On Thursday morning, passengers at the Puducherry Railway Station in Tiruchirappalli Division were overwhelmed by the number of students, from both private and government schools across Puducherry and neighbouring districts of Tamil Nadu, pouring into the platform.
The serpentine queue that started from the first platform passed through the railway bridge, extending to the third platform where the Science Express – Climate Action Special exhibition had made a halt.
The Science Express, a mobile exhibition train, opened its coaches for the students to learn about climate change impact on nature conservation and many more aspects on Thursday. The two-day exhibition is the 9th phase of the Science Express, which is a flagship programme of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. The exhibition is being organised by the Ministry of Railways, in co-ordination with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Department of Biotechnology, Wildlife Institute of India and Vikram Sarabhai Community Centre.
“Do you know how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?” questioned one of the 34 communicators of Vikram Sarabhai Community Centre to a batch of students who entered the first coach. When the students did not respond, they went on to explain about greenhouse gas emissions, global warming and the methods to reduce it.
Different coaches had displays of posters and models on themes related to environment and climate change.
“The SECAS is scheduled from February 17 to September 8, 2017. It began from Safdarjung railway station in Delhi and will be exhibited at 68 stations covering 19,000 km,” said Sambu Sankar Jeni, a communicator from Vikram Sarabhai Community Centre.
8 themes, 11 coaches
The themes included ‘understanding climate change’ in coach 1; ‘impact of climate change’ in coach 2; adaptation in coach 3 and 4; mitigation in coach 5 and 6; international negotiations on climate change in coach 7; handprint in coach 8; exhibition put up by the Department of Biotechnology, covering themes like biotechnology for bio-resources and nature conversation with emphasis on tiger conservation and chemical ecology in coach 9 and 10, and exhibition put up by the National Innovation Foundation showcasing select innovations, demonstrating the ingenuity of common people and an innovation project which uses augmented reality techniques in coach 11.
As children followed their teachers in every coach guided by the communicators, they enjoyed learning about environment and science.
“We are very happy to have learnt so many new things. I realised how important it is to plant trees and protect nature,” said Abhinayasree, Class VI student of Government Middle School in Mudaliarpet.
Manasa Ranjan Dalai, Public Relations Officer, Southern Railway, Tiruchchirappalli Division, said that the exhibition is a treasure trove of knowledge for children and elders alike.
“It features various aspects of climate change impact featuring nature conservation, recent advancements in biotechnology applications. International climate change negotiations will also be on display,” he said.
The exhibition will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday and Friday in Puducherry Railway Station. For more information, contact: 9428405407 or scienceexpress@gmail.com.