Raise Your Voice, Not the Sea Level World Environment Day, Screening and Discussion
June 6, 2014
, Radha Rangarajan and Sangeetha Kadur put together this event on the 5th of June, at the Suchitra Film Society in Banashankari.
The documentary chronicles the work of James Balog, an award-winning photographer, who, along with his team, placed two dozen time-lapse cameras throughout the Arctic and other areas, to record melting and receding glaciers. Balog conducted the Extreme Ice Survey, a long-term project to preserve a visual legacy of how climate change and human activity affects glaciers. The film was directed by Jeff Orlowski.
(you can see a short bit here,it's about 12 min)
Post the screening, Ulhas Anand spoke of the simple ways in which each of us can save resources. He said that if all the humans on the planet were given a 30'X 40' plot of land with 500 sq ft of garden, next to each other, the total amount of land needed would fit into the nation of South Africa; and yet we only earmark 4% of our land for our fellow creatures.
then spoke, with illustrative slides, on the importance of not being stuck to old modalities of conservation which seek to separate wildlife from human beings, literally fencing them away from each other. With special reference to grassland habitats, he said that such measures were proving counterproductive. He also showed graphic video footage of the torture endured by elephants recently captured from the wild, and "trained" to domesticity. There was a little discussion following this, but since it was getting late, the evening came to an end.
The event also provided an excellent opportunity for those interested in these topics to meet and catch up. It was pleasant to meet several people who are well-known for their expertise in the birding and wildlife fields.
There was a strong NTP contingent: Adarsh, Anjali, Chirdeep, Kalyan, Kesava, Parimala, Poornima, Radha, Raji, Sreeram and Sumeet (and yours truly) were those who were there (I might have missed someone out inadvertently, with my bad memory!)
In fact, the meet-and-greet aspect was so pronounced that I did wonder if at such events, we are just preaching to the choir. Those who attend are usually those who are already well aware of the problems and challenges posed by the environmental issues of today. Perhaps a better way to look at such events is that attendees go back with further information to disseminate the message to others, as many of us are doing in various ways.
But whether it's a discussion forum or a social occasion, (or both) I do hope there will be more such screenings! Thank you, organizers, for an event that was nearly punctual, and had a good turnout, even though it was a working day, and there was very heavy rain before the event started.
