Back to BASICS - Renton de Alwis

Citizens’ call for a real deal

The village of Kiula by the Kalametiya Bird Sanctuary near Hungama in the deep-south of Sri Lanka is home to about 3,000 villagers. Of those, about 32 families were directly affected by the impact of the tsunami on Boxing Day in 2004. Several years later, they have now got their lives back together and go on their day to day chores, with little or no concern of the happenings in the wide-world around them.

The Kalametiya coast where the fisher-folk lay their beach seines or take their catamarans to sea, the lagoon where they collect the kirella (mangroves) fruits to make juice and gather firewood from the shrubs around, the sea-shells some of them mine to make a living; sieving and selling them for chicken-feed and the paddy fields some of them cultivate, with ratthu kakulu haal (red rice), in the main, form the basis of their livelihood.

Children appealing against global warming at the event. picasaweb.google.com

Last week Saturday, almost 1,200 people of the village gathered at the village temple to participate in an event with a difference.

They came together to shower blessings on the leaders from 192 countries who were meeting in Copenhagen, wishing that they will have the courage and saner sense to make a real deal on behalf of all human-kind.

Apart from what they may have seen on television, read in the newspapers or heard on the radio, they knew very little about the issues that faced the future of our planet due to climate change and global warming. But the very thought that actions of others can impact on the lives and the survival of these villagers and their children, is more than an issue for casual discussion, but one of critical concerns to them.

They have like many other Sri Lankan coastal villagers, suffered the wrath of the tsunami, when seismic activity in the depths of the seas in far away Indonesia, wiped away everything they held dear, including the lives of several of their loved ones. To them, like for the people of island nations such as, Tuvalu and the 607 islands of Micronesia on the Pacific Ocean, our neighbouring nation the Maldives and the low-lying land masses of Bangladesh, climate change and its impact is an issue that should be of vital concern.

The unprecedented increases of heating that takes place on the globe’s surface, the melting of ice-burgs and the resultant rises in the sea levels, now substantiated by scientific evidence, for them, are not just nice issues that others go on talking about at workshops, seminars or conferences, or scribes like me write about, but a real-life tragedy they cannot afford to have happening to them.

That is the reason, I believe, why they came in full strength in response to a call to light 500 coconut oil lamps, meditate guided by a young monk of the temple and listen to a sermon of a senior learned monk from nearby Tangalle. The event was organized by the village temple, hosted by yours truly, with the support of the Environmental Studies group of the Colombo University and the Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka.

They were in solidarity with over 11 million likeminded people from 144 countries, who staged over 3,250 similar events on that day, all linked together as one voice through the Internet. Being of the view that we as citizens of Planet Earth, needed to raise our voices and make an assertive call, to all of the world’s leaders for saner action, they came together with oil, wicks, flowers, fragrant jossticks and hope in their hearts.

More so, this simple and meaningful gathering of villagers happened, for we needed to call on the leaders of the ‘developed’ countries, that have been responsible for causing the phenomena of climate change and global warming, through the greed driven lifestyles they and those before them, have modelled as a dominant cultural belief for them and the rest of the world.

Upon lighting of the lamps that formed a map of Sri Lanka and the words “350 - Save us from Global Warming”, they made a hopeful prayer of appeal and were briefed on the climate discussions that were ongoing.

The key theme was that the world needed a real deal from the UN conference on climate change that will be fair, ambitious and binding. Fair; focusing on the need for the rich nations that caused the problem to support poorer nations to mitigate the negative impacts, ambitious; in aiming at bringing the greenhouse gas emission levels to 350 parts per million to allow Planet Earth to repair the damage already caused and put on solid brakes on the process of global warming and lastly, binding; that all decisions taken do not become mere words on paper but are made legally actionable by all of the world’s nations alike.

The message was very clear. With children calling out ‘Let us protect the environment, that protects us’, leaders of nations were urged not to let go of this opportunity at adopting a solid ‘Climate Action Plan’ at the ongoing talks in Copenhagen.

The villagers also heard that the Buddhist way of life they practise, where living according to one’s means without indulging in wasteful lifestyles, may be the way forward for the world at large.

Pictures of the citizens’ voluntary movement calling for a REAL DEAL can be found at the following Web-links on the Internet: www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2rZrhPM2AU www.avaaz.org/en/real_deal_hub/ tcktcktck.org/ http//picasaweb.google.com/hashirm/AvaazTheRealDealSriLanka#

They were also reminded of how the Buddha showed his gratitude to the tree under which he attained enlightenment, through the practice of meditative focus for weeks before leaving that location, emphasizing the respect he had for the environment.

They were reminded of the huge contribution trees made on Planet Earth, and all life on it, through the process of photosynthesis. While they focussed their minds in meditation to call for good sense to prevail at the Denmark talks, joining the many millions like them who held vigils from all around the world, they also sent out a strong message to the world and its leaders.

The message given loud and clear was that the world’s leaders needed to lead us with genuine concern for the well-being of us all, resisting influences of vested interest groups and have the courage to make decisions that can benefit all life on Mother Earth, regardless, if they were living in the glitzy cities of rich countries or in remote villages in poor nations.