Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) — declared as one of the largest literary festivals in the world with a footfall of around four lakh people each year — had Earth Day Network Ambassador, Ricky Kej and his group perform at the festival opening with a medley of songs to raise awareness about environmental concerns.
Mr. Sanjoy Roy, Managing Director, Teamwork Arts, also the Global Advisory Member of Earth Day Network and his colleagues are to be congratulated for their vision and focus on environmental issues at this year’s JLF.
Earth Day Ambassador, Ricky Kej at Jaipur Literature Festival
The festival had several sessions that focussed on the environment, highlighting the need for conservation of Mother Earth. Earth Day Network Ambassador and Grammy Awardee Ricky Kej performed live at the festival and aimed to create awareness about the threat to nature. Ricky has released various albums such as Winds of Samsara and Earth Love, and a collection of 27 songs called My Earth Songs as his endeavour to spread environmental awareness and sustainability.
American journalist David Wallace-Wells, known for his writings on climate change, was also present at JLF this year. He has written the essay ‘The Uninhabitable Earth’, which he later expanded into the 2019 book ‘The Uninhabitable Earth’. The session ‘The Unhabitable Earth’ at the festival brought together a panel of environmentalists and well-known writers such as David Wallace-Wells, Marcus Moench and Navroz K. Dubash, who emphasised that development must focus on low-carbon lens in the times of ecological devastation.
Another session with Martin Goodman, author of the book ‘Client Earth’, focused on the need to act responsibly towards our planet and advocate its interests. He was in conversation with David Wallace-Wells and Jairam Ramesh, an Indian politician who has written the book ‘Green Signals: Ecology, Growth, and Democracy in India’.
The last day of the festival also had a session on Climate Emergency with the UN advocate for Sustainable Development Goals and popular Indian actress Dia Mirza and many others. The session focussed on the future that remains well below the 1.5 °C global temperature rise, and the impacts of climate change on over 600 million Indians.
Earth Day Network Coordinator, Sustainable Green Initiative, was also present at JLF to promote the plantation of native fruit trees to offset carbon footprints. They spread the message among young participants on living low carbon lifestyles.
The year 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and the theme is Climate Action. Earth Day Network will continue to build on this powerful means of communication with artists playing a pivotal role in highlighting climate change. The campaign will aim to display works of art centered on the environment, leverage social media to expand its reach and generate a global conversation on climate change. To know more about the global campaign, please click here.