How to Organise a Festival of Earth Positive Real Meaningful Celebrating Two Years of Eternal Bhoomi
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BANGALORE VOLUME 2, ISSUE - 4, OCTOBER - DECEMBER, 2011 | Rs. 80 Community Campaign for Make Friends and a Million with Commons Eco-Projects the Farmer How to Organise a Festival of Earth Positive Real Meaningful Celebrating two years of Eternal Bhoomi... : Kaushik Ramu : Photograph ISSUE - 1, DECEMBER 2009 | Rs. 80 BANGALORE VOLUME 1, ISSUE - 1, APRIL - JUNE, 2010 | Rs. 80 BANGALORE VOLUME 1, ISSUE - 3, JULY - SEPTEMBER, 2010 | Rs. 80 Focus on Food Annadana: The Gift of Food Towards Ecological Sanity Opportunities and Seeing the Connections Possibilities for the Future Food, Health and Climate Change Satish Kumar ‘I know what to do, Devinder Sharma But I don't do it' Jonathon Porritt P.V.Satish Cuba’s Organic Revolution Helena Norberg - Hodge share their views on living with ecological wisdom UNCOMMON ‘What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, A Guide to Healthy Eating man would die from a great SENSE loneliness of spirit. For whatever Eat to Live: What the experts say happens to the beasts, soon Why an Ice-Cream happens to man. All things are Vandana Shiva on: Plus: His Holiness The Dalai Lama connected’ puts me off What Every Indian GDP or GPI? Satish Kumar :: Michael Pollan Chief Seattle, 1854 Should Know About Why say NO to milk? Agriculture Juice up the Summer Gandhiji on Food | Schumacher’s ‘Small is Beautiful’ How to Eat Fruits | Digesting with Ease | A Solar Home BANGALORE VOLUME 2, ISSUE - 2, APRIL - JUNE, 2011 | Rs. 80 BANGALORE VOLUME 1, ISSUE - 4, OCTOBER - DECEMBER, 2010 | Rs. 80 , Rethinking Education GAIA ~ Our Living Earth Education for Happiness - by Jigme Y. Thinley, Hon. Prime Minister of Bhutan Interview with Wangari Maathai - Satish Kumar Ecological Education Why Dream Borrowed Dreams? Earth Rights - Dr. Vandana Shiva - by Ron Miller - by Shiv Visvanathan Our Life as GAIA - Joanna Macy Why Eat Raw Foods? | Nature Deficit Disorder | Living Without Oil How Organic Farming can Feed the World - Kathik Kumar April - June 2011 Eternal Bhoomi 1 Focus on Food Ecological Sanity BANGALORE VOLUME 2, ISSUE - 3, JULY - SEPTEMBER, 2011 | Rs. 80 BANGALORE VOLUME 2, ISSUE - 4, OCTOBER - DECEMBER, 2011 | Rs. 80 Uncommon Wisdom Community Campaign for Make Friends and a Million with Commons Eco-Projects the Farmer Rethinking Education What’s a Good Life? Gaia – our Living Earth Taking Charge of Health & Wellness Reverse Heart Disease The Reverse Diabetes Diet Health and Wellness Fit for Life Nature’s Ways of Wellness Dr. Mira Shiva | Dr. Nandita Shah | Ruskin Bond How to Organise a Festival of Earth Commons and Community Become a member, share your copy of Eternal Bhoomi with your friends, discuss creative ideas with children 2 Eternal Bhoomi October - December 2011 Photograph by Ananth Somaiah Photograph by Community is Nature’s Way This issue marks the completion of two years of our was wealth, religion, race or caste. The last few decades journey with Eternal Bhoomi – and this has coincided have seen ever widening gaps of wealth, food availability, with the historic civil society movement in India led power, status and so on. Two major issues clouding the by Team Anna. future of ‘modern civilization’ are concerned with human rights on the one hand and Ecological, Sustainable Living Over the two weeks of high drama and sheer grit, on the other; all other issues, be it terrorism, war, social the movement saw several small communities spont- injustice or climate crises are linked to these two major aneously forming across the country and stoking the fires issues. of revolt against corruption; there was anger converted to determination and the people of India felt that they The surge in re-configuration of communities that is seen had discovered their voice. There was rejoicing, people today, seems basically to address the issue of worsening roughing it out together, sharing food, reading poems gaps of resource usage. People are going beyond their and singing, enjoying themselves as if it were a festival. earlier community affiliations and re-aligning to fight in There was an unmistakable sense of community as these two areas: human rights or ecological wisdom – strangers in buses, shops and on the roadside talked to which are two sides of the same coin. Just as the intuition each other of what was happening in the country. of a person can lead her to make the right choice or move, the intuition of the world seems to be leading us to form The last year has also witnessed several protest communities which bring in justice and sustainable living. movements across the world – communities of people have emerged and threatened governments and Samudayam or samuday, is the word for community in dethroned established dictators. Cyberspace has also Sanskrit and many Indian Languages. It means to rise been used to form innumerable online communities – (udaya) equally (sama). Rising does not mean more for personal contact, activism and a range of common earnings or more development and ‘equally’ does not interests. mean equal ability, equal strength or equal prosperity. Samuday, rising together, needs to be interpreted as all Nature too works in communities – but we know species, all people, all elements of the Earth evolving them more as eco-systems – sometimes one eco- together. system embedded or directly connected with another, overlapping with each other or sometimes apparently In this issue we focus on how communities work together separated but connected through air, water and other as a Samuday, offering perspectives on the importance unknown ways. of consciousness change, on the need for education for preserving the commons and ‘communal sufficiency’; Human communities are much the same, except that also a few examples of communities in diverse settings, belonging to communities has often alienated us from seemingly small in impact, but an expression of Nature’s Nature and divided us – because the bonding factor way nevertheless. Seetha Ananthasivan October - December 2011 Eternal Bhoomi 3 Community and Commons 6 An Ecological Sense of Home By Thomas Moore 8 Communal Sufficiency By Mark Boyle Community life can be more fulfilling and enriching than we may imagine School Project 10 Freedom Park 29 Be a Pioneering School A Poem by Sunita Nagraj By Prakriya Green Wisdom School and Bhoomi 10 Take Away from Anna Hazare Network teams By Patralekha Chatterjee 30 Organise a Festival for Earth 12 Commons, Community and Education Nature By Seetha Ananthasivan On the importance of education about the 16 A New Flower - a story commons and community. By Ruskin Bond 17 Birds By Suman Kumar 18 Ex No Ra By Preetam Alex and Udeerna Karanam 20 Decoding the Vibrancy of Hiware Bazaar By Rahul Hasija Agriculture 26 Make Friends with the Farmer 22 Ayurvedic Garden Project By Michael Ableman By Dr. Nalini Gite We need to remember that we and our food are very 24 Green Chakra: Eco Projects for Urban Spaces deeply connected with farming and the farmer By Jyotsna Belliappa 32 Who will Feed the World? By Dr. Vandana Shiva 4 Eternal Bhoomi October - December 2011 October - November - December 2011 PARTICIPATE! Join the Campaign for a Million Eco-projects Have you been involved in an eco-project or toying with the idea of starting one? Be it home scale or large, Connect, Learn, Share, through: The Million Eco-projects Portal and The Million Eco-projects Unconference... details on back cover Sustainable Living 46 Trash Trail By the Daily Dump Team Technology 52 Snippets 34 Microspinning: A Revolutionary Invention 55 Membership Page By Dr. Hema Kannan 58 Bhoomi Network Page About an amazing invention that can revitalize the textile industry in India and empower rural communities too. Education 37 Swaraj University By Manish Jain Adventure We welcome your feedback... 40 From the Machan By S.U.Saravanakumar on the articles on Community and Student-Speak Commons published in this issue of Eternal Bhoomi. 42 The Gift of the Commons Send your letters to: By Rahul Hasija The Editors, Bhoomi Network, Perspectives Post Box No 23, Prakriya School Campus, 44 Why Climate Change Requires Chikkanayakanahalli, a Change in Consciousness Off Sarjapura Road, Bangalore - 560 035 By Duane Elgin email : [email protected] 48 Ruhaniyat - Keeping the Soul Alive By Aruna Kalahastri 50 Yoga - Inner Ecology Cover and Magazine Design by Chinmay Dholakia By Ravi Shankar October - December 2011 Eternal Bhoomi 5 Community and Commons An Ecological Sense of Home By Thomas Moore Photograph by Rahul Hasija 6 Eternal Bhoomi October - December 2011 The word ‘ecology’ comes from biology and often it is possible to blend function with these other values, but it seems to point to our relationship with the natural world. seems easier to neglect them and imagine work only as a kind In conversation, ecology usually implies a protective and of functioning; then the workplace has the feel of a factory. appreciative attitude towards Nature. But there is no reason to consider ecology only in relation to the natural world. Another example might be the Etymologically ‘ecology’ means ‘a deep sense of home’. But automobile. An ecology of the car would consider not Nature is not our only home. only harmful physical pollutants but also the noise the car makes in neighbourhoods, the impacts on the community Let me explain how I come to that definition. ‘Eco’ is of the vehicles, roads and signs, and the psychology of the the short form of the Greek word oikos, which means ‘home’. driver. If you drive ecologically, you will consider your speed Logos is a special word used in philosophy and theology and civil behaviour as part of the enterprise. Another similar among the early Greeks. It’s like the Indian notion of ‘dharma’. example is air transport. It is a profound idea, suggesting mystery and depth, meaning and order.