Kamini Doobay is a senior at Barnard College of Columbia University. She is a premedical student with a major in Environmental Biology. Along with her interest in medicine and public health, she is passionate about environmental conservation and its relationship with religion and spirituality.
I just saw Food, Inc. for a second time and still hold my opinion that it is one of the most revolutionary films that I have seen. The film disillusions many of us who have chosen to avoid thinking about where our food comes from. Industrial food production is governed by very few corporations that sacrifice consumer health, the livelihood of farmers, the safety of workers who package and process food items and the environment. The industry demands that all pigs and cows are raised to look and taste the same. McDonald's reputation is on the line and burgers must be identical, in appearance and genetic makeup.
The problem goes beyond the meat industry. Fruits and vegetables no longer grow according to the laws of nature. They are not grown naturally, but manufactured or engineered. When we pick up tomatoes and mangoes in supermarkets, we never wonder where they are coming from, why they are available year round and what exactly ...read full post
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January 11, 2010 In his New Year address on Friday, Pope Benedict urged people all over the world to alter their lifestyles in an effort to promote environmental preservation and sustainability. He emphasized the importance of environmental responsibility and individual choices in the collective aim to find global peace and save the planet. He stated, "An objective shared by all, an indispensable condition for peace, is that of overseeing the earth's natural resources with justice and wisdom" (Reuters).
How can our individual daily choices have any impact on global climate change and the preservation of our natural resources? Well, think about what you eat on a daily basis and where your food comes from. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that meat production is responsible for nearly a fifth of global ...read full post
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January 2, 2010 Over the course of the semester, I have done extensive amount of research on Hindu religious ceremonies that involve making offerings into bodies of water. Hindus revere the Ganges as an embodiment of purity, sacredness and spiritual rejuvenation. The Ganges and Her sister rivers all over the world are considered manifestations of the Goddess who descended onto earth for the welfare of mankind. Used in innumerable ways, water provides nourishment, sustenance and is the very lifeblood of our existence.
Hindus make offerings to the Divine Mother by placing prescribed items in bodies of water. Offerings include flags, bamboo sticks, earthen lamps, flowers, icons, uncooked rice, dyes, cloths, foods and spices, fruits, milk, water and an assortment of other ingredients. Often times, unprescribed items, such as aluminum foil, accompany these offerings. The offerings made to Mother Ganga are re-enacted on a daily basis in every region on the globe where Hindus reside. Rivers ...read full post
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December 12, 2009 On November 4th, 2008, the Ganges was declared the National River of India. One year later, members of International Congress on Recent Advances in Environmental Sciences and Technology met at the Banaras Hindu University to tackle some of the most challenging environmental concerns. According to The Times of India, the congress recommended the establishment of a national Ganga research institute to develop effective methods of cleaning up the most sacred river. Objectives of the institute would include developing innovative treatment technologies for the sewage and industrial effluents, recycling solid wastes, promoting conservation of the ecology and valued biodiversity of the Ganga river basin and educating people on altering environmentally destructive practices.
The congress recommended "constitution of three-tier water conservation ...read full post
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November 23, 2009 Hinduism and nature are so entwined that it is quite impossible to think about one without the other. Texts as early as the Vedas and Upanishads advocate environmental conservation and ecological balance. According to Vedic beliefs, trees, rivers, soil and mountains should all be venerated as forms of God. These aspects of nature were not created to be exploited, desecrated and devoured by human beings out to conquer, manipulate and control. Humans are one link in the ecosystem and in the chain of creation and consciousness. We must live in harmony with nature and recognize the sanctity of all elements of creation.
At a very early age, Hindus are taught to recite the following prayer before commencing their daily activities:
"Samudra Vasane Devi, Parvata Stana Mandale.
Vishnupatni Namastubhyam, Paada Sparsham Kshamasva Me."
Translation:
"Salutations to the divine consort of Lord Vishnu, Who is clothed by oceans ...read full post
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November 13, 2009 Later this month, the government of Nepal will hold a cabinet meeting at the base of Mount Everest at an altitude of 17,585 feet to draw global attention to the effects of climate change in the Himalayas (India Times). This landmark revolutionary meeting is expected to predate the UN Climate Change Conference, which will be held from December 7th through December 18th, 2009 in Copenhagen. With this call for urgency, responsibility and environmental vigor, the ministers hope to incite the international world to rise from its slumber.
The Himalayan glaciers feed some of the region's most widely utilized and well-known rivers, including the Ganges, the Yamuna and the Brahmaputra. Fulfilling their divine purpose to service mankind and the environment, the glaciers irrigate agriculture in Tibet, Nepal, Bangladesh and India. However, ...read full post
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November 6, 2009 Kartik Maas, the eighth lunar month in the traditional Hindu calendar, is considered highly auspicious. On November 2nd, 2009, Hindus all over the world will celebrate Kartik Snan or Kartik Purnima, a day dedicated to the worship of Ganga Maa (Goddess of the Sacred Rivers). All through the month of Kartik (October-November), an early morning bath in a sacred body of water is considered highly meritorious. Bathing festivals are held at the Ganges, Yamuna and other sacred rivers. Some devotees camp near the banks of the holy rivers to pay homage to Ganga Maa and return to their distant homes upon termination of the month-long cleansing ceremony. Ganga is a perennial river and people have great belief in her divine powers of healing and regeneration. The Goddess is the embodiment of purity, piety and spiritual rejuvenation. For, She descended onto earth to rinse away the sins of mankind and to provide nourishment and sustenance. Maintenance and natural preservation of Ganga is largely ...read full post
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October 31, 2009 The United States Army Corps of Engineers announced the signing of a pact with a series of agencies to restore the valueable ecology and habitat in threatened salt marshes. According to a recent New York Post article, New York City will receive $20 million to restore 38 acres of wetlands and grasslands located on the shores of Jamaica Bay. These natural habitats are adjacent to the Paerdegat Basin Combined Sewer Overflow Facility.
Jamaica Bay surrounds the Gateway National Recreation Area, a preserve containing a wildlife refuge known for its biodiversity. The marshlands are the core of the bay's ecosystem, providing a haven for more than eighty species of fish and shellfish, a remarkable diversity of migratory birds and a number of endangered and threatened species, including the Atlantic Ridley sea turtle and the Peregrine Falcon.
...read full post
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October 28, 2009
For the past two years, I have been working with a remarkable team of researchers at Barnard College and Lamont Doherty's Earth Observatory, research institution of Columbia University, to enhance the mobilization of arsenic from sediments at the highly contaminated Vineland Chemical Company Superfund site in southern New Jersey. The Vineland Chemical Company manufactured arsenic-based herbicides from 1950 to 1994 on a 54-acre site in a residential and industrial area of the City of Vineland. Prior to 1977, the company stored byproduct arsenic salts in chicken coops and open piles. Its environmentally negligent behavior led to the contamination of an adjacent wetland, surface and subsurface soils, groundwater, the nearby Maurice River and downstream Union Lake. Decades later, the 57,000 people who depend on the groundwater system in the area for drinking water, nearby residents and workers are still ...read full post
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October 21, 2009 In a January 7th, 2007 New York Times article entitled, "Offerings to Mother Ganga, Worries About Mother Nature," Dorothea Poggi, founder of the Ferry Point Park West Coalition, commented on the practice of Hindu rituals at a small beach in Ferry Point Park in Bronx, NY: "I think the ritual is beautiful. I just wish they would stuff it in the garbage pail." For more than a decade, Hindus have been accused by many for desecrating the serenity of beaches and rivers. Because some Hindus leave floatables that are not rapidly biodegradable on the shores of the waterways, harsh generalizations are made about Hinduism and its relationship with natural ecosystems. However, we must avoid labeling any group of people based on detrimental practices done by a fraction of the mass. Just as important is encouraging that misguided fraction to alter its mindset and change its traditionally ...read full post
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October 18, 2009 
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