Beyond Zebra

	The 29th of September, 2001, found the Springdalians assembled in school for a workshop on environment. A basic introduction to environment followed by a session to address the issue of water. The children played a modified web-of-life game touching upon various environment components. How does a cotton shirt affect a polar bear in the arctic? What has my car got to do with a refugee in Bangladesh? What does a flush in the morning have to do with pollution of the Yamuna? This was followed by an introduction to the concept of "ecological footprint".How big is your ecological footprint? The ecological footprint of a city, a country and so on….. The water component included water conservation, water pollution and management. It was introduced to the students through presentations on traditional, rural and urban
water harvesting. Then they did a water audit of their school, home and determined possible action at policy level to tackle the problem of water. Ironically, the workshop ended at 5.00 pm and at 6.00 pm the old springdalian's association was having a rain dance. While students were determining ways to conserve water, preparation for a rain dance was on. It acted as a hard-hitting contradiction for the children.