"Children are born with a sense of wonder and an affinity for Nature. Properly cultivated, these values can mature into ecological literacy, and eventually into sustainable patterns of living."
Zenobia Barlow, “Confluence of Streams”
Under the stewardship of His Holiness Shri Ashutosh Maharaj ji, Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan observed Earth day on April 22, 2016 across India at its various branches, taking the issue of climate change, water scarcity and desertification to varied people of this planet through the youngest custodians of Earth.
With environment abuse taking new heights every day, sensitizing people at grassroots level becomes imperative. To make the message effective and empathic, this earth day 2016 DJJS Sanrakshan mobilised children to call upon their parents, neighbours, teachers and masses in general to save earth for them and generations to come.
His Holiness Shri Ashutosh Maharaj Ji, Head and Founder of DJJS says, “In ancient India, Conservation is a value which was instilled in the children when they went to Gurukul. The Vedic Rishis awakened the children to human nature interconnection by bestowing divine knowledge. The current environmental crisis calls for reviving the same tradition". Upholding the same, the sansthan designed this special campaign to steer Children on the path of environment conservation. Various awareness initiatives like street plays, rallies, exhibition were organised across the country engaging children.
Activities undertaken across the country:
Karkardooma, New Delhi
A simple evening walk turned into an enlightening evening for the people at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Park, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad when young custodians of DJJS presented an act on Climate change. A similar kind of event was organized by DJJS at Karkardooma Ashram also. Putting masks on their faces and portraying as various species of the planet, these children sensitized many people on fulfilling their responsibilities towards the nature, including trees, animals and other humans. From Procession to Nukkad natak to Q&A round, they used various means to make people understand their roles as the inhabitants of the planet. After these sessions, the volunteers personally urged the people present there to start conserving the resources at home and distributed them Sanrakshan flyers that included the tips on sustainable lifestyles. Seeing the children fighting their case, even the trees were happy.
Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand
This Earth day, DJJS Pithoragarh conducted a 2-hour Climate Saksharta workshop for the students of Rajkiye Prarthmik School, Raidhara Dharchula road, Pithoragarh. Sadhvi Bhakti Prabha bharti ji, disciple of H.H. Shri Ashutosh Maharaj ji, first elucidated the children about various environmental issues, their impact and how mountainous regions stand vulnerable to the changes in climate. She took few realistic examples of changes happening in such regions to make it easy for them to correlate it with their lives. Sadhvi Rakshita Bharti ji, told them about the ideal scenario, for which all of us have to continuously work and also ensure that our future genrations do not suffer. The students were then asked to put forward their thoughts about happy mother earth through their drawings. Their creativtiy and respect for mother Earth could be witnessed from the drawings. The principal of the school, Smt. Deepa Tiwari ji appreciated the move of DJJS to infuse good values in children and build compassion in them towards the mother Earth.
Chandigarh, UT
DJJS Chandigarh observed this Earth Day at two locations, in City park, Sec-41 and in Green Belt Park, Sec-61. Inspired by the sansthan's constant efforts on reconnecting humans with nature, Mr. Hardeep Singh, Deputy Mayor, Chandigarh invited DJJS to sensitize the people of Chandigarh on nature conservation at City park. The program started with an act on "Mere Desh ki Dharti" by the sansthan volunteers, in which they depicted how humans have been mishandling the available resources to serve self interests, and what all Mother Earth is going through beacuse of it. Thereafter, Swami Satbiranand ji, disciple of His Holiness Shri Ashutosh Maharaj ji, explained how the changing climate is affecting the seasonal cycle. The summers are getting hotter, and winters are not as cold as they used to be. To change climate change, each one of us has to change our habits and go sustainable. In the end, saplings and sanrakshan flyer with tips to save the Earth were distributed to the visitors. The sansthan had also set up an awareness counter to answer queries and also, to motivate more and more people to join the nature conservation campaign of DJJS. Mr. Anil, President of Resident Walfare Association also graced the program organized at Green Belt Park with his presence.
