When the vibrant CEO of Ixoraa Media, Lakshmi Pratury asked me casually for help with a Live Earth project in Inda, I found myself saying "yes"; but later wondered if I should have waited for more details.  On this occasion, the quick yes turned out to be a great decison.

Four months later, after many phone calls and a boatload of emails/sms, here I am in India. leading Friends of Live Earth (FOLE) green activities across 3 cities.  As I travel over the next ten days, will try and share some of my experiences with you.

One of our exciting "wins" was when Madhu Sridhar, President of Akshaya Patra Foundation www.foodforeducation.org decided that the million kids they serve across India in 5000 schools would benefit from participating in a green activity. A secular, non-profit organization, the Foundation provides nutritious school lunches to underprivileged children in India. They have won many accolades over the years for their pioneering approach.

Encouraged, we specially designed a school activity for climate crisis in English which any school across the globe can use.  It has been translated into two Indian languages (Hindi and Kannada) for non-English medium schools in India.  We also partnered with Gupshup and are hosting a national sms eco-quiz contest.  I suspect this eco-quiz may be the first of its kind in India for kids with the use of a mobile.

Special thanks to friends who volunteered their time in India and USA when we were in a crunch.  At times, it has been a logistical challenge coordinating across oceans, time zones, languages and peoples.  But in the end, it has been inspiring to be a part of this trio of diverse entities (Live Earth, Ixoraa Media and Akshaya Patra Foundation) and help take a step in building awareness about climate crisis amongst a million kids in rural/urban India.

So lets keep the ball rolling!  Please share the links below and help kids/schools build their awareness about global climate crisis!

To download the school activities in 3 languages that any school can use:
http://friendsofliveearth.ning.com/forum/categories/go-green-ecoquiz/listForCategory
To view details of the sms eco-quiz contest (ends on Feb 15, 2009) go to:
http://friendsofliveearth.ning.com/profiles/blogs/go-green-ecoquiz