REPORT TO THE AUSTRALIA-INDIA COUNCIL ON JOHN SEED’S INDIA LECTURE TOUR 11/2/10

John Seed, founder of the Rainforest Information Centre did a series of lectures and presentations around India for 6 weeks in December 09 – January 10 sponsored by the Australia-India Council.

There were two main themes to these presentations: Deep Ecology and the Conservation of Nature and How the Australian Rainforests were Saved - The Influence of Gandhi. John travelled with Megan Wallace of the NSW Reconciliation Council who offered a multi-media presentation about "sharing indigenous lessons between Australia and India"

John offered about 30 lectures and presentations in Tamil Nadu (Pondicherry, Tiruvannamalai, Chennai), Kerala (Trivandrum, Muvattupuzha), Karnataka (Bangalore, Sirsi), Maharashtra (Pune, Mumbai), UP (Delhi) and (Kolkata). Audiences numbered from about 40 to over 350 people totaling perhaps 2500 all together.

These were universally well received. See articles in The Hindu
http://beta.thehindu.com/life-and-style/metroplus/article76545.ece while to-day's Times of India had an interview on its op-ed page http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/interviews/Nature-out-there-and-nature-inside-us-is-one-and-the-same/articleshow/5477775.cms

Various blogs also commented on the lectures – such as Wandering Mist, Toxicslink, Treesouls,

The tour raised awareness about environmental issues in general and forest conservation in particular as well as increasing understanding of the philosophy of deep ecology and the importance of non-violent means to achieve conservation outcomes. Membership in various Indian environmental organizations was increased at my events and environmental consciousness was enhanced at Infosys such that I now have invitations to make environmental presentations too their people in Melbourne and Sydney

Most of the universities and other venues extended invitations for both John and Megan to return and offer more such presentations, and many other institutions which did not participate in the present tour also extended such invitations. The latter include the “National Gandhi Museum” in Delhi, “Environment, Social Justice and Governance Initiatives” in Bangalore, “AID Rural Technology Resource Center” in Orissa, the “Hi-Tech Institute of Technology” in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, “Xavier Institute of Management”, Bhubaneswar, Orissa and the invitation to offer a Guest Lecture at TRYST 2011 - the annual Technical Symposium of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in March 2011.

The two initial invitations which catalysed the recently completed tour led to events which were particularly memorable: These were 1. the presentation at the Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai’s “Techfest” which filled the 350 seat auditorium. As well as students, other presenters who attended John’s talk included Vic Hayes from the Netherlands ( the “father of wi-fi”) and Jonathan Gardener, head of the Cosmology Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Center, and 2. the colloquium ”Neutrinos and Elephants” organized by the Raman Research Institute, a prestigious physics institute in Bangalore.

Other particularly memorable events included Trivandrum where Megan and John’s presentations were preceded by two choirs– one of children, the other adults singing traditional songs in Malayalam ; The presentation to Infosys staff at their headquarters in Bangalore; and the event at the India International Centre in New Delhi where luminaries present included Anundhati Roy who electrified the discussion period with her incisive comments.

DECEMBER

18 morning and afternoon, two lectures at Pondicherry University silver jubilee lecture
18 evening Auroville deep ecology presentation flyer
19-20 Auroville experiential deep ecology workshop flyer
21-24 visiting reforestation project in Tiruvannamalai
23 9.30am John, Megan and Govinda Bowley, presentations Mountain of Medicine, Tiruvannamalai
6.30 PM John and Megan presentations "Quo Vadis", Tiruvannamalai
26-30 Chennai
26 presentation for Nature Quest, Bookpoint Auditorium, Anna Salai, 6.30 - 8pm
27 4pm Unity in Diversity: An open dialogue on Deep Ecology - Evergreen, Auroville
28 7.00pm presentation Indian Institute of Technology Madras
29 morning seminar with Prakriti nature study group Indian Institute of Technology Madras
7.00pm presentation Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

JANUARY

1 - 4 Thiruvananthapuram,
2. 2pm outdoor presentation Balavihar behind Tagore Theatre Vazhutacaud
5 Muvattupuzha, lecture at Department of Zoology, Nirmala College
6 - 11 Silent Valley and Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve
13 - 15 Bangalore ,
13 11am Jyoti Nivas College,
4pm lecture for ATREE Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology & the Environment
7.30pm music and presentations with Megan Wallace at Raman Research Institute
14 10am presentations with Megan Wallace Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media
4pm presentation, INFOSYS,
7pm presentation Biodiversity Conservation India Limited (BCIL)
15 11am Raman Research Institute Symposium, Bangalore
5pm Centre for Education and Documentation, Bangalore
16 presentations with Megan Wallace in Sirsi, Samrat Vinayak Hall 4.30pm
17 Gokarna
21 5pm Pune lecture organised by Kalpavriksh
22 6.30pm Mumbai presentation for Bombay Natural History Society
23 11.30am presentation for Techfest, Indian Institute of Technology
27 - 11am lecture for Shaheed Bhagat Singh College (University of Delhi)
3.30pm lecture at the TERI University
28 Delhi, Wildlife Trust of India discussing elephant campaign with the WTI team
6.30pm lecture India International Centre organised by Toxics Link & Kalpavriksh
30 Kolkatta 11am lecture at NUJS National University of Juridical Sciences