STUDENTS at St Mary's University College have received a hard-hitting lesson on environmental sustainability.
Dr Anuradha Verma, a scientist at Loyola University in Chicago spoke to 170 undergraduates on how the world has been impacted by a combination of growth, competing economies and the corporate direction of global trends.
Dr Verma, a niece of Lord Diljit Rana of Malone, also offered potential solutions to combat the negative effects that the world and its people have been experiencing as a consequence of this impact.
In addition to her work at Loyola University, Dr Verma has partnered several grassroots organisations in Chicago with the goal of changing policies around the use of plastic.
"My training as a scientist taught me two things: first, to speak up for your point of view and, secondly, to use your emotions, like curiosity, excitement, dread, joy, perseverance, frustration, worry and delight, because emotions assign a value to your reason. If you don’t know why and what you want, you can’t make a good decision," she told The Irish News.
"What we do not realise is that we have ecological limits. In any ecosystem, the availability of food and nutrients becomes the ultimate arbiter of population size, but not for us humans. We change our forests, water, rocks, soil, atmosphere, land and even our climate and take down every animal which comes our way. We, the Homo Sapiens, the wise men, the hallmark of our species, have just come of age without realising that we have to follow the same laws which rule the survival of any organism, and we are no different.
"My hope is in young girls and boys like Greta Thunberg who are looking at the world they are left with and wanting action from a system which is resistant to any systemic transformations. My best wishes to all the young activists who want action and not the spotlight."
Lord Rana and Dr Verma were joined by two students who will participate in a jointSt Mary's/Stranmillis study visit later in the year to India in association with the SapharaProject.
Conor McManus from Belfast and Katie Sweeney from Derry will join six other student teachers and two tutors in an initiative which will involve them teaching in schools in a rural area of northern India.
