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Answering the Earth’s Call
The preservation of our natural resources for the next generation
has become a top priority not just for those in the environmental
movement but for the corporate sector and for the larger public.
Natural resources are to be exploited for the benefit of humankind
but they should be exploited in a manner that is sustainable
and allows for renewal where this is possible. Preserving
our physical environment is an important aspect any modern
company’s strategic plan.
SLT has focused on developing a spirit of environmental consciousness
among the country’s youth. We will be able to preserve
our natural riches for the next generation only if the values
of nature conservation and protecting our bio diversity can
be internalised among the younger generation. SLT has been
supporting a number of initiatives in this area with this
objective in view.
Last year SLT supported three exhibitions organised by the
Young Zoologists’ Association (YZA) of Sri Lanka. These
were the 12th Annual Photographic Exhibition held at the Alliance
Francaise, the 9th Annual Art Exhibition held at the British
Council and the Mihimadala Exhibition held at the National
Zoo last year.
YZA is a non-government, non-profitable, voluntary youth organisation
whose mission is to create a love and concern for nature among
young people.
SLT continued with Nature for its popular calendar. Our 2004
calendar chose as its theme ‘Earth is calling’.
The objective of this calendar project was to take an object
that has a daily use and to convert this into a message of
environmental preservation. The calendar’s visuals and
captions project an image of a love for nature and her riches.
Last year SLT highlighted Sri Lanka’s endemic birds
in its calendar, again with the objective of fostering a love
for our fauna and flora. SLT homepage hosts e-greeting cards,
calendar wallpapers and screensavers developed based on visuals
of the calendar.
These initiatives are only a very early part of a broader
plan to focus on environmental consciousness. We hope that
through efforts of this kind society will forge a healthy
and productive relationship with the physical environment:
a relationship that will focus on preservation and conservation
and on sustainable exploitation. It is a relationship that
should focus on ‘giving back’ as much as ‘taking
out’. |