World Earth Day: Meet Indian Women Dedicated To Conserving Nature

With visible rise in global warming and pollution levels, there seems to be little doubt that we are heading towards an apocalypse. Humans have been exploiting the resources of mother nature mindlessly and now it’s time for us to stop assess the damage that we have done and what measures can be taken to correct it. Earth Day thus, is a call for the entire humanity to rise in unison, to save the only livable planet in our knowledge in this universe.

Earth Day was first celebrated on March 21, 1970 to honor the Earth and the concept of Peace. Later on, it came to be celebrated on 22 April annually.

This Earth day, we bring to you women who have been working towards saving the Earth in every possible way.

Dr. Vandana Shiva

One of the leaders and board members of the International Forum on Globalization, Vandana Shiva is an Indian Scholar, Environmental Activist and Alter- Globalization author. She has received the Right Livelihood Award, an award given to honor and support those giving practical and exemplary answers to the biggest challenges facing us today. Vandana Shiva has spent a large part of her life defending and celebrating Biodiversity. Central to Shiva’s work is the idea of seed freedom or the removal of corporate patents on seed. In 2005, Shiva’s was one of the three organizations that won a 10-year battle in the European Patent Office against the biopiracy of Neem by the US Department of Agriculture. According to Shiva, "Soaring seed prices in India have resulted in many farmers being mired in debt and turning to suicide."

Vandana Shiva has spent a large part of her life defending and celebrating Biodiversity. Central to Shiva’s work is the idea of seed freedom or the removal of corporate patents on seed.

Sugatha Kumari

Leading the environmental and feminist movements in Kerala, India, Sugatha Kumari is an Indian poet and activist. She is the founder secretary of the Prakrithi Samrakshana Samithi, which is an organisation committed to the protect the nature. She has also served as secretary of the Society for Conservation of Nature, Thiruvananthapuram. To save some of the oldest forests in the country, she also led a nation wide movement known as ‘Save Silent Valley’. She has also received the first Indira Priyadarshini Vriksha Mitra Award from the Government of India for her efforts in environmental conservation and afforestation.

Kalpana Ramesh

Known as Hyderabad’s water warrior, Kalpana Ramesh is an Architect. Access to clean water in Hyderabad used to be a big problem and most of the people would depend on tankers and cans for clean water. The city was yet to come up with a solution for this crisis when Kalpana shifted from US. Kalpana and her husband then decided to harvest rainwater on their terrace. Her household level initiative of recycling water has today become a city based project to conserve lakes and rivers.

Ramesh's household level initiative of recycling water has today become a city based project to conserve lakes and rivers.

Lalita Mukati

Lalita Mukati, a 50-year-old home maker introduced organic farming in her village and is also encouraging other farmers to resort to natural farming practices. Interestingly, she today earns 80,000 to 1 lakh rupees per month. She is also teaching other fellow farmers about what organic farming is. She is one of the 112 women across the country who have been felicitated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for her contribution to Agriculture. She and her husband were also selected under the Mukhyamantri Kisan Videsh Adhyayan Yojana in 2014 and went to Germany and Italy to learn high tech farming techniques.

Picture Credit-Newsd

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Anushika Srivastava is an Intern with SheThePeople.Tv