Festivals bring joy. They are signs of our prosperity, teach us to show gratitude and celebrate our liveliness. They connect us with nature and its conservation. However, in the modern era, we have moved away from the original nature of celebrations and are now limited to shopping and selfies. Now we do not conserve but CONSUME. We do not show gratitude but create garbage.
Paryavaran Dakshata Mandal plays its role in bringing back the original way of
celebrations by creating awareness among people on the backdrop of the festivals. We deliver lectures, give ppt presentations in schools, colleges and societies and conduct workshops of making Eco-friendly Rakhi, Ganesh Idol using clay, Eco-friendly Paper Lantern for Dipavali and Eco-friendly colors using easily available things from the kitchen for Holi.
Through our lectures and ppt presentations, we explain how our festivals are related to nature, seasons, lifestyles and conservation of environment. We create awareness about snakes, eco-friendly ways of celebrating festivals and their importance, importance of 21 Ganesh Patri used in worshiping Ganesha, Dipavali without fire- crackers and Holi without harmful chemicals. Other than these big festivals, we also create awareness about Vat-Pournima where cutting of banyan tree branches have become a regular practice now and Dussehra when branches of Apta trees are cut. We appeal to people not to buy the branches, instead plant a sapling of these trees, grow them in your backyard or plant them in a nearby area and take care of them. Nature itself is a festival, we just need to celebrate it wisely, isn’t it!
Soil Festival:
5th December has been celebrated as World Soil Day since 2014. 95% of our food comes from soil. It provides many nutrients required for the growth of plants. Soil gets degraded due to human activities and climate change. Soil erosion, soil pollution are the major concerns worldwide. Sustainable soil management practices, such as minimum tillage, crop rotation, organic matter addition, and cover cropping, improve soil health, reduce erosion and pollution, and enhance water infiltration and storage. These practices also preserve soil biodiversity, improve fertility, and contribute to carbon sequestration, playing a crucial role in the fight against climate change.
Paryavaran Dakshata Mandal organizes Soil Festival in the month of December every year to mark World Soil Day. It is organized in schools and colleges in order to create awareness about soil in students. Exhibits explaining the importance of soil are displayed and experiments like soil profile, water holding capacity of various types of soil, pH of soil samples, model explaining soil erosion and prevention, etc. are performed with the help of students. Soil samples, various rock samples are also kept for display.
We also appeal to them to plant trees, create a small garden in their homes and learn the importance of soil by themselves.
City dwellers are always afraid of putting their hands in soil and thus children have the misconception that their hands would be dirty if they handle soil. To remove this misconception from their minds, we conduct a small activity in a soil festival where they get a chance to dip their hands in mud and have hand prints/finger prints on papers. Children love this activity and show their love towards ‘MAATI’.
Holi with Natural Colours:
Workshops, lectures and programmes to teach people to make natural colours with easily available household materials are conducted. Emphasis is also made to avoid burning large holikas by cutting trees, instead people are encouraged to use dry twigs and leaves fallen on the ground.
Khelo Holi ecofriendly awareness campaign is conducted in February 2018. 20 workshops are conducted and 4000 students participated in the campaign.
Green Ganesha
Different aspects of the festivals like idol making with clay and paper pulp, colouring of idols with water colours, decoration with paper, reduction in height of idols and encouraging immersion in artificial tanks, is propagated under this banner in different schools, colleges, societies and even corporate places.
Noise & Pollution free Diwali:
Bursting crackers during Diwali is most popular amongst children. Thus creating awareness amongst school children about the ill-effects of crackers mainly with respect to noise and air, is the purpose of PDM team. Students are also involved in actual noise monitoring using suitable systems.
Gudhipadva- New Year Celebration:
Last two years we are celebrating Gudhipadva(Hindu new year) by pollution free Sky lanterns instead of crackers. Everybody is now copying this new way of celebration.
