St. Anne’s Colaba Gets Going

7th December 2011

South Bombay has a charm of its own. Not only does it boast of its architectural grandeur, but it can also be proud of its natural beauty. Unfortunately, this is rapidly changing. While once that part of Bombay greeted you with its majestic trees and pretty gardens, today it assaults you with garbage strewn sidewalks and suffocating vehicular pollution. No wonder then, that the residents of this area are visibly upset. And not just the adults, even the children are angry that their environment has been so badly destroyed. And yes, they want to put things right. This eagerness to better the environment was more than visible during our first session at St. Anne’s High School, Colaba this afternoon. The 80 or more girls who were present for the session were extremely vocal in their resolve to do all it takes to turn the tide, to stop any further destruction of nature, to put back a smile on the face of Mother Earth.

Being our introductory session at this school, we began by screening the GreenLine film on Planet Earth, and followed this up with a discussion on the different ways in which the Earth is presently being destroyed. The insights shared by the young students were truly amazing! “By destroying our natural surroundings, not only are we hurting the earth, we are also causing a trauma for ourselves,” one of the students pointed out.  “All the organisms are connected, and by destroying some, we are causing a problem for all,” said another girl. The screening of the GreenLine film on Water, led to yet another animated discussion. “It may be possible to survive without food, but who can survive without water?” one of the students rhetorically asked. The students were also quick to point out that we are creating problems for ourselves through the callous way in which we treat water. The ‘My Schools Saves Water Challenge’ was accepted by them with wholehearted enthusiasm. Possibly, even as this blog post is being written, they have got down to working on some of the water saving tasks! Thanks to these young environmentalists, South Bombay will definitely see better days in the future! 

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