By Terry Odendahl
I write during a monthly meeting of the Mozda Collective in Gujarat state, India. This is my third visit to India for Global Greengrants Fund.
Eleven days ago, I reached Kolkata after 24 hours of travel via New York and Mumbai. I then took a four-hour car ride to an environmentally oriented retreat center, Babli, in West Bengal. When I arrived, the campus manager chastised me for bringing in bottled water—plastic being so obviously unsustainable. I am reminded that both the carbon footprint I have left in traveling here and my reliance on bottled water (out of fear of intestinal illness) are contradictory to our mission.
I am now staying in a beautiful forest and wildlife refuge, at the home of our India Advisory Board Coordinator, Michael, and his activist wife, Swati. Being here is a restful relief from the overwhelming threats facing human rights and the environment in India.
Gathering for the Mozda Collective meeting today are some 11 men from several Adivasi (indigenous) villages; they are seasonal volunteers in a watershed protection and restoration project. Forty-five women members of a dal-processing cooperative are also gathering. Together, they make decisions about their work and have even created a joint savings account for the future. Starting at just after 9 a.m., all the men began to gather, some coming from as far away as 16 kilometers. By noon, after completing their household duties, 17 of the women joined a spirited discussion about current events and future planning. We all shared a meal at the end of the meeting.
Witnessing mining and pollution’s toxic effects
Yesterday, Michael drove us a few hours by car to a huge mine and then to industrial estates, which are both parts of India’s rush to development. Accompanying us was photographer and long-time Global Greengrants Fund supporter, Elizabeth. She documented disturbing visual images of mountaintop removal for coal, lignite, silicate, and other minerals that have displaced agricultural villages and contaminated groundwater. She also took some stunning photographs of chemical facilities with massive, uncontained leaks of foul smelling, strangely colored effluent. The typical Indian street dogs in the area were literally green and blue. We were all deeply depressed by what we saw.
Trainings to empower new activists around India
Our India advisors had organized two workshops in advance of their annual meeting: one on epidemiology was geared toward training lay activists to collect scientific evidence to support their advocacy. The other was titled Environmental Actions in India: Directions and Discourse. It was a gathering of some 40 representatives of grantee groups from around the country—but especially West Bengal and the neighboring state of Jharkhand—where Global Greengrants Fund’s India Advisory Board is identifying groups working on climate-related issues, particularly those led by Adivasis, women, and other marginalized groups.
Grasping the human toll of agate jewelry
A few days ago, we went to Khambhat and Shakkarpur Village, where 15,000 people are processing mined agate into stones for jewelry. Electric-powered stone polishing is leading countless workers and their families, who assist, to contract silicosis. This deadly condition is regularly and intentionally misdiagnosed so that families receive no compensation from government or industry. We spoke with mothers whose husbands and sometimes multiple sons have suffered slow and painful deaths. Women and children are also victims. We were welcomed by smiling children, proud of their fathers, who carry on with work that their ancestors mastered as far back as 4,000 years ago. A long cultural tradition, lack of education, or absence of other livelihood options keep people working in a craft that is killing them. Yet, the faster, more modern processing techniques that lead to the inhalation might have included protective technological innovations. I think of myself as a consumer of these beautiful gems, which I will never buy again.
Violence against women
Following the recent and highly publicized rapes in Delhi, we visited a women’s group that provides counseling to victims of domestic and other violence. The group is actively participating in the One Billion Rising campaign to end violence against women and children, while celebrating equality and peace.
Yet more dehumanizing industrialization
Just today, I learned in the Mozda meeting about a 1,000-mile industrial corridor that is being planned from Mumbai to Delhi. The Japanese government is partially financing and pushing the effort, with the support of Indian industrialists and a government friendly to growth at any cost. Yesterday, we were overwhelmed by the dreadfully inhumane conditions and environmental devastation in industrial areas that covered only about 12 miles. And now, following in the tradition of Gandhi, whose ashram we visited, environmental and human rights activists throughout the country must oppose this corridor, which, if realized will destroy the livelihoods and villages of the people I had lunch with in the meeting today.
Reflection
The problems are real. And yet, I have met many inspiring activists who oppose harmful industrial practices. I have been reminded of the many hopeful projects that Global Greengrants Fund has supported over the years, such as special environmental education for poor children in corporation or government schools; the development of organic farms and seed saving; a strong movement against genetically modified organisms; the organizing of workers; protests against mines and dams; supporting local fisheries; helping forest communities assert their rights to sustainably access resources; and advocacy with the government at every level.
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