Engineering a better world

Have you ever sat in a boring lecture and thought: ‘I wonder how I could help make the world a better place?’ Or been stuck behind a bunch of chatty teenagers on the tube and wondered ‘why should I even bother?’ Well, be prepared to have all these and more of your important life questions answered. We have just the event for all of your queries!

For the first time ever, Imperial will host his Holiness Radhanath Swami, who has traversed the deep underbellies and glorifying heights of the world, spreading his message of social change. This Thursday, on the 21st of March, Radhanath Swami will be discussing how Imperial students can engineer a better world, in an event creatively titled ‘Engineering a Better World’.

Drawing from a vast array of experiences and the extensive success of his social projects, Radhanath Swami will be exploring the challenges facing our generation in improving the world and considering how we can save this planet before the next Mayan Apocalypse.

Wondering how your questions will be answered? Well: there will also be a question-and-answer session for the attendees, so bring your best ones. For the tech-savvy (most of you), you can even post questions online at www.eabw.com. Don’t worry about food either, we know how hungry students can get: there will be refreshments available on the day.

So who is Radhanath Swami? Born Richard Slavin, in Chicago, Radhanath Swami faced a sense of alienation with suburban life and its social injustices as a teenand, as you do, travelled the world looking to find meaning and purpose. Now based in Mumbai, he runs extensive voluntary projects to help better the lives of people from all walks of life.

Projects include: ‘Bhaktivedanta Hospital’, a free-to-use hospital that treats the most deprived of patients and the Govardhan Ecovillage, a self-sustained eco-friendly villagenear the outskirts of bustling Mumbai. In addition to various other humanitarian projects, Radhanath Swami also runs a program most students would appreciate: ‘Midday Meals’, which provides food to deprived school children. It can be tough surviving on microwave pizza and cup noodles as university students, but imagine having no food, everyday. This is what ‘Midday Meals’ tries to prevent.

Sure, Imperial students are busy: with coursework, making the library your home and dates to pretend to be on, but this could change your lives. Radhanath Swami has been all over the world, visiting Cambridge and Houses of Parliament to give talks and meeting with personalities such as Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama. It’s now our chance! Having also given talks at companies such as Ford and banks like HSBC, he should fit right in with Imperial students, seeing as most of them become bankers anyways.

Imperial is home to countless projects and societies that aim to make the world a better place. This would be the ideal pep talk for your members, and a great way to explore new ways to make a greater impact (particularly with society elections coming up). For those that are ‘just not bothered with all this charity crap’: come along to find out why it is so important! Even Russell Brand thinks this man has “got the answer”! Inspiration. Answers to Life. Free Food. What more do you need?

‘Engineering a Better World’ takes place on Thursday 21st of March in Clore Lecture Theatre, Huxley. The event begins at 1800 and light refreshments will be served towards the end, along with a small mingling session.

For more information please visit www.eabw.co.uk, where you can post your questions for the speaker. Entry is free, but spaces are limited so we recommend that you register for the event.