KOCHI: Environment conservation has always been the catchphrase for Zabna A B, a native of Wayanad. She quit her successful career as a journalist with a leading media house for contributing to the environment’s cause. She was influenced by interactions with people she met during the course of her career, who took efforts to uphold a simple living and the environment. The possibility of becoming instrumental to better one’s surrounding made her think about taking up the conservation efforts.
Later, she joined River Research Centre, an NGO started by the late environmentalist Latha Ananda, as a coordinator for the Schools for River project, which involves children with the environment and river conservation initiatives. She has also brought out a series of info booklets on rivers for children.
“My experience made me realise children and youth hold the key to the upkeep of our surroundings,” she told Express. “They have innovative ideas and are more forthcoming than adults.”
Her work focuses mainly on the Chalakudy River and its basin. They conduct river walks to sensitise children about the issues faced by the river and take up riparian planting to invigorate the dying river ecosystem. It was while conducting camps and presentations for children that Zabna felt the need to have a printed material on rivers which can interest children. Hence, was born her three-booklet series in Malayalam on rivers and its ecosystem - Puzhakal Ozhukum Vazhikal. The books are colourfully illustrated and tell the story of a river from its origin to the point it flows out into the sea.
“I did not want the booklets to be preachy. Yet, it had to convey the immediate need to conserve rivers and it had to appeal to kids. Hence, the story line and the vibrant colours,” she said. The books also have info boxes on the flora and fauna around rivers, dynamics of the river flow, information on world rivers, info bites on topography and even history.
The first booklet subtitled Ozhukunna puzha talks about a class of 15-year-olds who go for a river camp with their science teacher, who is also an avid environmentalist. It speaks of the joy of discovering a free-flowing river, the natural beauty surrounding it and the need to conserve it. In the second booklet titled Ozhukenda puzha, the same class, during their summer vacation, heads to have a close look at the river in its mid-stream and how humans depend on it as a source of generating income through farming, fishing and transportation.
The final part titled Ozhukette puzha fast-forwards to a time when the same students are young adults and starting their careers. They come together to have a look at the same river that gave them so much joy as children. Now, it has been reduced to a polluted, sluggish body, its flow reduced due to dams and incessant sand mining. The book ends with the students pledging to contribute in their own ways to conserve the river.Zabna says the efforts to pen the booklets were relentless and it took about two and a half years to finish it.
“I had to look through a wide variety of materials. I had also rewrote the story line a couple of times. Latha gave me perspective on the content of each chapter. It also took a lot of brainstorming with the other members at RRC,” she said.However, the biggest support came from the home front, she says. Her journalist husband Sharat was actively involved in the making of the booklets. “He made the content crisp and have always been a constant support and a critic as well,” she said.Zabna plans to use her booklets in school camps and is also mulling an English version. She is also hopeful that gradually the booklets will get incorporated in the mainstream school syllabus.
