Mark and his wife left Australia for India in 1995. Passionate about serving the global poor, the Delaneys lived and raised their two sons, Tom and Oscar, in slums where they attempted to bring a little more compassion and justice. Tom grew up in Indian slums, periodically visiting family and friends in Australia. He studied at the University of Queensland, worked as a disability support worker and now works for an Indian NGO teaching Hindi literacy to child labourers and kids struggling at school. Mark and Tom co-authored Low Carbon and Loving It, chronicling their adventures in sustainable living.
At the launch of our book, Low Carbon and Loving It, I was asked a difficult question: ‘Flights go everyday from Sydney to Johannesburg. Whether or not I book a ticket and get on that plane, it will go. So what difference does it make if I fly or not?’
The Jungle Book: What a fabulous world it would be if we could feel safe with a pack of Wolves, sing with Sloth Bears, ride on a Leopard and talk to Asian Elephants. But the sad reality is that most of us face a dilemma which is the opposite of Mowgli’s. In the UK, where I live, most of us feel safest in our villages, towns or cities and react with fear or even aggression when nature threatens our security, our income, or our convenience in some way.
When I was a child growing up in India, there was a song we often sang at school: “This land is your land, this land is my land, / From the Himalayas down to Cape Comorin, / From Bombay city to old Calcutta, / This land was made for you and me.” Connection to place is important and good. Yet there’s a big difference between belonging to a place, and the place belonging to us.
