Madhyam

Madhyam is a voluntary organization which has been working on sustainable development and consumption. Madhyam's mission is to engage itself in the development without destruction of the environment and its biodiversity. Madhyam carries out research and networks with professionals and put their expertise together to create awareness on sustainable consumption, practice sustainable agriculture, build sustainable buildings, develop future designers and entrepreneurs for sustainable products and clothing.
Country is defined by its borders while the planet does not have one. It does not limit us and our area of work. It has gargantuan flexibility to house all races and species. More diverse it is, richer it gets. Why not then has an anthem for our planet? Anthem that can be sung by all in unison ? The anthem of love for the planet and a vow to preserve it?
I felt nostalgic while living in France but year after year during my visits to India, a part of my memory was erased in the name of development. I had learned about the conservation of natural resources and energy from my parents. They then addressed it with a word as narrow as "National waste" . Today we have come a long way in inventing broad spectrum words like "Environment Protection", "Bio Diversity Preservation", "Sustainable Development", however the meaning seems to have got lost somewhere along the way. 'Organic Farming ensures environmental sustainability and farmers prosperity in long term, but it would need to overcome the barriers related to the further research and development, market access, consumer awareness and financial incentives. Green Revolution in India was major milestone, but now India needs 'ever green revolution'. These were some of the reverberating messages from the workshop. Collaboration agreement between Agriculture University of Turin-Italy and Rahuri Krishi Vidyapeeth and Agricultural University of University of Agricultural sciences-Karnataka was signed during the workshop.
Education through Entertainment:
With the aim of understanding the level of understanding on the environment issues among children, Madhyam conducted a Painting competition for Corporation school children of Bibvevadi - Pune area. Introductory talks were given on the hazards of environment to the children prior to the competition. Many children participated and the general response and enthusiasm was very encouraging. Five best paintings were selected and prizes to winners were distributed.
The need assessment workshop was conducted in Chaundeshwari girl school -Rahimatpur-Satara district, where the participants were the teachers. The proposal of starting environment education as suppliment to their curriculum was made. Majority of the teachers were of the opinion that the text should be made very light and interesting because the children are already over loaded with so many subjects. Their experience was that the visual impact is long lasting therefore slide shows; documentaries films should be shown to the children in environment education classes for better results.