April update

Greetings from the foothills of the Himalayas!

April also remained quite busy for TEAM! On the World Health Day, 7th April, TEAM conducted a half-day workshop on Environmental Health and Biodiversity Conservation to the teachers and students of TCV Day school, McLeod Ganj. The students there loved it very much and twelve of them volunteered to help us the next day with our environmental campaign at the Shoton Opera Festival at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts. TEAM made sure to make everyone hear why we should not trash every corner of our Earth and why we should stop consumption of endangered species products. The students went out to the crowds with loud speaker, signature campaign material and distributed hundreds of educational flyers or brochures.

Also on April 7th, TEAM conducted a cleanup project to clean all our surroundings and distributed masks to those involved in the cleanup work organized by the Department of Health of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile.

From April 10 to 14th, TEAM met with the teachers of Chuantra Tibetan Children¡¦s Village School and Sambodha Gangkyi Day School to discuss on incorporation of sound environmental education in their school curriculum. The teachers wanted to learn from us on trash management and biodiversity conservation and we willingly shared our materials and posters with them. We plan to stay in touch with Chauntra School to start a GREEN-TEAM, an active environmental group, to initiate a zero-waste campaign in the coming months

On the Earth Day, April 22nd, not only we prayed for the good health of Mother Gaia, we also sent out letters to Chinese President, Premier, and Environmental Ministers to encourage and support Tibetan peoples¡¦ effort to protect wildlife. The letter also said:-- China is one of the earliest countries to sign and ratify the Convention on Biological Diversity and is also an important signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna. Furthermore, China has actively participated in the drafting, discussion and negotiation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and played an active role in promoting final conclusion of the CBD. As a result of your country¡¦s concern for biodiversity conservation, there have been growing interests in protection of wildlife such as panda, Tibetan Antelope, black-necked crane, sharks etc, resulting in their increase numbers. World accolades China¡¦s effort to stop trade in shark fins despite it being used in Chinese food since the Song Dynasty (960-1280 AD). Amazingly, in recent months we have been surprised by growing awareness and campaigns in the Tibetan communities to stop consumption of illegal endangered species pelts such as tiger, leopard and otter skins.

Despite such good work, we have recently heard through Chinese environmental organizations that the local authorities in Tibetan Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province, such as at the Qinghai Broadcasting Service, are ordering and encouraging people to wear endangered species skins. In one such incident, a United Front leader in Qinghai even told some Tibetans to go buy otter skins and promised to offer 10,000 yuan for the cost. This incident is very unfortunate as it not only encourages ongoing trade in endangered species, but mars China¡¦s reputation on biodiversity conservation.

Therefore, we strongly urge you to raise this issue with your colleagues and work to pressure your local leaders to immediately stop their stupid behavior and instead join and encourage local people in their wildlife protection campaigns and further:

For the rest of the month, all TEAM staff remained in-door busying ourselves with the translation of Citizens¡¦ Guide to the World Commission on Dams; completing script for a fifteen-minute long film on endangered species titled Hope of Endangered Species; editing the Tibetan translation of John Seed and Joanna Macy¡¦s Thinking Like a Mountain; completing a book in Tibetan: Introduction to Environment and Environmental Issues and completing the Tibetan translation of Pesticides are Poison.

In April TEAM also sent out several funding proposals ¡VEndangered Species Project; Funds for TEAM¡¦s Administrative Costs; Establishing Environmental Clubs in the Tibetan Monastic Communities; Establishing Green-Teams in the Tibetan schools; and Building Memorial Pillar for Tibetan People¡¦s Effort to Protect Endangered Species. So far we haven¡¦t heard any positive response from any of the funding agents! We will appreciate it very much if you guys could send us names and address of any potential funders.

I guess that is about it to keep in touch with all our Earth friends. We would like to repeat once again about our book drive! TEAM would warmly welcome any donations of books, study books (school or university level), videos, specialized magazines and journals related to environmental sciences, ecology and conservation, earth sciences, and geography. These books will be shared with Tibetan students and monks and nuns studying in India and Nepal to help impart knowledge as part of our environmental activism and leadership programs aimed at raising awareness within these two target groups which are in turn to impart environmental wisdom to the wider Tibetan society.

Interest in the environment is growing within Tibetan society, especially amongst students and members of the monastic community. Appropriate resources are urgently needed to help deepen their understanding and empower their activism. Environmental resources however are not readily available in India and access to the internet - another great source of information - is limited. Better resources would greatly assist in reviving the ecological consciousness of Tibetans and starting a tradition of environmental activism in the Tibetan community.

Thank you all very much for your support and love,

TEAM
Dharamsala