Becoming a LUMESian in 4 quotes

At my university, I was struck by how many of the other environmental students had had transformative, almost quasi-religious, experiences in nature when they were younger. I've been wondering if this was unique to my culture or more universal. I really want to know Why do we all care? Why are we all spending two years of our lives here in Lund trying to figure out how to change the world? Because maybe if we knew why us, we could spread whatever pushed us here to others.

"We could never have loved the earth so well if we had had no child-hood in it..."
--Georg Eliot (The Mill on the Floss)

This is why I became an environmentalist. I would never have loved the earth this much if it weren't for the idle times as a child climbing trees, building snow forts, racing margarine cups down the rivuleting floods of spring, jumping into leaf piles and floating in the ocean. I would not have loved this earth so much if I had not spent so many hours wandering the woods with my mom, as she asked me, What do you think that is? Why do you think it does that? Where is it going? Where does it live? The woods seemed full of stories and magic, and in the end, I loved the earth.

"Knowing what I do, there would be no future peace for me if I kept silent."
-- Rachel Carson (on why she wrote Silent Spring)

I started out as one of those serious kids who hears about the rainforests being cut down and the whales being endangered in school and demands it all to just stop! When I started taking classes on "environmental issues" and it all became so much more complicated, I felt like Carson, that I couldn't look away.

"One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds."
-- Aldo Leopold (A Sand County Almanac)

So often it seems like it would be easier to look away, to not know the things they're telling us about global warming and desertification and poverty and biodiversity loss and on and on - to be able to have the future peace Carson knows she can't have because she knows so much. This, ultimately, is how I think I ended up here in Lund with y'all: to not live alone with this. To not become one of the burned-out American activists who are stuck and given up with the world. Sometimes it means so much just to see you all in class each day.

This brings me to another of my favorite quotes:

"To know someone here or there with whom you can feel there is understanding in spite of distances or thoughts unexpressed, that can make this life a garden."
-- Goethe

Not to get completely mushy on y'all, but I think it means you are all flowers.

My Turn :-)

When I got in at LUMES, I was reminded by Paulo Coehlo words, “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

I just dont know how I got in here. I remember that the frustration in my life was on an all time high during the month of September 2005. So specific? Well, lets say, some incidents. I kept asking myself what is that I wanted from my life… Where was I heading? Moving along the drift like a dry leaf? I think I spent many a night staring at the ceiling and brooding.. Anger. Frustration. Irritation. Hopelessness. At office, my dead lines became a mirage. Exit September.

Flash back. I grew up running behind all the neighbourhood cats and dogs and hens. Was vaccinated for dog bites and have been chased by cows for getting too pally with their younger ones. Turned into a veggie for the same reason at 15. Would you believe that I took software engineering just because that was the "in" thing then!! Well, why dig the grave .. at the end of the whole charade, the only saving grace was that I got a "decent" job. But what stayed with me while growing up was the frustration at the unjustifiable disparity of life around me!! But then courage was the last thing I had... Last 10 years of my life has been a war with my inner voices;I kept winning till one day - I called it quits.

April 2006. When I received Asa's acceptance mail, I remember sitting frozen at my off desk ..I was shit scared. First thing that struck me was that how did eco-hippies get paid in India :-)) Anyways, since then life has never been the same .. My plan to leave for Lund was a big emotional and personal "Action Drama"!!

I don’t know, but I am here (wonder, I was the only Indian applicant??) and I am enjoying every moment of it, despite of having have to live like an insomniac. And I plan to kick some butts when I get back home !!

*Mushy Hugs*

PS: No Indian spices added. No artificial colouring. All natural :-)

Why enviro?

Okay, I got the writting spirit inside tonite...

Once upon a time, a little boy who lived in France, was spending most of his week ends with his grandparents. His grandfather had a hobby: hunting. So, when the little boy got old enough, his grandfather tooked him with him one sunday. In the morning, they walked in the forest, trying to find a deer to kill. They could eat it for Christmas. In the afternoon, another hunter found one, so the grandfather and the little boy hide behind a tree, waiting for the deer. Suddenly, they both saw the deer. It was 15 meters away, no more, the grandfather took his shotgun and aimed at the deer. The deer was going to be shot. But suddenly, the grandpa lowed his weapon and turned to his grandson with a smile, and he said: 'have you seen how beautiful Nature is?'
From then, I understood that Nature was the most precious thing we had. I definitly decided to go threw sustainaibility studies when I went to Egypt and I saw this little girl who smiled to me after I gave her candies. I realized that human kind was hurting nature, but also human kind, and that we needed to react. So I went to university, studied engineering, because I needed to understand how all the big system was functionning, then I decided it was time to give me more useful tools. And here I am, in Lund!

PS: my grandfather is certainly the man I respect the most on this planet!

How I ended up in Lund

Alright, apparently you guys didn't post enough stories on the blog so far and now Adrianne is calling her housemates to use their memories and tell the story of how it all began. Following the fairy tale tradition initiated by Arj here we go:
One upon a time, there was this 7-year old boy who lived in a big city named Berlin. Whenever his family went to visit the grandparents and other relatives in the small village 200km away, he was very excited. There were pigs, chicken, ducks and rabbits waiting for him to be chased and looked at. But one day, his uncle took a gun and shot a sparrow from the roof of the old farmhouse and it fell to the feet of the boy, dead. What a shock, the word murderer came out of his mouth and he burst into tears, determined never to talk to his uncle again in his life...
Well, this is a long time ago and now I have a different perspective on it, but this moment was probably the turning point and from then on I decided to work with animals and nature. However, during High School and later on decisions had to be made and I realized that there are many roads to rome.
So, I decided to study Business Administration, for a simple reason. If u wanna change something, then u have to know what's going on in the world and u have to know the where to start changing it!! Eventually I made my way into the Lumes programme and didn't regret this decision at any point...thanks to all the nice people who open my spirit and allow me for a lot of new and interesting ideas and viewpoints. Let's challenge us and the world around us for the better!

Lively up yourself

Once upon a time there was a little girl (yes, i like talking about me "à la 3e personne" ;) ) who thought she could change the world with her little hands.

First she thought she could become the first woman elected as president of France. She was around 8 and full of hope and beliefs towards politics/politicians. It seems someone inbetween stole her idea (with the same kind of name, Marie-Hélène Marie-Ségolène, well, not so many differences!), so she kept on thinking and thinking.

Then she thought: "i'll be a journalist! i'll tell people truth about the world and make them smile with my nice stories!". It happened however that truth around her faded away and that things turned sad and hopeless. She joined the Dark Side of the Force, and stopped thinking about a future that did not give her hopes: why believing in journalism and politics when they don't answer the good questions, or, when they do, lie to everyone....

For a while things were fuzzy...let's keep on growing and see what might happen next. One day however she decided to follow the white rabbit, which liberated her from Jail-Paris and led her to Lille, in the Political Science world. Geography and sustainable development appearded then as her mushroom, you know, the one that makes you get bigger and bigger, big enough to see the world from an other perspective :) This idea got stuck in her little head, especially after her first trip the the land of the hippie Vikings.

Now that she's back there, with a lot of happy new mushroomed friends (or, if you are afraid with this comparison, let's say you took the good pill one day!), she just feels good and useful again, believing that she might be able, one day, to change the world with her little hands.

Lots of Love and Hugs to everyone!

PS/ Bdays of the month: Filomena (6th), Yo (10th), Theo (19th)
PS2/ Celebrations before XMas time: St Nicolas Day (6th), Santa Lucia (13th)

The story of how I got here...

Ok everybody, so Autumn wants to know the story behind each of us finding our way to a future in environmental studies or sustainability or whatever you want to call it. For the first post of this blog, I will describe the way that I was called to environmental service.

When I was a kid, I was in gymnastics. Thats seriously all I did. I was absolutely obsessed, to the point that I was known only as "the gymnast". When my gymnastics career was over at 16, I had a serious identity crisis. I had no idea where I fit into the world anymore. I graduated highschool and on my family vacation out in the Rocky Mountains of Canada, I saw something that shook me to the core. We were driving through the mountains in between Calgary and Canmore, when I saw a huge LaFarge plant on the banks of a lake. I could see the reflections of the trees and the mountains in the lake, with this ugly grey building with huge smokestacks in the way. For some reason, it really hit me hard at that moment. It was as though the fog was finally lifted and from then on, my path slowly evolved toward environmental studies (which I didn't know existed at the time). Although it wasn't a huge moment, it was defining. I've had many more incredible experiences in nature and dealing with environmental and social justice issues, but that was my first, and the first is always special. I hope that satisfies you Aut...