Save ecology is the magic message

MUMBAI, MAY 31: A black cloth held at the edges. This,'' said 13-year-old Kruti Parekh, child magician, is the sky. Pollution has blo...

MUMBAI, MAY 31: A black cloth held at the edges. 8220;This,8221; said 13-year-old Kruti Parekh, child magician, 8220;is the sky. Pollution has blotted out the stars. What are we going to do?8221; A mouthful of magic words, a deft flick of the wrists and suddenly the blackness was studded with the silver flickerings of stars. Kruti was performing at the World Environment Day June 9 celebrations held at the Orchid Hotel, Vile Parle in association with the Bombay Natural History Society BNHS. The programme is part of a awareness campaign aimed at instilling a sense of responsibility towards the environment among the citizens.

In an audio-visual presentation, Prashant Mahajan, senior education officer at the BNHS, showed the richness of the animal and plant life in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park SGNP. 8220;SGNP is the only forest in the world surrounded by a metropolis and is a green lung for the city,8221; he said.

The park is home to more species of butterflies than all those found in Europe, 299 species of birds, 38types of mushrooms, over 30 leopards and innumerable other varieties of flora and fauna. Mahajan described some of their fascinating survival techniques 8211; a brilliant blue moth which closes its wings to look like a brown leaf, another whose outspread wings have eye-like discs which make predatory birds mistake it for an owl8217;s head.

However, the park is endangered with encorachments, poaching, deforestation and lack of space for leopards.

In an interactive session, representatives from environmental organisations Oasis8217; and Brainchild8217;, invited suggestions from people whereby they could make some difference individually.

Simone Mandana, an artist, explained a selection of her paintings on environment and eco-feminism.

Viren Merchant, the driving force behind the transformation of the filthy Joshi Lane in Ghatkopar east into an immaculate promenade, urged replication of such experiment in other localities with the cooperation of the municipal corporation. A significant step in this direction wouldbe the adoption of vermiculture 8211; the segregation and recycling of waste.

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Kruti, however, stole the show with her unique magic show, one with a message on protection of environment. She turned a banana peel into a bunch of orchids emphasising that waste can be recycled to give a thing of beauty.

The chief guest, D T Joseph, Managing Director, Sicom Ltd and a committed environmentalist planted a sapling on the occasion.