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Train Local Youth and Protect India's Majestic Siang River
Thanks for contributing to our Kickstart SARSI Program! We have made great progress in reaching our fund-raising goal, mostly through $5 and $10 donations from people like you! We have plenty of great rewards and ways for you to contribute to our philanthropic schools on the Siang River, in India's remote north-eastern province of Arunachal Pradesh.
Our PayPal requires no account (just choose "Don't Have a PayPal Account") and it is 100% secure. Begin the two step process by clicking on a reward that fits your budget!
Thank you to SARSI's donors, volunteers, philanthropists, journalists, guides, instructors, sponsors, and media partners participating since 2005.
History
In the 1970's, following a boom in hydropower development throughout the US, conservationists and environmentalists recognized the value of free-flowing rivers to humanity, manifesting itself through both biodiversity and recreation. Explorers joined with activists to protect rivers through the passage of the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act. Today, India finds itself at a similar crossroads, but with a voice muted by large business interests.
Private corporations intend to build over 1000 dams in Northeastern India in the next 20 years, effectively stopping the flow of all major water sources through the eastern Himalayas. The largest of these is the legendary Siang River, India's connection between Tibet's Yarlung Tsangpo and the Brahmaputra, which drains the floodplains of Assam. The Siang flows from Tibet's Mt. Kailash to the Bay of Bengal, dropping through the deepest gorge on the planet between the 20,000+ ft. peaks of Gyala Pelri and Namcha Barwa. This is one of the holiest regions of Tibetan Buddhism, an area known as Pemako-chung.
The Problem
The dams planned for the Siang would flood the holy lands of Khampa and Monpa Buddhists and the ancestral lands of disenfranchised Adi villagers in the valley. While they will provide clean energy, the dams provide few real economic benefits to the local villagers. They create profit for a private corporation, the National Hydropower Corporation (NHPC), and once skilled construction work is completed, the job bubble pops.
What We Are Doing About It
Since 2005, RiverIndia has focused on promoting an alternative: the creation of a vibrant tourism industry that showcases the epic waters and culture of the Siang River to domestic and international visitors. Without a doubt, the Siang is one of the world's greatest rivers to share with visitors; in terms of flora and fauna, grandeur and culture.
In promoting a dynamic industry of multiple competing operators, RiverIndia aims to create a diverse voice for conservation on the Siang. After all, an industry that requires hotels, jeeps, drivers, diesel, markets, fabricators, metal workers, rafting companies, river guides, and ferrymen has many more voting voices than just one company. This is power through the masses, and this new industry is inherently vested in keeping the Siang river healthy and freely flowing.
To accomplish this goal, RiverIndia has funded free community outreach programs and guide schools since 2005. Over the years, dozens of volunteers have donated time, money, equipment, and skills to teach locals how to profit from river-based jobs. RiverIndia has funded the schools and offered trained guides (like Bodhke and Ron, pictured) competitively paid jobs on its expeditions. This work has attracted the attention of National Geographic and Ashoka's Changemakers, as well as Outside Magazine, Men's Journal, Nat Geo Adventure, and Travel+Leisure, to name a few.
The Kickstarter Program
This year we aim to raise at least $7,500 to document, through the next year's schools and expeditions, the jobs, personalities, and sections of river that will be lost were a dam to be built. The project is creative on a large-scale and will complete by April 2011 to be worked into a feature documentary and book. Content will include: photographs of villages soon to be underwater, interviews of villagers who will have to relocate. Photo and video of places like the Marmong and Ponging gorges, beautifully exposed sections granite and schist in the Indian-plate, cut through by the waters of the Siang- accessible only by boat. Caves holding holy sites to Hindus and the Adi tribes. These are the places that will be lost.
Our goal is to use then leverage funding and publicity to raise awareness over the next 3 years through:
1.) Evidence-based documentary collection for posterity- chronicling what will be lost
2.) Individual guide-school student scholarships as our schools grow; to help students buy personal equipment as they begin to work and start their own companies
3.) Expanded Community Outreach Programs- Locally named "picnics", in which we introduce 40-60 students per event to river recreation, Leave-no-Trace style ethics, and safe boating practices
Your Role
With your support, you join the growing community of philanthropic people who donate time, money, and/or blood, sweat, and tears (yes, all three have made an appearance) to teaching schools, leading trips, raising awareness, and generally working to preserve a free-flowing Siang. As we face the NHPC, it may be a David vs. Goliath fight. But kickstarter has shown that there is power in the masses, and we remain, as ever, optimistic.
We end with an inspiring quote shared by one of our expedition guests:
"new studies are reinforcing the simple wisdom that beyond a certain very basic level of material wealth, the only thing that increases individual happiness over time is helping other people."
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REWARDS
Pledge $5 or more "Paddlers" Shout Out @You - Facebook, Twitter, or Web Thank You
Pledge $10 or more "Guides" Shout Out @You - Facebook, Twitter, or Web Thank You
Pledge $15 or more "Expeditionists" Shout Out @You - Facebook, Twitter, or Web Thank You
Pledge $20 or more Sponsor a Guide in Training - Bodhke; Photo Update
Pledge $20 or more Sponsor a Guide in Training - Ron; Photo Update
Pledge $20 or more Sponsor an Instructor in Training - Kundan Lama; Photo Update
Pledge $30 or more Signed Thank You Cards from SARSI
Pledge $100 or more Signed Cards with SARSI on the Siang Photobook
Pledge $250 or more Gift Card for any SARSI Expedition (Nov-Jan) Photobook Included
Pledge $1950 or more 10' Inflatable Boat Donated by Bullet Watercraft Enjoy your local waterways
Pledge $2250 or more Join the 11-Day 2011 SARSI Expedition Nov 29-Dec 9, 2011
Pledge $4000 or more Exclusive Once-in-a-Lifetime Return Helicopter Flight through Bhutan to the Hidden Monastery of Tawang
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