Urban Leaves India: August 2016

Tuesday 16 August 2016

Agro-biodiversity talk on World Kitchen Garden Day, 28th August 2016

Preeti shares ... 'Although I come from a catering background, I was unaware of the many local, seasonal and traditionally grown crops that I was introduced to, through our rooftop organic farms'.

While on one hand we are proud of the “Unity in diversity” in India and bask  in its various forms, whether in the physical features in its geography or the cultures, festivals, religion, costumes, flora fauna or food, our diets are becoming more similar – what we call a globalised diet. Diets today are composed of big major crops such as wheat, rice, potatoes and sugar. Crops like soybean have also suddenly become very important . We see a variety of imported fruits flooding our markets but fruits like Guava, Jamun (Black Plum), Jackfruit, Starfruit, Rose Apple, are rarely found. The young generation are quick to recognise a Broccoli or Zucchini but hardly recognize a Purslane, or a Kantol.
With technological advances promising to improve food security for an ever increasing population, we find that poor still don’t have access to nutritional food and urban population struggles with rising obesity in children.

Those of us who grow our own food organically are aware of the dangers of modern agronomy, plant breeding, pesticides and chemical fertilisers and other technological developments that have caused widespread ecological damage and negative human health effects. 

Whatever be the cause of problems which has brought us to this situation, there is no question that the worst hit has been the loss of biological diversity. Paradoxically it is this diversity which ensures the sustainability of our healthy food productive systems.We can no longer afford to ignore this loss.

  • What role does agricultural biodiversity really play?  Why do we need to know about this?
  • What are the short and long term impacts of this loss and how does this loss affect the farming systems and farmers?
  • Does it affect our day-to-day lives in the city ? What can we do to conserve this natural asset?
Come and join us on 28th August for a talk and interactive discussion on Agro Bio-diversity. We are fortunate to have Neeraja Havalagi, from Portland, USA share with us, her knowledge and experiences on World Kitchen Garden Day. 

Neeraja has formal educational degrees from University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore; Clemson University, USA; Akamai University, USA, and was raised in a predominantly agriculture and education-based family in India, with a social and environmental conscience. Her current work is on Agro Bio-diversity. Details of her education, work experience, conference papers/publications are at www.neeraja.net

The talk will be followed by screening of the Film : DIRT!.
Watch the trailer at http://www.dirtthemovie.org

The day also gets us urban gardeners to take a break from our daily/weekly work schedules in our urban farms/gardens, to meet each other, exchange and share green gyan...and enjoy each other’s company in the midst of fun, games and food.

This talk will benefit all our friends who grow their own food, on rooftops or land, in urban or rural areas; and all those who support sustainable agriculture.

DATE & TIME:

Sunday, 28th August, 2016 - 9:30 AM TO 2:00 PM.

VENUE:
AV Hall, Ground Floor,
Don Bosco Provincial House,
Don Bosco School Campus,
Matunga (East),
Mumbai – 400017.

CLICK ME TO VIEW THE PAYMENT AND REGISTRATION DETAILS

CONTRIBUTION: 
DONORS:
Payment made on or before 26th August 2016:  Rs. 900/-
Payment made on or after 27th August 2016: 1300/-

NORMAL PARTICIPANTS:

Payment made on or before 21st August 2016: Rs. 900/-
Payment made between 22nd-26th August 2016(both dates inclusive): Rs. 1100/-
Payment made on or after 27th August 2016: 1300/-

Please note that seats are limited and confirmation of registration is subject to realisation of payment. Please note that payments are non-refundable. 
EXPECTED AGE GROUP: 
Above 14 years.

REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT DETAILS
Please fill the form at the link given above to register for the workshop. Please ensure that you fill in your proper email address as further communication from us will be sent to this address.
Payment can be made via Bank Transfer/NEFT or Cash payment to a volunteer.

BANK TRANSFER/NEFT DETAILS
(We recommend this mode as it is the quickest and requires the least effort. It can be executed through net-banking or through your bank branch.)

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS OUR NEW STATE BANK OF INDIA ACCOUNT and not the old STATE BANK OF HYDERABAD account. If you have the old account of SBH added as a payee, please use the details below for adding the SBI account as new PAYEE.
Bank:
STATE BANK OF INDIA
IFSC Code of Bank:
SBIN0000533
Address of the Branch:
Sunbeam, 18th Road, 
Chembur Mumbai 400071
Account Name:  
VIDYA VAARIDHI TRUST
Type of Bank A/c:
Current
Account No:
34994910641
PAN Number of Trust:
AAATV2294B

Please DO NOT deposit physical cash in our account through a CDM(Cash Deposit Machine) or at the counter by visiting a SBI branch as this method attracts a transaction charge levied by SBI for physical cash transactions. If you do end up using this method please note that the debited transaction charge will be recovered from the participant.


CASH PAYMENT TO VOLUNTEER
Cash can be deposited with Urban Leaves volunteers located in specific parts of Mumbai. Please select a location convenient for you from the available locations in the registration form. You will be emailed the details of the Urban Leaves volunteer to contact for depositing the contribution.

For any questions please email: events [DOT] urbanleaves [ AT ] gmail [ DOT ] com.