Ruby Jubilee Seminar 3

"We need to start worrying about the future NOW if we hope to have one"

A day-long seminar on "Saving the Earth" was held on April 19, 2013 at Seva Kendra Calcutta. Fr. Robert Athickal, SJ, Coordinator of Tarumitra with his immense expertise and experience conducted the seminar and guided the participants to reflect on the global ecological crisis the world is facing now and the measures that could be taken to resolve it. 

He began with a brief introduction about the student movement, Tarumitra. This was followed by a discussion based on a few case studies of those people who have proactively engaged in spreading ecological sensitivity. One such example was of a girl named Shweta who made a huge impact on consumption of electricity in Patna and other parts of India. The participants were then helped to identify the reasons behind the global ecological crisis. The reasons identified were earth's unsustainable population, water and air pollution, erosion of fertile soil, pesticides, deforestation and depletion of biodiversity.

Later Fr. Robert engaged the participants in a discussion about electricity as the biggest source of pollution and a major contributor towards environmental degradation. The seminar helped the participants to develop insights about the importance of finding alternative sources of power and the need to cut down on the consumption of electricity as an important first step to save and protect the earth.