by Manisha Kumar on Sunday, 31 October 2010 at 04:05
Dear friends and family,
On October 30th 2010, I had a life changing experience that I wanted to share with you. Like many of the most amazing things that have happened to me in my life it came out of the blue. The feelings the event evoked in me were so moving that I wept for almost an hour afterwards. That opportunity was to connect with hundreds of like minded inquisitive minds at the TEDxPearlRiver event, the first of its kind here in Hong Kong. I had been asked to MC a few sessions at the event, which was a huge honour. Some of you may be familiar with TED.com already. If you are not, please check out the website and you will find a wealth of knowledge and information there that could move and amuse you. I get nothing for telling you about TED, just the satisfaction of alerting you to a forum that brings together minds that might actually be able to affect change for the better on our planet.
So here are just a few of the things I learned. I heard about the hunger problem and what UNFP plans to do about feeding 9 billion people, how our kids are being damaged by bad education in school, that as adults we are destroying our creative capacities and that kids are dying every second from preventable diseases. Depressing right? Well, yes and NO. The problems are deep, I agree, but the solutions in some cases are simple. Take for example, the health phone. In this scheme India’s Airtel has agreed to preload free health information content such as video, text and radio onto mobile phones so that people in some of the poorest communities can use it. The information will be available in 15 different languages so just imagine how useful this will be. Instead of a child dying from dyhydration because an illiterate mother had no idea how to administer electrolytes, she’ll now be able to look it up on her phone, which will speak to her in the local dialect and tell her how to do it. Simple but brilliant. I had the honour of meeting the creator, Mr Nand Wadhwani, a man who spent more than 30 years in the corporate World only to turn to this, his big idea. I have said I’ll help him, maybe you can too. See www.healthphone.org. This is just ONE example of the many projects and moving stories I came across on that day.
Mostly, however, the same thing was being repeated over and over again. We are failing our children. We are failing them because we’re killing them. Aryan and Veer, my sons are surrounded by plastic toys with ridiculous packaging, batteries, useless and toxic chemicals, breathing in thick polluted air, fed by foods that forests were stripped bear to produce and guess what, I admit it, I never really thought about it til now. I know for many of us the problem seems so far removed. The tendency is to think, well, what can I do about it, how on earth can I save the World? Its someone else’s problem. You CAN do something EVERY DAY to bring about change. The first way you can do that is to spread messages. For example, the GIRLEFFECT.ORG video I had posted earlier. Raise awareness by sending it out. Even if you don’t want to or are not in a position to donate, just pass it on.
We are over-fishing our seas, burning fossil fuels at alarming rates, destroying our coral reefs, filing the air with acrid toxic pollution, hunting endangered animals as trophies or for medicine, stripping our forests bear to rear livestock….the list goes on and on, I could be here all day. The point is our demand is such that we’re pushing things out of balance and believe me, nature will push back. It is bigger and more powerful than all of us. I’m not trying to preach to you. I am just reaching out to friends and saying, I know there’s a massive problem, YOU know there’s a massive problem so let US ALL work together to do something about it. As a person working in the mass media space I know that I could do more to push the green agenda, not for any political motivation, but just because I love my kids and I love this planet and all it has given to me. I know you do to. Every journey of discovery starts with one small step. If you can think of ways to take those small steps and act on them, then you are already making a difference. I’ll post some links later of places you can look for ideas. Here are a couple to get you started:
For living sustainibly: www.lohas.com
For ways you can help with global projects: www.humaneity.org (though this is launching soon)
Scared of Sharks? Don’t be, watch this: www.sharkwater.com
Food for thought on various subjects: www.ted.com
I am sorry that this turned into a ramble and I thank you with all my heart if you kept it up and read til the end. It was just that I couldn’t sit back and say nothing.
Humbly yours, Manish
