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Greening Young Minds

National Council of Churches in India
Commission on Youth
Ecumenical Training for Young Aspiring Ecologists
7 - 14 October 2008         NCCI Campus, Nagpur

Greening Young Minds was a pioneering and innovative project and is first of its kind Ecumenical training programme for youth. Around twenty nine youth from different parts of the country and member Churches of NCCI completed their eight day training programme on the theme Greening Young Minds. GYM is a coming together for creating awareness and thinks about some creative possibilities to protect Mother Earth from deep crisis. The greened minds left NCCI with disturbed minds and broken hearts, the cause of the worry was nothing else but that the planet is in a great danger and on the verge of an impending disaster. The youth were geared up to do something to prevent looming environmental disaster by programmes of action, ranging from mere planting of saplings to political, social, religious, economic activisms. The prompting factors were as follows:

Greening Young Minds
Dn. Vineeth Koshy
1. GYM is a coming together for creating awareness and thinks about some creative possibilities to protect Mother Earth from deep crisis and think about the possible alternatives against the contemporary trends of consumerist and  greedy culture.
2. By polluting and violating the biosphere & atmosphere the human is going against the unfolding of the universe. This violation is not only against the earth but to all her human and non-humans.
3. He said that India is country where we have the tradition of laying down their lives to protect nature, and the best example for this is the Chipko Movement.
4. The need of the hour is 'greened' minds over the 'greedy' minds.

Greening Young Minds for Greening India
Shri. Jarnail Singh
1. Empowering young minds through education about the concept of Green India so that they may inculcate awareness and sensitivity among others in the society.
2. Empathy- putting ourselves in the other person's place to feel their pain and in the same way we need to feel the pain of the Ecology.
3. Explained about the importance of green revolution and about the Mission Green India.

Understanding Ecosystems
Dr. K. J. Cherian
1. Botanical projects such as mushroom culturing, vermicomposting, floriculture, beekeeping etc could be one of the solutions of the Ecological Enigma.
2. An insight into recyclable nutrition.
3. The interdependence of plants, microbes and worms in biology and their role in the eco-system.
4. He explained the need, importance and the essentialities of using the various wastes which could be a source to control the increasing pollution.

Youth as Campaigners and Leaders for an Eco-Just society
Fr. Phillip Kuruvilla
1. In this fast paced modern world where mankind employs technology to save time and effort for their own convenience, leads to the detrimental overuse of the invaluable natural resources thereby doing ecological injustice (Marine, Fresh water and Forest Ecosystems).
2. Seven Principles of waste management; Rethink, Reuse, Refuse, Reduce, Recycle, Regulate and Research.
3. How are Christian Leaders different from their secular counterparts? Based on Gal. 5:22-23.
4. Rethinking our priorities and working towards an Eco-Just society.

Scientific Advancements and Ecological Impacts
Fr. Dr. Allan Tavares
1. There should be a harmony between Technology and Environment.
2. Ill-effects of Technology on Planet Earth: - Reasons, Resolutions and Remedies.
3. Demystifying Technological Myths.
4. The answer lies in "Romancing with Nature".
5. Technology in itself is not bad but the man who is using it is making it bad. He discussed the nature in itself is a mystery and the man would never be able to unfold all the pages of this mystery.

Immersing into Sea & to the World of Coral Reefs 
Dr. Nitin Dongerwar
1. Bio-diversity and Symbiosis among tropical life forms.
2. Richness of diversity is more in tropical region. 25% of marine fish is found in this region.
3. The vitality of coral reefs to aquatic organisms.
4. Life cycle of corals and human activities which disrupt their sustenance.
5. To conclude he said that the corals are one of the major reasons for the breeding of the fishes and there scarcity means the destruction of the marine life itself.

Symbiotic Life
Dr.John Chelladurai
1.The whole creation is - "All in one and one in all".
2.He explained the nature and human as the inseparable aspect in nature but the relation between human and nature is a give and take relation but we are so away from the nature that we have to be taught what exactly nature is.
3. The interdependence of life on earth.
4. The place of humans is neither central nor hierarchical but part and parcel of the cosmos.

Biblical Perspectives and Insights to Eco-Ethics
Bishop Dr. D K Sahu
1.Ecology is all about the relationship of mankind with other living beings.
2.Inspiration from eventful encounters of life.
3.Ecology is all about Relationship, he emphasized to read the Bible bi-focally.

Role of Snakes in the Eco-System
Dn. Vineeth Koshy
1. General physiology, venomous and non-venomous snakes and their identification through fangs and their general characteristics of snakes.
2. Describing the reptile family, predators of snakes, varieties of snakes, their habitats, breeding habits, skull and skeletal patterns, types of toxins of snakes and their symptoms when injected into humans, medicinal values of snake venom, venom extraction, making of anti-venom and their camouflage habits.
3. Myths regarding the behavior of snakes, symbolism used for snakes in various religious scriptures.
4. The role of snakes in balancing the natural eco-system with special reference to the view of the snakes as 'friends of farmers'.

Re-reading the Bible with Green Eyes
Rev. Raj Bharat Patta
1.The Bible describes a Green God and a Green Christ.
2.Pan-entheism - Everything is in God and so we need to see Him in His creation.
3.If Christ is Green, then we should be Green too because Christianity is about following Christ.
4.We need to be Eco-centric.
5.The essence of the Naaman story - the interdependence of God, Humans and His other creations.

Ecology and Economics: Indian perspectives
Shri. Rajesh Jadhav
1.Christ is an economic activist - instances from His life.
2.20% of the world's populations are responsible for the earth's ecological imbalance.
3.Described the Kyoto Protocol
4.He quoted from the Bible that the Christians should act as the Salt and not the whole curry.

A Peep into the Micro-World
Dr. R P Thakrey
1.An insight into the types of micro-organisms and the diseases they cause in fruits and vegetables.
2.Fungal and Bacterial infections in some popular fruits:  their reasons and remedies.
3.Described about the various fungal infections on the fruits namely the Citric, Mangoes, Oranges and the Bananas. Awareness on the various ways to preserve the decaying and the precautions to be taken for the same.
4.The effect crisis causing in the micro world.

Impact of Climate Change on Global Village
Ms. Sagarika Chetty
1.The assessment of climate change - local, regional, national and global.
2.Definition of Global village and its relationship with global climate.
3.Variations in global temperatures - Proposed Theories and their shortcomings.
4.The main change of the climate change is based on the variations in the energy output of the sun.

Eco-Mission and Ecumenism: Contributions and Challenges
Rev. Asir Ebenezer
1.Ecumenism is a space mandated by the Church to challenge the Church to take up new Missions.
2.Eco-Mission is transforming anthropocentric ideology into an Eco-centric one.
3.Eco-Mission is an invitation not a condemnation.
4.Contributions of Ecumenical Organisations to Ecological Reformation.
5.Some ecological solutions have their own counter-effects, so we need to be careful in proposing solutions.

Ecumenical Sunday Worship:
As a part of the Ecumenical Sunday Worship delegates were sent to two different churches namely the: Orthodox Church and the Church of North India. The delegates were greatly welcomed and introduced to the congregation members. The exposure to different Churches was new experience for the delegates since for the first time in their life they worshiped at different Churches.
Morning Worships:
The sessions began with the worship led by various denominational groups. The worship consisted of the hymns, ecological worship orders, and symbolic representations of living in harmony with nature, the message was preached from the Bible with relevant texts of eco-concerns.
Morning Walks:
Everyday the participants had morning walks to enjoy the beauty and lush green area of civil lines.
Rocking Nights:
The nights were rocking for the participants, thanks to the cultural committee who organised various games & programmes every night. 

Exposure: National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI)
Dr. M W Joshi
 Introduction about the research & development of projects of NEERI
Dr. SPM Prince William
 Solid Waste Management techniques
Dr. R J Krupadam
 Nanotechnology & Environmental Impact and Risk Assessment
Dr. H J Purohit
 Environmental Genomics
Dr. Nitin Dongerwar & Ms. Uma
  Taxonomy
The trees of the NCCI campus was nameless until the expert team of Nagpur University came and identified their botanical names, family and common names of the each trees & plants of the campus. The training programme concluded with the tagging and putting names plates with description of each trees and plants by the participants and a vow to protect each tree of this earth and laying their life if needed to protect them.

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