Umesh Babu
Umesh Babu is a noted Indian environmental activist and the founder of Viswadarsanam, an environmental organization located in Kerala, South India.
Viswadarsanam is a center for humanity and nature is set in one acre of vegetation in rural Kerala. It attempts to tackle world problems on a small scale, by promoting an alternative LifeStyle on the family level that will benefit nature.
Viswadarsanam was founded on June 5, 1987, World Environment Day. The aim of the center is to promote a holistic and NATURAL way of life, one in which is in symbiotic union with nature, promoting sustainable development and leading to health, happiness and peace to society.
Activities
Viswadarsanam’s activities include the following: Running a development center for humanity and nature; preparing newsletters, books, information sheets and audio visuals; and conducting guided educative wilderness trips, nature walks and trekking for interested groups.
Viswadarsanam is funded by Umesh Babu and his wife Janee Babu. Umesh Babu is the director at Viswadarsanam. He coordinates the center's activities and his wife looks after the food and accommodation.
Umesh propagates a mode of living which protects and preserves the natural environmental balance, disseminating both innovative and ancient ideas which many have found refreshing. After establishing the centre for humanity and nature - Viswadarsanam - he focused his energies on the development of an eco-culture there, directed towards enabling a contented lifestyle in harmony with nature. Much of this was achieved through the creation of an international fellowship called Viswadarsanam Vrindram. The main agenda of this network is to prevent both the further abuse and exploitation of the Earth's natural assets and the disturbance of its delicate environmental balance. To this end they promote sustainable utilization of resources for all living species. This message is most timely and Viswadarsanam engenders its adoption through various well-planned projects and programmes. The logo of Viswadarsanam reflects this new approach to our interaction with other species and our inter-dependency upon one another.
"Contentment is Conservation" is the key watchword of Viswadarsanam. Environmental work camps and nature awareness programs are organised at the centre, thus putting into practice another of the organisation's central mottoes "Work together, live together and learn together". Participants come from all parts of the world to spend time experiencing the alternative lifestyle practiced at the center. During the work camps participants are taken to areas of great natural beauty, and in the process experience the joys of life outdoors, camping and trekking. This provides both fun and adventure, but also leads to the discovery of a simpler way of life. Periods of contemplation and companionship, together with the self-reliance and the clear health advantages, bring participants to the realization that humans need very little to be satisfied, and that the greatest pleasure lies in simple living.