Abhishek Seth was browsing at an airport bookstore over a year ago when An Inconvenient Truth caught his eye. As he began reading the book, in which author Al Gore passionately details the degradation of the environment and beckons to citizens across the world to save the earth, Abhishek just could not put it down. He was to see the film based on the book too. All this before it helped Gore win the Nobel Peace Prize.
By then, Abhishek had started doing his own bit to encourage people to make the earth a better place. A winner of several photography contests including the Annual Shutterbug Photo Contest, and the ones organized by newspaper The Star-Ledger, and The International Library of Photography, he has assembled 84 of his best pictures in a book with eco friendly messages.
The book published in India caught the attention of The Star-Ledger, which reaches nearly a million readers in New Jersey. It ran a full-page story on Abhishek and his book Save My World (He gets the big picture, announced the headline) on December 12, two days before his parents, Puneet Seth, a senior partner at New York Life, and mother Shailja organized its release at a gathering in Edison, New Jersey.
"I have been taking pictures for more than four years since I found my parent's digital camera and began using it at a picnic," Abhishek said. "But who would have thought that I would put the camera for a good cause?"
Though he is a member of Students Against Violating the Environment for several years, Abhishek got really excited about global environmental problems only after getting to know the book and the film An Inconvenient Truth.
"I have been taking pictures of anything that caught my attention," he says. Many of his pictures are from his travels across America, India, the Czech Republic and a handful of other European countries. A picture of a cousin's wedding has brought him praise and attention from newspapers and contests. It is also featured in a coffee table book called Endless Journeys "But since a year, I am more drawn to looking at the environment."
Pictures in the book are accompanied with eco-friendly suggestions including using reusable canvas bags and replacing the five mostly used light bulbs in the house with low energy spiral bulbs.
"I think my passion is catching on in my home," he says. "My father, my mother and my younger brother are reading about global warming," he adds. "And there are quite a few things I recommend in the book."
Abhishek says since his book was published by a small company in India, he, with the help of his parents, have to find ways to sell it.
"Whatever money we will be making from selling this book, we will donate it for causes that are earth-friendly," he says. He is getting ready to write to various education boards about finding avenues to sell the book and talk about it. Indian associations are also on his mind. "I will also be calling my friends in a number of states and check if they can help me market the book," he adds.
"The story in The Star-Ledger is going to be a big help in getting people to know about the book," he says. "I did not expect such a humongous spread." The newspaper also announced the story on its front page. "I knew the story was coming but I had not picked up the newspaper. But at school, a teacher had it on the class door, and the school media center had already had the copy." Abhishek Seth is a senior at East Brunswick High School.
Some day soon it would be nice to find a bigger publisher, Abhishek says.
"Much more than anything, I would love to ignite a passion in young people," Abhishek who plans to study journalism, says. "Together we can start working for a better future." He has also attended Hugh N. Boyd Journalism Diversity Workshop at Monmouth University.
Though all the 84 pictures in the book were taken by Abhishek, the picture on the cover showing the young journalist in a green mask was made using a picture Puneet Seth had taken. Abhishek then designed the front jacket.
Find out more on Abhishek Seth at http://www.savemyworldonline.com; e-mail, savemyworld17@gmail.com.