Bhoomi Habba to return to the city this weekend 

Bhoomi Habba, which will be held at the Visthar Campus in Bengaluru between 10 am and 7 pm, seeks to create consciousness about climate justice

“It is a new worldview that we are trying to reflect on,” says Mercy Kappen, Executive Director of Visthar, which will be organising the 17th edition of Bhoomi Habba – The Earth Festival, on June 7. The festival, which will be held at the Visthar Campus in Bengaluru between 10 am and 7 pm, seeks to go beyond modern-day consumerist culture, helping people to see that “alternatives exist and different ways of living and making a living are possible.”

According to Mercy, the festival started in 2008 as the Festival of Justpeace, part of the School of Peace, an international leadership development programme where young people from conflict zones in Southeast Asia would come to the campus for a three-month course. “As part of that course, we wanted them to organise a festival on justice and peace,” she says.

When the School of Peace moved from the Visthar Campus in Bengaluru to another country, “we didn’t want to give up this experience of organising, gathering people, looking at diverse cultural forms and food,” says Mercy. “So, we decided to continue the festival, but we changed it to Bhoomi Habba because we felt that justice and peace should be seen in relation to eco-justice…in the context of our relationship with the earth and environment.”

The festival, which was earlier held on Labour Day on May 1, moved to the Saturday closest to World Environment Day, June 5. “For more than 12 years now, it has been Bhoomi Habba, and each year, we have been focusing on different themes,” she says, adding that the theme for this year is climate resilience and sustainable communities. “The idea is to highlight those themes and create awareness; besides its celebratory dimensions, we want people to reflect on issues.”

In Mercy’s opinion, discussions around climate change often remain at a “higher policy-making body level”, frequently neglecting marginalised people. “We want to bridge that gap and listen to stories of people, their expressions of hopelessness and how they have been dealing with these issues. I feel that there is a lot to learn from people at the grassroots who are dealing with this crisis.”

Mercy believes in a “multi-stakeholder approach where people of different backgrounds, people who are differently affected, come together, reflect and take action.” She hopes that the festival will play its part in creating a consciousness about climate justice. “In a context like this, where a large number of people are gathered and focus on these issues, there is some kind of an impact.”

Some of the highlights of this festival include Baul songs by Santi Priya, a performance titled Bamboo Bodies by Shilpika Bordoloi, a storytelling session by Charumathi Supraja, workshops on seed ball making, community gardening, traditional eco-arts and crafts and creating toys out of trash, film screenings, exhibitions and traditional game sessions, in addition to over 70 stalls showcasing organic and eco-friendly products from local artisans and farmer collectives.