World Environment Day Celebration
The Department of Environmental Studies, St. Philomena’s College celebrated the World Environment day on 5th June 2020 at the college auditorium in a very simple way due to the Covid pandemic. The staff of environmental studies department, Nature club , NSS , Youth Red Cross and NCC were only involved to maintain social distancing. The Chief Guest for the programme was Rev. Fr. Alex Prashanth Sequieria, ODP Director, Mysore. Dr. Ruth Shantha Kumari , Principal , St. Philomena’s Degree College, Mysore. Rev. Dr. Bernard Prakash Barnis, Rector/ Manager, St. Philomena’s Institutions, Rev. Fr. Maria Xavier ,Vice Rector , St. Philomena’s Degree College, Prof. Sanjay Nair, Vice Principal , St. Philomena’s Degree College , Rev.Fr. Roxan Baros and Prof. Uzma Bathool, HOD, Environmental Studies Department were the other dignitaries who graced the occasion.
The formal inauguration of the programme was done by invoking Gods blessings.
Dr. Poornima, HoD, Dept. Of Hindi, rendered the invocation, which was followed by watering the plants by the dignitaries.
Prof. Uzma Bathool, HoD, Dept.Of Environmental Studies, welcomed the dignitaries and the gathering
Rev. Fr. Alex Prashanth Sequieria, The Chief Guest for the programme spoke on the relevance of the day. He stressed on how human intervention has resulted in enormous damage to the environment. A few decades back, water was something which was available so easily, today a day has come where if we need pure water, we have to buy it. If we all don’t get together and work towards making environment a better place, the consequences will be disastrous, we have to start purchasing even oxygen like how we purchase groceries was his opinion. He also spoke on how important it is for us to preserve and protect nature. we can change our lifestyle and also understand how it affects the environment. We can make our homes, colleges, surroundings more environmental friendly by adopting practices, recycling of different materials as well as preserving resources such as water and electricity. He stresses on seriousness about the problems associated with environmental deterioration
Dr. Ruth Shantha Kumari spoke on the significance of biodiversity,how extinction of species is happening. She was of the opinion that conserving biodiversity is not merely a priority now, it’s a prerequisite. Man has become the major threat to biodiversity by exploiting natural resources, mining, building dams and many such activities that has contributed enormously to destruction of nature and biodiversity. She also stressed on how to tackle this problem of continuous destruction.
Prof Mary P. Kurein spoke on the significance of the day with these three simple words- Observe , Appreciate and Nurture . She was of the opinion that unless we nurture the nature, the nature is not going to nurture us.
Ms. Milagries A, from the Department of Biotechnology proposed the vote of thanks.
The programme concluded by planting saplings of various flowering plants in the campus.
