Conscious consumerism for sustainable future!

New initiatives, busy lives….1/4 of the year is gone…planning work and conducting them is easier than making reports and writing blogs J But how can I forget all our supporters who would love to read this blog and get updated about our activities. So it’s my duty to report you too.

ECO-V did not celebrate it's 13th B’day on the 7^th of February the way we usually celebrate in Colombo. I was in Anuradhapura in North central province conducting a 2 day youth training programme for Sevalanka Foundation. It was very much of fun to work with the youngsters who are learning more about organic farming. My duty was to make them understanding about what Mother earth is and how we can make our contributions to make her happy as Green Leaders.

Youth during kitchen gardening

Experiencing Nature an activity

End of February was another busy week with the National exhibition “Deyata Kirula”. We were having an educational stall for a week at the exhibition under the National Nutritional Secretariat of Presidential Secretariat of Sri Lanka. We did not talk about Nature Conservation directly but it was all about “Conscious Consumerism”. Since we started “Consumer Voice of Sri Lanka” group as a result of the International Training from Consumer Association of Penang, Malaysia last year, we have been working on consumer issues too. I have been delivering more presentations at different audiences on Food safety issues with the support from National Nutritional Secretariat of Sri Lanka for last few months. Therefore, we were invited to deliver the same message at Deyata Kirula exhibition too. It was very positively taken by many visitors and all the volunteers at the stall lost their voices at the end of the exhibition due to too much of talking. E numbers or artificial food additive was the most popular topic at stall other than BPA, and sugar levels of food and drinks.

Volunteers talking to visitors about food additives 

Toshani explaining to kid and her family

Kanchana, Sandya and Toshani at stall

Newly trained volunteer Sandya explaining

I am invited to more Radio programmes on this issue as I am working more on Natural and Organic food for sustainable development. So there are more people calling and asking for more information and for more awareness presentations at local level which is encouraging but finding time and covering cost is the most challenging issue for a voluntary organistaion like us L. Well…..anyway ECO-V mission is to create more awareness to have a behavioral change among people to make them more environmental friendly citizens. So we are on our way…..

Good Market Saturday is also started now. We have a full time stall at Thursday Good Market but not on Saturday. But we initiated a new programme called "Nature Youth" at Saturday Market to train more youth as Green leaders and make them more aware on organic products and sustainable life style along with personal development towards a Green leadership. The opening of Saturday Good market was done by Mrs. Anoma Rajapaksha (wife of Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksha teh defence Secretary of Sri Lanka who really admires sustainability). We had a media Briefing on Good Market objectives and I was invited to take part to talk about "Nature Youth" Initiative too. 

Mrs. Anoma Rajapaksha (in blue) at Good Market

Mrs Rajapaksha talking to vendor, Achala and Kanchana watching

Kanchana at Press briefing 

I went to Phnom Penh, Cambodia to participate in a alumni seminar on Climate Change adaptation and mitigation. This was organised my Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute where I got my initial training on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in year 2011. It was very nice to meet peers in the field who are doing very important work in their regions. 

Kanchana addressing the forum 

Alumni group from SMHI in Cambodia

Thank you 2013.....we had a great year! with new initiatives and successful results!

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We had a great successful year in 2013. Paapedi 2013 the bicycle journey for Climate Justice was a very successful campaign we had for Climate Change mitigation and adaptation work. Also we got involved with Good Market (https://www.facebook.com/thegoodmarketcolombo) and started “Nature Kids” a very unique programme for kids to get connected with Mother Nature. 

Nature Talk before Nature Walk

During Nature walk

Some Nature kids with animal flags

 Also we started two educational stalls at Good Market under the kind sponsorship of Dilmah Conservation. One on Eco Education and the other on Conscious Consumerism.

Eco Stall 

Eco Stall and Consumer Voice Stall

Reading about food and health on consumer voice stall

Sugary drinks and conscious consumerism 

I personally completed two important training programmes. One on Consumerism (Consumer Association of Penang, Malaysia) and the other on Climate change leadership with former Vice president of USA Mr. Al Gore “Climate Change corps” in Istanbul, Turkey. Both programmes were very helpful for me to get more confidence and also loads of information was passed down to various working groups of ECO-V. I also attended a conference in Malaysia on “Interfaith Dialog for Peace and Sustainability” with the kind invitation from Seva Lanka (a NGO for social development work in Sri Lanka) as a Climate Change and sustainable living campaigner. It was great opportunity to participate at People's Forum of The 23rd Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo.  Also I was invited to be at prince Charle's B'day party held in Colombo during his CHOGM visit to Sri Lanka.  

In Istanbul

People's Forum, CHOGM 2013

We had many international volunteers who visited and helped us in our activities. ECO-V won a grant from Kate Stork memorial Awards, UK for our “Nature Kids” programme and it’s the second award from them we won. Thank you for KSMA Awards! We were able to continue our great work with kids at Good Market because of you. Then Nature Kids won the “Environmental Impact Award” of the annual award ceremony of Good Market! This is what we call ripple effect for positive change!! One start leads for something else…

Kanchana and Uvasara with Impact award at Good Market

Having our own training center is the long term plan for ECO-V and we have been working towards it always. Dhanushka from Udawalwa is One of our youth leaders we trained for last 5 years under various programmes (starting from friends of Pelicans, then KSMA youth trainee, kelani nade yathre and Paapedi 2013 yathree). After kelani Nadee yathra he decided to start a farm in his own land as a post journey project. We were thrilled and guided him to start a permaculture farm which we can develop as a training center eventually. The year 2013 was a successful year for him as he able to build a natural building, a toilet and basic accommodation facilities. Thanks to Journeys For Climate Justice in Melbourne who is our partner organization for both journeys we had who sent us International volunteers to work with his team and him were able to get exposure to more wider world. 

Dhanushka and team making compost

Dhanushka's team

Also I started a small permaculture plot very close to our office and trying to develop it as an educational center and make it more sustainable for ECO-V future work. Also we started selling extra vegetables (after sharing the harvest with neighbors and friends) at Good Market and willing to join with them under participatory Guarantee System (3^rd party organic certification).

Eco Garden of ECO-V

Harvest of Eco Garden

We started a very special programme for students at School for Deaf. It’s called talking through Nature which is still in progress. We managed to create a butterfly garden with all native plants and our volunteers did more shramadana work (sharing work) with these differently able children at school. I still remember their exited faces when they saw the first ever caterpillar reported on a herb that they planted.  

Volunteers involved in painting walls of Butterfly Garden area

Students and volunteers working together

We continue to teach about nature for them using this space. Our face book page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/119363511453200/) exceeded 2000 members which is very helpful to spread the messages of our work among volunteers and also helped us to raise funds for our work.

So thank you very much for all of you who were with us in 2013 and we very much hope that you will continue to stay with us in year 2014 in this journey. 

Positive change continues.... - an update about ECO-V activities

I feel really bad about not posting any thing on our blog since July. I don't know how I ignored it as usually we were good at updating our friends and well wishers. I am sure you will forgive us. Our silence does not mean that we were not working. I think its just the busy work schedule we had at ECO-V and only focused on working but not on reporting.

It’s almost the end of the year and now should get ready for coming year. As a duty I am going to update you all about what was going on with us at ECO-V for last few months.

Our two programmes on working with kids were progressing well for past 6 months.  Establishing the Butterfly garden at School for Deaf is very interesting and many volunteers and students and even staff members of the school are working with us on every Friday. We planted few plants and let the grass grow naturally so that few butterflies have started coming to the area. We have noticed 4 different species so far where there were none when we started. Can you remember it was a garbage dump when we started working there. Kids and volunteers are painting the wall around the garden area to make it more attractive. So we all are waiting until plants grow and start giving us flowers so that we will be able to see more and more butterflies in near future.  

Garbage dump at School for Deaf

Cleaning garbage by ECO-V volunteers

Cleaning by children of School for Deaf

Wall painting and flower bed preparation

ECO-V Volunteer Madhubhashini guiding kids to draw butterflies on wall

The best news is, our volunteer for this programme Ayomi Withanage who was contesting for Miss Sri Lanka for Miss earth 2013 became the winner of the title  "Miss Green Sri Lanka" just because of her work at Butterfly Garden at School for Deaf. She also was the 3rd runner up in Miss Sri Lanka 2013 for Miss Earth. So we all at ECO-V are very please about her success. She still continues supporting us whenever time permits.

Ayomi working in our programmes

kanchana and Ayomi  - "Miss Green"

“Talking through Nature” and "Nature Kids"with Miss Sri Lanka for Miss Earth 2013

Wow…working with kids is lot of fun. I have been experiencing this for last 8 weeks at Good Market and the school for deaf in Colombo. Our latest programmes – “Nature kids” and "talking through Nature" was progressing well for last 8 weeks getting attention from people/kids and parents and teachers. We were encouraged by many people and parents and it attracted many volunteers through face book too.

Also we have 2 volunteers who are contesting for Miss Sri Lanka for Miss Earth 2013. I was invited to be a judge and a supervisor for Miss Sri Lanka for Miss Earth. I got 2 pretty women (Ayomi and Monali) from the pageant and they were working with us at ECO-V in our new initiatives as their projects for Miss Earth beauty Pageant. It’s very interesting to mentor them and to work with them. 

Rewarding a kid for his enthusiasm- the reward was a feather picked up from ground

talking about Pelicans

Bird watching during Nature walk

Introducing Ayomi and Monali the two contestants for Miss Sri Lanka

Ayomi and Monali working with kids

Simultaneously we started another  programme with children who are very special children. “Talking through Nature” is the nature interactive programme for children at school for Deaf in Ratmalana, Sri Lanka. We are hoping to establish an organic back yard garden and a Butterfly garden at their school with these special children who are blessed with artistic skills and are very much willing to work but not to talk verbally. It’s very interesting to learn sign language from them but these wonderful children are very good at lip reading too. So it makes our communication more effective until we learn their language.

after cleaning the garbage dump

school children working hand in hand to clear the area for butterflies

Learning about up-cycling, recycling and composting

Volunteers and children at school making the area for butterflies

The garbage dump we are planning to turn into a butterfly garden

Both programme have very good volunteers who joined with us via ECO-V face Book (http://www.facebook.com/groups/119363511453200/?fref=ts

World Environmental Day – 05/06/2013

This year we were very busy with World Environmental day (WED). Dhanushka our Kelani Nadee Yathree (River journey) and Paapedi Yathree (bicycle Journey) organized a workshop for children in his area on the 4^th of June. This was the first workshop he organized at his organic farm. A team of 40 including students, teachers and some student Buddhist monks visited his farm and participated in the half day workshop on the importance of being environmental friendly and growing organic. He also planted few trees in his farm along with the participants. Three from ECO-V office went to support him. 

Some of the participants sitting in side the farm

Dhanushka giving an introduction

Participants walking through farm

On the 5^th June there were many volunteers joined with us in Colombo who became members of ECO-V through face book group. They all gathered to the Good Market, Colombo where we set up an exhibition on being environmental friendly and going green. It took place from 12pm to 8pm and many people visited us and admired the discussion points we had.  We also conducted the “Nature Kids” programme as usual.

At the ECO-V exhibition stall

parent and kids at our stall

some of the new volunteers

I delivered a presentation on the same day on WED theme, “Think-Eat-Save” at Royal College, the leading boy’s school in Colombo on invitation by Ecologi a CSR wing of a private company. There were about 450 students who participated in the programme.