Recognising their contributions towards protecting the environment, the CPR Environmental Education Centre awarded a teacher and a school in a function on Monday.
S Ganapathy, an environmentalist and a teacher from Puducherry won the CPREEC Award for Environmental Education 2013 and Sri Sankara Vidyalaya in Pammal was given the Best Green School, Chennai Award. A book by M Amirthalingam and P Sudhakar titled Plant and Animal Diversity in Valmiki’s Ramayana, which includes detailed information about the flora and fauna mentioned in the epic, was also released.
Addressing students at the function, noted agriculturist M S Swaminathan recalled an incident during his school days when his teacher asked the students to take a walk and spot places where mosquitoes would breed. He said that it made him realise the power of education and social message. “We learnt where and how it breeds. In a year’s time, it was all gone,” he recalled.
He further said that earthworms are better than fertilizers. “These days, we use fogging machines to control mosquitoes. But we don’t understand that they breed because of our negligence,” he added.
C V Vaidyanathan, V-C, Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Viswa Mahavidyalaya, SCSVMV University, Kancheepuram said that the book had valuable data for researchers with an appealing look that included maps, classifications, botanical names and more. He also recalled instances from Valmiki’s Ramayana that had references to environment and animals.
Nanditha Krishna, Honorary Director, CPR Environmental Education Centre, and M Bargavi Devendra, Secretary were also present.