The Samsara Festival was a mix of art, film and music brought green-minded people together
People passionate about the environment gathered in Bengaluru for the roundglass Samsara Festival, a week-long environmental summit that concluded today. The summit heralds conscious action for environmental change. Campaigners supporting the cause came together from around the world to spend time putting their best ideas together at the event.
The man behind it was Ricky Kej, a Grammy award winning musician. But his focus at this event was the need for harmony between human beings and the environment.
Speaking to NDTV Mr Kej said, "My passion is music and the environment. My music is about the environment. People want to help, but to get people together on a platform is important."
An array of issues was raised at the meeting including the lack of space for the Indian elephant. Every year, close to 500 people are killed by elephants in the country and 100 to 200 of them are killed by human beings.
Kenyan Carnivore Ecologist, Mordecai Ogada spoke of how Indians are taking charge of their own environmental issues - something that doesn't always happen elsewhere.
He told NDTV, "Conservation in Africa is geared towards American interests. Even wildlife conservation is geared towards tourism - which again by definition is for the outsider."
The festival that began on October 2 saw participation of wildlife activists, former environment minister, Jairam Ramesh and actress Dia Mirza. Three-term president of the island nation of Kiribati, Anote Tong, was one of the lifetime achievement award winners for his concerted campaign to spread awareness about climate change. His home country, a collection of tiny islands in the Pacific, is one of the most vulnerable places on Earth.
The festival which is a mix of art, film and music brought green-minded people together allowing them to reinforce their commitment to quite simply save the world.