Say No To Plastics

The following is a presentation I had developed for addressing a group Students of the Ashok Leyland School, Hosur, Tamil Nadu. The idea for developing this presentation came about from an article in an old issue of National Geographic (Sept 2003), which I picked up from a street vendor in Bangalore the day prior to the programme. Never did i realise that it would become such a widely appreciated presentation from far and wide.

I've uploaded the presentation in the form of a movie with music and posting it below.

The Girl Who Silenced The World....

The following is one of the best speeches I've ever heard, read or listened to. This is the speech of a twelve year young girl giving a speech at the United Nations Earth Summit that took place in Rio de Janeiro 1992.

During the first seconds of the film I didn’t quite understand what was going on - What is that child doing there? - I thought, but I quickly realized, that what I was seeing was something really amazing: a twelve year old child telling to the world that enough is enough, telling to the world leaders to stop destroying the fauna and flora, to stop polluting the air, the ocean and the soil, to end the poverty and social injustices, to stop killing our earth…

This was sixteen years, today Severn Suzuki is is an important environmental activist, was a member of Kofi Annan’s Special Advisory Panel in the past.

I encourage everyone to watch this video, may it serve as an inspiration for us all. (The transcript can be found below.)

Hello, I'm Severn Suzuki speaking for E.C.O. - The Environmental Children's Organisation.

We are a group of twelve and thirteen-year-olds from Canada trying to make a difference:
Vanessa Suttie, Morgan Geisler, Michelle Quigg and me. We raised all the money ourselves to come six thousand miles to tell you adults you must change your ways. Coming here today, I have no hidden agenda. I am fighting for my future.

Losing my future is not like losing an election or a few points on the stock market. I am here to speak for all generations to come.

I am here to speak on behalf of the starving children around the world whose cries go unheard.

I am here to speak for the countless animals dying across this planet because they have nowhere left to go. We cannot afford to be not heard.

I am afraid to go out in the sun now because of the holes in the ozone. I am afraid to breathe the air because I don't know what chemicals are in it.

I used to go fishing in Vancouver with my dad until just a few years ago we found the fish full of cancers. And now we hear about animals and plants going exinct every day -- vanishing forever.

In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rainforests full of birds and butterfilies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.

Did you have to worry about these little things when you were my age?

All this is happening before our eyes and yet we act as if we have all the time we want and all the solutions. I'm only a child and I don't have all the solutions, but I want you to realise, neither do you!

* You don't know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer.
* You don't know how to bring salmon back up a dead stream.
* You don't know how to bring back an animal now extinct.
* And you can't bring back forests that once grew where there is now desert.

If you don't know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!

Here, you may be delegates of your governments, business people, organisers, reporters or poiticians - but really you are mothers and fathers, brothers and sister, aunts and uncles - and all of you are somebody's child.
I'm only a child yet I know we are all part of a family, five billion strong, in fact, 30 million species strong and we all share the same air, water and soil -- borders and governments will never change that.

I'm only a child yet I know we are all in this together and should act as one single world towards one single goal.

In my anger, I am not blind, and in my fear, I am not afraid to tell the world how I feel.

In my country, we make so much waste, we buy and throw away, buy and throw away, and yet northern countries will not share with the needy. Even when we have more than enough, we are afraid to lose some of our wealth, afraid to share.

In Canada, we live the privileged life, with plenty of food, water and shelter -- we have watches, bicycles, computers and television sets.

Two days ago here in Brazil, we were shocked when we spent some time with some children living on the streets. And this is what one child told us: "I wish I was rich and if I were, I would give all the street children food, clothes, medicine, shelter and love and affection."

If a child on the street who has nothing, is willing to share, why are we who have everyting still so greedy?

I can't stop thinking that these children are my age, that it makes a tremendous difference where you are born, that I could be one of those children living in the Favellas of Rio; I could be a child starving in Somalia; a victim of war in the Middle East or a beggar in India.

I'm only a child yet I know if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this earth would be!

At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us to behave in the world. You teach us:

* not to fight with others,
* to work things out,
* to respect others,
* to clean up our mess,
* not to hurt other creatures
* to share - not be greedy.
Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?

Do not forget why you're attending these conferences, who you're doing this for -- we are your own children. You are deciding what kind of world we will grow up in. Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying "everyting's going to be alright" , "we're doing the best we can" and "it's not the end of the world".

But I don't think you can say that to us anymore. Are we even on your list of priorities? My father always says "You are what you do, not what you say."

Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown ups say you love us. I challenge you, please make your actions reflect your words. Thank you for listening.

Cicada Song

Last week, I had been to Nagarhole, Rajiv Gandhi National Park (see map) and got to watch and learn from several of the marvellous creatures of nature. Cicada was one, which we frequently got the chance to observe. I was of the belief that they make their noise by rubbing their legs as the crickets and locusts do! I was wrong! They make their noise using special body part called tymbals. if you are interested in learning more about these magnificent insects, please read further!


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The Insect
Cicada (sih-kay-duh) is an insect of the order with large eyes wide apart on the head and usually transparent, well-veined wings. The adult insect, sometimes called an imago, is usually 2 to 5 cm long, although some tropical species can reach 15 cm. Cicadas have prominent eyes set wide apart on the sides of the head, short antennae protruding between or in front of the eyes, and membranous front wings. Over 2,500 species of cicada are found in temperate to tropical climates where they are among the most widely recognized of all insects, mainly due to their large size and remarkable acoustic talents.

Harmless
Although the Cicadas appear large and scary, they do not bite or sting, are benign to humans, and are not considered pests. Some people in Ancient Greece, China, Malaysia, Burma, Latin America and the Congo eat cicadas: the female is prized as it is meatier. Some of them are considered as pests, when they swarm the area in large numbers.

Did You Know?
Desert cicadas are also among the few insects known to cool themselves by sweating, while many other cicadas can voluntarily raise their body temperatures as much as 22oC above ambient temperature.

The Cicada Song

Male cicadas have loud noisemakers called "timbals" on the sides of the abdominal base. Unlike other familiar sound-producing insects like crickets their "singing" is not created by the stridulation (where two structures are rubbed against one another). The timbals are regions of the exoskeleton that are modified to form a complex membrane with thin, membranous portions and thickened "ribs". Contracting the internal timbal muscles produces a clicking sound as the timbals buckle inwards. As these muscles relax, the timbals return to their original position producing another click. The interior of the male abdomen is substantially hollow to amplify the resonance of the sound. A cicada rapidly vibrates these membranes, and enlarged chambers derived from the tracheae make its body serve as a resonance chamber, greatly amplifying the sound. They modulate their noise by wiggling their abdomens toward and away from the tree that they are on. Also, each species is known to have its own distinctive song.



Although only males produce the cicadas' distinctive sound, both sexes have tympana, which are membranous structures used to detect sounds and thus the cicadas' equivalent of ears. Males can disable their own tympana while calling. Adult cicadas have a sideways-ridged plate where the mouth is in normal insects.

Some cicadas produce sounds up to 120 dB "at close range", among the loudest of all insect-produced sounds. Conversely, some small species are known to have songs in such high pitch, that the noise is inaudible to humans. Species have different mating songs to ensure they attract the appropriate mate. Male cicadas are also capable of making a loud squawk when disturbed. It is believed that such squawking may be effective in deterring predators. Males of many species tend to gather which creates a greater sound intensity and protects against avian predators. It can be difficult to determine which direction(s) cicada song is coming from, because the low pitch carries well and because it may, in fact, be coming from many directions at once, as cicadas in various trees all make noise at once.

In addition to the mating song, many species also have a distinct distress call, usually a somewhat broken and erratic sound emitted when an individual is seized. A number of species also have a courtship song, which is often a quieter call and is produced after a female has been drawn by the calling song.

The song of the cicada is a favourite sound effect used by filmmakers and animators as a means of representing silence, pathos, and the great outdoors.

Life Cycle

After mating, the female cuts slits into the bark of a twig, and into these she deposits her eggs. She may do so repeatedly, until she has laid several hundred eggs. When the eggs hatch, the newborn nymphs drop to the ground, where they burrow. Most cicadas go through a life cycle that lasts from two to five years. These long life cycles are an adaptation to predators such as the cicada killer wasp and praying mantis, as a predator could not regularly fall into synchrony with the cicadas.

The insects spend most of the time that they are underground as nymphs at depths ranging from about 30 cm up to 2.5 m. The nymphs feed on root juice and have strong front legs for digging. In the final nymphal instar, they construct an exit tunnel to the surface and emerge. They then moult (shed their skins), on a nearby plant for the last time and emerge as adults. The abandoned skins remain, still clinging to the bark of trees. Cicadas inhabit both native and exotic plants including tall trees, coastal mangroves, urban gardens and desert shrubs.

Ant and the Grasshopper

An Old Story

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.

Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed.

The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.


The Modern Indian Version

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The Grasshopper thinks the Ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house.

Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.

Mayawati states this as `injustice' done on Minorities.

Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.

The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance).

Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for 'Bengal Bandh' in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.

CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers.

Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ' Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act' [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter.

M. Karunanidhi urges the central government to expedite the clearance for the special bridge between the Grasshopper and Ants. Says, it would bring about equanimity amongst all in the Dravidian world!

Arjun Singh makes 'Special Reservation ' for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & in Government Services.

The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes,it's home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.

Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice'.

Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice '.

CPM calls it the ' Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden '

Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.

Many years later...

The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar
company in Silicon Valley,

100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere
in India,
.
.
.
AND
As a result of loosing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the grasshoppers,
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
India is still a developing country…!!!

P.S

If you are interested, you may want to show this old video, with a two minutue introduction by Walt Disney, based on the classic Aesop fable, the grasshopper plays his fiddle and lives for the moment, thinking "The world owes me a living". The industrious ants squirrel away massive amounts of food for the winter. The grasshoppers convinces one small ant to accompany his music with a dance, until the queen arrives and scares him back to work. The queen warns the grasshopper of the trouble he'll be in, come winter. Winter comes, and the grasshopper, near starvation, stumbles across the ants, who are having a full-on feast in their snug little tree. They take him in and warm him up. The queen tells him only those who work can eat so he must play for them, where he finally realizes he "owe(s) the world a living"

Smallest Countries in the World

Do know what the five smallest countries in the world are?

1. The smallest country is Vatican City, at 0.2 square miles.
2. In position two comes Monaco, at 0.7 square miles.
3. In third place is Nauru, which covers 8.5 square miles.
4. Fourth is Tuvalu, at 9 square miles.
5. And fifth is San Marino at 24 square miles.

So in total, the five smallest countries in the world cover just 42.4 square miles.

Compare that with Disney World in Florida, which at 47 square miles is bigger than all of them put together.

And New York's Central Park, which, if it declared independence would, at 1.32 square miles, be bigger than the Vatican and Monaco combined.