Inauguration of Eco-club at SPS

Date of event: 21st November, 2009

As mentioned in an earlier post, LIFE has decided to assist the teachers at Siddaganga Public School, Nagarbhavi in organising the eco-club activities for the school. On the 21st of November the eco-club was formally inaugurated for 40 interested children from 6th to 9th class.

After the initial ceremony, we conducted a one-hour interactive session with the children about issues with plastic waste disposal, including recycling, health effects and ideas to reduce. This was done as a follow up session after the school-visit to K K Plastics. Swapna spoke about the options for recycling of plastics and Adi spoke about the health effects that arise from stage of production to stage of disposal of plastics.

The movie "Story of Stuff" was also shown to the audience.

Few innovations made from "waste" plastic were also showcased to light the spark of creative use of waste in children. This included a used oil-can made into a container with an indoor plant.

The response from the teachers and students was encouraging. A suggestion was that "Story of Stuff" be dubbed into Indian accent so that the children can follow it better and also to make the session more activity based. Another suggestion was to reduce the dependency on Powerpoint presentations. These have been well taken.

We have given some work to the students of the club for the next month, including conducting waste segregation and audit at homes and school and suggestions for creative use of waste plastic.

The next session will be in January 2010, where a field trip may be organised for the children.

Participating members:

Harsha, Swapna, Adithya, Shreeshail and Rajeshwari

Stall at RVCE

Date of event: 15th November 2009

The occasion was the cultural fest at RV College of Engineering. This year's theme was environmental awareness and we were invited to organise a stall at the college premises.

What was on display:

There were no items for sale, only for display. Posters were arranged along the sidewalls of the stall (These were borrowed from Community Health Cell). Indoor potted plants made from recycled products were also displayed. Many books and magazines on environmental themes were also arranged. Reusable bags made of cloth were also hung along with the posters.

Objective:

To interact with interested students and network. Also to showcase lifestyle change options and recommended reading material for the youth.

The experience:

It was the first time we set up an awareness stall at a college fest. With the young men and women busy taking part in and watching the events and also each other (lol), the response was meagre. Also, we realised that if attention has to be drawn, something exciting has to be arranged. Maybe next time we will include some games/videos/music and get them involved with puzzles. But it was a good learning experience on the whole.

Kaggaladu visit: Phase 2 visit 2

Date: November 14^th 2009

Members of the core team visited Kaggaladu village on the 14^th of Nov to celebrate Childrens Day with the students of the Government School there. We had previously informed the teachers of the school and also the local panchayat leaders that we would like to come and meet them. We were able to board the 6 30 am bus from Bangalore and made it to the school by 9 30 am. After arriving there, we first had a meeting with the teachers, during which we introduced ourselves and made clear our intentions from the visit. The teachers were responsive and showed their interest too in educational activities and in protecting the migratory birds. A monthly visit to Kaggaladu from our side is what we told we'll do. In conversation, we were told by the teachers that water was no longer a problem here because the local lakes were being recharged with water from Hemavathi river. But we have our doubts if that is a viable long term solution. We would be discussing this with panchayati members when we have the chance. Another issue that was highlighted was the lack of sanitation in the village and they have suggested health education classes for children and parents. The teachers expressed a lot of expectation from us, and we assured them that we will do as much as we can to help the school.

The children were assembled onto the grounds of the school and we had a nice ice-breaker session with them. Songs were sung, lots of photos were taken and sweets were distributed. We collected the wrappers from the children to highlight the importance of waste handling.

An activity has been assigned to the kids of 5^th to 7^th classes. Five KG cardboards, poster paints and crayons have been given to them and we’ve told them to make posters which depict the village, the agriculture, the birds, the water and their school. The posters are to be made ready in a month’s time when we visit next. We’ve promised prizes for the best one. This was given with two main intentions. One is for the kids to appreciate better the village and school, and secondly, to give them opportunities to bring out their creativity in the form of art.

After the school visit we had a brief chat with one of the panchayati leaders. We realized that if anything has to come out of our efforts, continued visits and pressure will be required from our side.

After that we went bird watching. We had received prior information that some storks had already arrived. At a nearby lake we spotted 4 kinds of water birds and probably one painted stork.

Our next visit is planned towards the end of december and another one in Republic Day. By then the birds are expected to have arrived. We hope bird watchers and volunteers would join us next time.

Members who visited: Harsha, Swapna and Adithya