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.
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.
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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 Take a trip to Rockaway beach on the South Shore of Long Island in Queens, NY on a Saturday morning in the summer. You will see a diverse group of people surfing, sunbathing, strolling the boardwalk, watching the piping plover birds or playing handball at one of the handball courts. If you are fortunate enough, you might also see a group of Indo-Caribbean Hindus paying homage to Mother Ganga (Goddess of the Sacred Rivers) by making offerings to the Divine Mother. More formally, the ceremony is called Ganga Puja, and is performed annually by most Hindu families with the objective of gratifying Mother for all she has provided during the year. Puja has sixteen steps in which various items are offered to a Murti (representation of the Divine) or picture of the Goddess with the idea of giving back what they have received. Some of these offerings include items such as cloths, foods and spices, flowers, fruits, milk, water, leaves and money. This beautiful ceremony highlights the Vedic ...read full post
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October 7, 2009 
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Copyright 2008 by the Natural Resources Defense Council
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