WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

FREE Global Online Session 

Sunday 6th June 2021

U.S.A 9 am till 2 pm EDT

U.K 2 pm till 7 pm BST

East Africa 4 pm till 9 pm EAT

Mauritius  5 pm till 10 pm MST

India 6.30 pm till 11.30 pm IST 

Philippines  9 pm till 2 am PST

Host Introduction

Simran Ahuja

Titled Ms India 2013, Simran is also a rising star in Bollywood with her recent debut movie ‘Zindagi Tumse’. An accomplished international Celebrity Anchor, Simran has been associated with the prestigious IIFA Awards, FILMFARE, OSCARS Academy, and many more A-list global events. She is also the recipient of India’s prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award for Anchor par excellence. Another compelling string to her bow is her talent in Folk Dance. Having won 18 consecutive Folk Dance titles in India and America Simran has also been India’s Cultural Ambassador of Folk Dance.

Dr Lakshmi Vyas

Chair, Hindu Forum of Europe

Official Welcome

Nitin Palan, MBE

Nitin Palan, MBE, FCA is the Founder and Chairperson of  Palan Foundation and Hindu Matters in Britain. He is also trustee at BAPS charities Ltd, Remembering Indian Soldiers in World War 1 and Patron of Hindu Forum of Europe.

Roberta Metsola

Vice President

European Parliament

Roberta Metsola is the Vice President of European Parliament. In 2020, She was elected as the First Vice President of the European Parliament, becoming the first Maltese national to hold the post. Professionally she is a lawyer who has specialised in European law and politics. Metsola is working with European Parliament as elected MEP since 2013, re-elected in 2014 and 2019. She holds several portfolios that includes, Member of Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee and of the Delegation for Relations with the United States. VP Metsola is associated with Environmental harmony and She is a Substitute Member on the Committee for Environment, Public Health and Food safety and the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in the Digital Age. Se is also member of Delegation for Relations with Japan. She has several credentials and actively represented various organisations right from the student days. She is soft spoken and caring and very helpful to the communities in Europe.

Elvis Paul Tangem

Coordinator Great Green Wall For the Sahara and Sahel Initiative African Union Commission

Dr. Tangem worked as Regional Enterprise Development Manager for Tree Aid International, a UK based international development charity before joining Great Green wall initiative in Africa. Dr. Tangem with his strong environment inclinations has also worked in Scotland, Environmental Justice Foundation London, Watershed Task Group in Cameroon. Dr. Tangem hold a Masters in Ecology & Management from University of Edinburgh, an Executive MBA from PGSM Paris and PH.D in Business Administration, and several certificates and diplomas. He is a member of several professional networks including Junior Chambers International where he is a Senator, and a pioneer member of World Greening Alliance created by WBCSD and Elion Group in China. The Great wall initiative is a Pan African flagship programme aimed at resilience building in the Dry lands of Africa through a mosaic of sustainable land management, restoration and sustainable economic development projects.

David Earle

Director of the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) 

David is very much concerned about the state of the family in our society, and about helping young people to become citizens of good character. For the last 25 years, since 1993, he is working for UPF from street-level to government-level, on interreligious and intercultural projects, and conferences, which bring people together to serve the public good. David Graduated from Leeds (B Sc) and Aberdeen (M Sc, Ph D) Universities in Biochemistry, and Nutrition in Agriculture.

Dr.Layne Hartsell

Professor at the Asia Institute, Washington, D.C

Layne Hartsell is a professor at the Asia Institute, at Washington, D.C. and Tokyo, in 3E (energy, economy, environment) and a research professor at the Centre for Ethics in Science and Technology Department of Philosophy at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. He is also a project scientist at Sensoria in Montreal. Earlier he worked as assistant professor on convergence studies in Sookmyung Women’s University He has also worked as Lecturer at Mahidol University, Department of Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics. He is dynamic in his thoughts and research.

Suma Jayachandran

Professor of Bio Ethics & Environmental Education

Suma Jayachandra is working as Professor of Bio Ethics & Environmental Education in Malaysia. She is an HRDF Consultant, Professor in Bioethics and Environmental Education at AUSN. She also holdS a Doctorate in Education from the University of Sydney, Australia and involved with lot of work on Environmental Ethic

Manish Tiwari

Summary/ Comments

Manish Tiwari is the Managing Director of Here-and-now-365 which is the UK’s leading independent ethnic advertising and marketing agency.

Ragasudha Vinjamuri

Presenting dance on

Environmental Harmony

Ragasudha is an Associate Lecturer at the University of Sunderland in London. She is a trained award-winning classical dancer, who has performed on very niche topics and holds a distinction of presenting dance 24 times at the British Parliament Houses and twice at the European Parliament so far. She has established Sanskruti Centre for Cultural Excellence to impart dance training and also carries research into lesser seen rare tribal dances of India.

Suzanne Ismail 

Head of Networking & Engagements for Quakers in Britain

Suzanne is a part of the staff team leading the organisation’s campaigning work on climate and economic justice. Suzanne also has a background working for church investors, carrying out research to inform ethical investment practices and engaging with companies on a wide range of social, environmental and human rights issues.

Gita Parihar

Lawyer with particular expertise in environmental and human rights issues.

Gita Pariahr is a lawyer with expertise in environmental and human rights issues. She was formerly Head of Legal consultant at Friends of the Earth. Now she works as an in-house consultant for NGOs and the United Nations. She is also a trustee of the Climate Justice Fund. Gita has a strong background in environmental legal campaigns and was shortlisted for In-House lawyer of the Year by The Lawyer magazine. In addition, she is coordinating an environmental sangha group at her local temple. Gita is also a co-founder of the Regenerative Activism series of conferences, which focus on taking a holistic approach to environmental activism.

Olivia Fuchs

Research Fellow of the Centre for Applied Buddhism

Olivia has a Master’s degree from Winchester University in Buddhism in ‘Reconciliation and Peacebuilding’. She is working as project coordinator of the Eco Dharma Network, part of the steering committee of Faith for the Climate. She is also a member of the ‘Make COP Count’ faith coalition. Olivia continues her freelance career, and pursuing her passion for interfaith work, climate action & social change.

Dr. Ravinder Kaur Nijjar

Summary/ Comments

Ravinder Kaur  is former member of the International Women’s Coordinating Committee of the Global women of faith network. She is also a member of the Board, Women of faith Network. She was awarded the Scottish Asian Women’s Lifetime achievement award in 2013.

Host 

Dr Honey Kalaria

Radhika Iyer

Senior Journalist

Radhika is a senior journalist currently based in London. She has over 16 years of work experience in reporting Current affairs, international politics and trade, conflicts and Extremism. She is a double master’s in journalism and Communication. Radhika currently works for a charity -The Akshaya Patra Foundation UK, as Director of Communities, Communications and Marketing. Radhika has won several awards for her writing and reporting skills on challenging stories, environmental issues particularly natural disasters.

Dr Lakshmi Vyas

Chair of Hindu Forum Europe

Dr Lakshmi Vyas is Chair of Hindu Forum Europe and European Women’s Faith Leader with Religion for Peace. She works with European Council of Religious Leaders and several prestigious Organisation in UK and Europe She is a visiting Professor at American University of sovereign Nations and former Principal of Elphinstone College Mumbai. She has authored three books and several research papers in reputed magazines and journals.

Sangita Pandey

Summary/ Comments

Sangita Pandey is Director Business Development and Training Corporate Life Skills. She has deep interest in preservation and protection of Environment. Currently she is member of the UK India Business Council – an arm of Women’s Economic Forum WEF

Sister Jayanti

European Director of Brahma Kumaris

Her Grace Sister Jayanti is the European Director of Brahmakumaris with over 40 years of experience of Raja Yoga meditation and its practical application in daily life. Her gentle voice and profound insights on spiritual solutions to everyday problems have touched the hearts of thousands around the world.  Sister Jayanti has a unique ability to impart the deepest spiritual truths with the utmost clarity. Her prominent lecture themes have included health, education, racial harmony, women’s needs, religions of the world, sustainability, peace and international relations, all of which have generated a lot of media interest. An author of several books, she travels the world as a speaker and broadcaster, sustaining people spiritually as well as fulfilling her role as Director of the Brahm Kumaris National Co-ordinating Office in London and Bk Activities in over 28 European countries. Recipient of several awards and coveted Bharat Gaurav Award

Phosun Kallee

Sustainable  Environment 

Phosun is an Environmental Consultant with more than 18 years of environmental compliance experience including developing and implementing environmental management systems for the department of environment (Ministry of Environment). He has proven skill in assessing a variety of property types including garbage management and a strong working knowledge of applicable regulatory programs and guidelines.

Prosun has participated in several workshops & research expeditions and has published about 30 articles on subjects related to environment.

 Hanne M.Strong

 The Origins of

World Environment Day

 Hanne M.Strong, has been an advocate for environmental conservation and restoration for many decades. In 1994, she established the Manitou Institute & Conservancy in partnership with Laurance Rockefeller.

She has travelled to over 100 countries and has coordinated numerous civil society events parallel to High Level United Nations conferences. She has been invited to numerous universities, seminars and conferences as a guest speaker to address global issues covering topics such as interreligious communities, sustainable living and spiritually based environmental education.

In 1992, Mrs. Strong organized and chaired two parallel conferences to the Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) (also known as the Earth Summit), entitled, “the Sacred Earth Gathering” and “the Wisdom Keepers Convocation” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Participants of the Sacred Earth Gathering formulated the “Declaration of the Sacred Earth Gathering” which was presented to the Heads of State on the opening day of the official conference. She also launched the Earth Restoration Corps (ERC), a global environmental- educational training program she founded, designed to train young adults in ecosystem restoration and green livelihoods.

 John P. Milton

The Way of Nature

John’s vision quest and shamanic work began in the mid-1940’s, after experiencing his first vision quest at the age of seven. A pioneer in the environmental movement, since the 1950’s, John has guided thousands of people into the wilderness, sharing with them experiences and practices that cultivate a profound connection with Nature and, ultimately, Source Awareness. Over the years, many have sought his profound transmissions and powerful yet gentle Qigong teachings, T’ai Chi Ch’uan training, and Sacred Passage programs. John’s teaching’s draw upon many decades of practice in various styles of meditation, T’ai Chi, Qiqong, shamanic practices, and extensive personal vision questing. His training is also informed by direct teachings from many of the world’s outstanding spiritual teachers and lineages. From this comprehensive background, John has created and essentialized a path of key principles and disciplines that flow from Universal Source. He calls this path the Way of Nature. From this path, John has developed the 12 Guiding Principles of Natural Liberation, which naturally unfold as one experiences Way of Nature’s foundational quest, Sacred Passage. Learn more about John P. Milton by visiting :

www.WayofNature.com

THANK YOU 

Technical Director –  Nishit Kotak 

Creative Director – Sarita Menon

Host Director – Simran Ahuja 

Production Director – Dr Honey Kalaria

Promotions Strategist – Varsha Mistry

Media Team – Kesh Morjaria and Anita Nomula

Host Team –  Simran Ahuja and Dr Honey Kalaria 

Back Up Team –  Dr Lalit Sodha, Dr Milen Shah, Deepa Vithlani, Renu Gidoomal,  Mallesh Kota, Dr Sheila Dobee, Meena Trivedy, Shivali Ruparelia and Saivani Samboo.

Facilitator Team – Dr Lakshmi Vyas, Sharron Rose

and Gayeetree Samboo

Channel Partners – Hindu Forum of Europe, MentalHealth_Connect, Hindu Matters in Britain, Enrich TV, Sanskruti, Simran Ahuja Official, Diwali in London, Bhakti Sagartv, Sunrise Radio UK and many more.

Special Thanks : Strategic Web Success and www.inndus.co.uk

Host 

Conclusion