India, in partnership with the South Asia Network for Social & Agriculture Development (SANSAD), Global Climate Campaign (GCC), North East Center for Environmental Education & Research (NECEER),  India Action Network, Center for Climate Justice & Equity (CCJE), YouthV and several other groups invite you to the Delhi Youth Summit on Climate 2010.

DYSoC 2010 will be a two day event to be held on the 5th and 6th of June, 2010 in the Auditorium of India’s first PM’s residence at Teen Murti House. The place is a stone’s throw from both the residence of the President of India and the Parliament of India. (Nearest Metro Station: Central Secretariat). Delhi, the seat of power of the world’s largest democracy, is a rapidly developing urban center and features in the list of top ten most populated cities in the world. One of the oldest continually inhabited cities, Delhi today is facing the dual pressure of development as well as an ever increasing population.

In the climate constrained world of today, ‘development’ itself is seen as a threat to the environment and it is indeed ‘development’ which attracts the workforce and contributes to the increasing urban population. However, development–in the real sense of the word–is essential for the growth and prosperity of a region and of a nation as a whole. Development should be sustainable and should not discount the needs and requirements of the future generation.

With this as the backdrop, DYSoC 2010 will take place on 5th and 6th of June, 2010 and will also be an ideal platform to mark the World Environment Day. DYSoC 2010 will bring together the youth from across the capital city and attempt to understand the various urban environmental issues in the wake of climate change.

Since this is the Commonwealth Year, DYSoC will not be a stand alone event but will invite the participating delegates in initiating as well getting involved in various green projects (at least 4) for a better Delhi! We therefore urge to participate, learn and get involved and help shape the future of the city, for all of us and for generations to come.

Registration is free, but all interested must fill the Delegate Registration Form. All delegates will receive participation certificate after the successful completion of the summit.

Registration is now close for DYSoC 2010. Thank you for all your interest and enthusiasm.

Come, take the first step, and be the Change: DYSoC 2010

For more information, you can read the FAQs at the summit website here, or contact:

Impuri Shimray
impuri(at)delhigreens.org
Mobile: 9540491079

Aastha Kukreti
aastha(at)delhigreens.org
Mobile: 9873124937

http://delhigreens.org/summits/dysoc-2010

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has”, a famous quote by Margaret Mead has been the inspiration to many beautiful minds and heroes in the society. If you belong to this group and if your mind agrees to such calling in Life, we welcome you to join us and Vote for Green.

Delhi Greens is thrilled to announce its upcoming two days action packed event “Delhi Youth Summit on Climate, 2010 (DYSoC 2010)”. We are hopeful that our blog readers and contributors, who have been with us all through this time, will once again join hands with us to achieve what the summit purposes.  DYSoC 2010 will be an action oriented and solutions based event for the greens of Delhi.

The first ever Delhi Youth Summit on Climate (DYSoC) was conducted in May 2008. Ever since DYSoC ‘08, there has been a tremendous and remarkable change in the awareness level of the people and their general attitude towards the climate crisis. Environmental degradation, pollution and global warming are now recognized as imminent threats to human survival and people are ready to take action, even willing to readjust their lifestyles, to avert adverse environmental impacts of a changing climate.

Now, it’s time to convert awareness into action and direct this potential towards action oriented programmes, and demand and promote sustainable development in the country, beginning with Delhi. The capital city today is facing the dual pressure of development as well as an ever increasing population.

In the climate constrained world of today, ‘development’ itself is seen as a threat to the environment and it is indeed ‘development’ which attracts the workforce and contributes to the increasing urban population. However, development–in the real sense of the word–is essential for the growth and prosperity of a region and of a nation as a whole. Development should be sustainable and should not discount the needs and requirements of the future generation.

We would like to extend an invitation to all who want to contribute towards making the summit successful in all different ways that will benefit the cause. Especially people who have actively lend their voice and initiated green actions across the city to join us and lead the youth in the green movement. Please keep checking the blog for further updates and information. To get involved please mail or call us at:

Impuri Shimray
91-9540-491-079/ impuri@delhigreens.org

Aastha Kukreti
91-987-312-4937/ aastha@delhigreens.org

To participate in the summit download the registration form and send it to dysoc@delhigreens.org