Save sparrow under your CSR activity

In 80’s, sparrows, the chirpy, cheerful and charming birds were common sight in my house in Delhi.  My morning will start coming out of the house to pick the newspaper and watch the ever chirping, jumping little birds.  Yes, sparrow does not walk, it jumps. Today I do not get opportunity to see one.  Sparrows love to live with human being.   They never make their nest on the trees but prefer in live crevices in the house.  They feed on grains and insects and only feed insects to their chicks.  There population is dwindling fast all over the world, more so in India for unclear reasons.

Can we do something about it? The corporate could provide a new opportunity to save this little bird feeding mainly on the insects under their CSR activities.

1. Provide bird boxes to be kept in the open area or balcony as the modern architecture do not provide opportunity to these little birds to make nest in crevices in the house or apartments.
2. Keep water bowls or bird bath, particularly in the summer season.
3. Feed these birds with grains
4. Celebrate March World Sparrow Day on 20th March every year.

 

For further information log on to:

http://www.sparrowshelter.org.in/index.html

http://www.natureforever.org/index.html

Your views/ comments are invited.

Dinesh Agrawal

Sustainable Consumption and corporate advertising

Everyone knows the power of advertisement.  Company will do anything to increase the consumption of their product and services even if the consumption moves into unsustainable zone or happiness is lost due to changing behaviour pattern.  This was brightly and simply depicted in the documentary "Story of Stuff" by Annie Leonard in 2007. 

The sustainable consumption is defined by the Oslo Symposium on Sustainable Consumption as "the use of services and related products which respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life while minimizing the use of natural resources and toxic materials as well as emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle of the service or product so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations."

This implies and the product/ services promotion could focus on the happiness that is not directly linked to over consumption, a paradigm followed by many corporates in promoting their products and services.  

Here is one advertisement by DTAC, Thailand titled "disconnect to connect". This advertisement makes us think beyond the consumption of their product/ services to happiness.

Will corporate promote happiness over the greed of consumption. Do you have any views/ examples. Please share.

Dinesh Agrawal