E4C welcomes a new writer and editor

I am delighted to announce a new member of our small, but growing team.  Sharada Balasubramanian is an environmental educator, writer and a very special person who is highly passionate about the natural world and teaching children and adults about the wonders of nature.

Sharada Balasubramanian

Sharada has been supporting the work of E4C for over a year, and has been getting to know and understand what we are trying to achieve through our environmental education work.  She has helped to keep the momentum going, and I am very pleased to be able to welcome her to our Editorial Panel for EnvELOP and as a contributor to the E4C blog.

Here is some background information about Sharada, and I’m sure you will join me in looking forward to reading her posts, and the material she will be helping to develop for EnvELOP.

Sharada Balasubramanian lives in Coimbatore, India and has been a journalist for the last 9 years. Her passion is rooted to environmental journalism with a focus on conservation education through writing. Though she has published various articles on travel, business, social entrepreneurs and change-makers, her aim is to raise an awareness to educate about the environment through creative non-fiction writing for children and informed reporting by interacting with scientists who are working on conservation issues and highlighting the importance and need for such conservation measures. Last year, she published a book titled ‘Backyard Birding’ in an attempt to reconnect urban humans to nature. She strongly believes that nature is to be preserved and treasured, to be enjoyed and protected and she chose writing to express her love and concern for nature. She is attempting to reach out to schools to educate them and teach them bird watching and educating them on environmental conservation. Sharada also teaches writing for college students and has given talks on self-confidence, motivation, communication skills, to name some. When she is not writing, she likes to go bird watching, travel and explore the country and the world. She has a blog called wildlifemusings.wordpress.com. You can also look at her website to read her stories on www.sharadabalasubramanian.in. 

Taking Time for the Little Things

Take time to notice the little things

I often read Richard Louv’s highly inspirational blogs and various posts.  He is the author of Last Child in the Woods, the man who coined the phrase “nature deficit disorder”, and is a keen advocate for getting our children into the outdoors to experience nature, and more importantly to make the connections that we are rapidly losing as the pace of modern living continues to accelerate an alarming rate.

One of his recent blogs, The Little Things, struck a particular chord with me, and I wanted to share it with you.  In his post, he invites his audience to be mindful of the little things, the things in our daily lives that we constantly overlook.  The familiar smells, sights and sounds in the minutiae of life.  He asks his readers to pay attention to the familiar things when the house is empty  (“in the silence, look for the little things”), and when the family returns again, to do the same.  ”These little things are everything”.

You can read the full blog here : http://richardlouv.com/blog/the-little-things/

Similarly, when you are out in nature, even if this is in your back garden or yard, or the local park, take time to be mindful here too, to be aware of “the little things,” the things you take for granted, the things you overlook as you rush through your busy life.  Slow down, take the time to stop and listen.  And in your imagination create a little mind map of your experience.  You will be pleasantly surprised at what you notice.  Perhaps memories will be evoked.  Perhaps you will be inspired to be creative.  Maybe you will notice some sounds that are no longer there; a particular bird song that is missing, for example.

And in being mindful of the little things, the bigger things can gain their proper perspective and context, and life becomes much richer.

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Education 4 Conservation has a series of workshop programmes designed to focus participants on the “little things” through awareness of sound.  The first of the workshops, Soundwalk Warwickshire, will be delivered in spring 2012.