New Acropolis in the cities of Mumbai and Pune hosted four specially curated events marking International Mother Earth Day in the month of April.

Through these events, nearly 200 participants had the opportunity to experience, interact and learn about our Mother Earth and how by making small but sustainable changes, we can aspire to live more in tune with Nature’s wisdom.

The flagship event of this weekend was a Panel discussion on Philosophical Lessons from Nature on Sunday. The panelists were Shailaja Deshpande from Jeevitnadi on eco-volunteering, Ketaki Ghate from Oikos on Environmental Sciences, Rajesh Kulkarni from Aakar Pottery on Nature inspired art and Shakti Bishnoi on Sacred Groves, with Yaron Barzilay, the National Director of New Acropolis India (North) who brought the philosophical perspective to bring the discussions. Shraddha Shetty, the manager of the Pune Branch of New Acropolis, moderated the panel.

Preceding this in Mumbai, an experiential session titled Wisdom of Nature had workshops to explore different principles such as resilience, beauty, stability, abundance and others through examples from nature.  On the next morning in Mumbai, around 70 volunteers participated in a Mangrove Restoration and Cleanup at the Colaba Mangroves. This included many students and teachers from B.D. Somani School in Mumbai. Volunteers joined hands to help free the mangroves from plastic, collecting over 150 garbage bags in just 3 hours.

Earlier in the month, members of the Pune branch spearheaded the International Mother Earth Day Celebrations, Working in Nature at Manav Bustan (Rural Center of New Acropolis) and spent the weekend of 8th and 9th April amidst Nature. They spent time planting fruit saplings, erecting a bamboo fence and working with clay to create artefacts.