NewsToday Bureau
Chennai, Aug 19, 2005
http://www.newstodaynet.com/19aug/rf8.htm
School children from two pollution-hit villages – Sangolikuppam and Semmankuppam – in SIPCOT Industrial Estate, Cuddalore, have come all the way to Chennai to convey their message on curbing pollution through non-toxic medium to the student community here.
The art exhibition-cum-discussion programme was jointly organized by Nature Quest and Community Environmental Monitoring at The Bookpoint, a book shop, yesterday. The students from the villages participated in an discussion entitled “Toxic Reality” and interacted with about 300 children from various city schools.
The discussion was aimed at creating awareness on using chemical-based products that can harm communities living on the fringes of chemical factories in remote villages.
The young artists from Sangolikuppam shared their experience with the audience and stressed on avoiding use of plastic materials and chemical-based products. “We are trying to highlight on how the air and water in our area are polluted because of the factories,” said one of the students from Sangolikuppam.
“The message against pollution is communicated using non-toxic medium. We use no toxic paints in our work, just red mud, charcoal and recycled handmade paper,” said Blodsow, an artist who taught the students about painting.
The images in the painting depicted a whole cross-section of social and environmental issues the children face while living near chemical facilities.
Shwetha Narayan, coordinator of the programme, said, “the objective of the programme is to create awareness about pollution and its impact among city school students.”