A happy Earth Day agenda

Bittu Sahgal

Earth Day (prithvi divas) is celebrated around the world each year on April 22 (it’s on a Friday this year), to remind people to count nature’s blessings. Children in the US, Europe, Australia, Africa and Asia get together to have fun with purpose. It is also a day on which children and parents can establish a special bond.

This Earth Day, Sanctuary plans to work with children, teachers and parents to remind the public that they should be working to fulfill the dreams and aspirations of children — rather than foist environmental nightmares upon them. For instance, Mumbai is the only city on this planet with a full-fledged forest within municipal limits, with free ranging leopards roaming within it. This forest helps guarantee our water security and dramatically improves the air we breathe. Protecting this park is as good a way as any to step towards greener horizons.

I share our plan with readers of EducationWorld in the hope that they may use some of the ideas to initiate independent activities that can be adapted to suit other cities, other circumstances.

The truth as every teacher knows, is that the best things in life are free. But as with most things that we don’t have to pay for directly, omniscient civic planners and economists discount the climate control and health improvement contribution of trees, the environmental fallout of lakes and forests such as Bannerghata in Bangalore, the Ridge in New Delhi, the Botanical Gardens of Kolkata, or Guindy in Chennai. Children’s pressure and involve-ment can help change such obtuse attitudes. Given below is the blue-print of one simple programme that anyone can plan for students. If teachers can rope in parents as volunteers, it would ensure that these simple lessons are communicated to adults as well. Here is the blueprint of an action agenda for Earth Day.

• Organise an ‘Earth Day Party’. Resolve to set a good example by forswearing plastics, thermocole, toxic materials, waste and reducing noise pollution. Maintain a celebratory mood.

• Choose a time and venue for the party and announce it well in advance. Ideally get a school to agree to an auditorium or room where a slide show can be held.

• Constitute a core group of four-five capable, responsible (with kids and with environmental issues) volunteers. Distribute tasks between yourselves.

• Choose your target audience and theme well in advance. We have zeroed in on holding a ‘Birthday Party for Mother Earth’ in Mumbai.

• With your invitations send a note asking parents to dress their kids as an animal they love. Give simple, environment friendly prizes for the most creatively attired.

• Invite the local chief wildlife conservation officer.

• With help from wildlife lensmen organise a photography exhibition for all participants.

• Keep expenses down to the barest minimum. Get people to make things from waste rather than buy them. Donate the money you save to any NGO you believe is doing a good job in your city.

• Make a list of things that individuals can do to ‘make a difference’ to the environment. Refer to www.sanctuaryasia.com (‘green tips’) for ideas.

You could use Sanctuary’s framework, but it would be a good idea to make your own adapted schedule of events in consultation with key supporters/ organisers. Here is a break up of our two-hour ‘Birthday Party for Mother Earth’ which involves a fancy dress and the award of simple games and prizes.

4 p.m: Children file into the hall and are greeted with a package containing a magazine, drawing sheet and face masks, with an option for non-toxic face painting done by volunteers.

4.10 p.m: Welcome address by a well known personality whose love for wildlife is well publicised. This should be followed by a slide show for kids, to explain the importance of forests, why we need natural areas and all their creatures, how lucky we are to have forests in our neighborhood. Distribute postcards and pencils during the show as these can be used to write a petition to the chief minister/ governor to request the neighbourhood woodlands to be protected.

4.30 p.m: Optional: Environmental songs by a well known local group in which the children can join in (Bear Necessities or Teddy Bear’s Picnic are great songs to sing together).

4.40 p.m: All present take a pledge to save the city’s green belt and write postcards addressed to the chief minister

4.50 p.m: Children are directed to a poster painting section where they will be asked to draw what they have just heard. A large white sheet on a wall can serve as canvas on which all participants can draw, paint or sign messages to save the parks in the city in which the event is taking place. The kids should be told that their art will be displayed at the entrance to the forest/national park to encourage forest guards.

5.00 p.m: Give the children the run of the place. Let them paint, draw and generally have (supervised) fun.

5.30 p.m: Children are given certificates of participation and light refreshments at the exit.

6.00 p.m: As they leave, they can see the photo exhibition. Local plants from a forest nursery would be wonderful to give away at this point.

Make this a truly Happy Earth Day without tokenism. Involve kids creatively and enjoyably with something meaningful that helps the message to protect nature come across.

(Bittu Sahgal is the editor of Sanctuary magazine)