Delhi Greens Urges Everyone to Celebrate a Green Deepawali

Even the candles we ‘burn’ have significant environmental impact which we should certainly keep in mind.

As Delhi shifts from the CWG 2010 mode into the festival mode, and gears up for celebrating the festival of lights – Deepawali, Delhi Greens wishes its reader a very happy and prosperous Green Diwali. Diwali signifies the end of darkness and the beginning of the process of enlightening ourselves. This time around, we must also be warned and make ourselves aware about the hazards that Diwali celebrations poses to us and our environment. An eco-friendly Diwali is not about taking shortcuts; instead it is all about your conscious efforts to be a more responsible citizen. Here are some tips for celebrating a green and enriching Diwali:

1. Say no to crackers. Here’s why:

The chemicals present in the crackers causes air and noise pollution which adversely impacts the health of living beings. In the winters that are now approaching, smoke produced from the crackers can result into the formation of smog which could be lethal for asthmatic patients. It can also creates visibility problem for the drivers, hence increase the probability of causing accidents. As it is very well known, children are involved in the manufacturing of crackers which involves handling of various toxic chemicals. This can prove fatal to their health.  By not burning crackers, you support the cause of preventing and abolishing child labour very much prevalent even in the modernized and globalized society.

2. Keep your pets inside the house. Try to put them in the center most room ensuring the doors and windows are close so that minimum noise enters the room. Try to be with them as the noise tends to make them run in all directions.

3. Reduce your carbon footprint by adopting sustainable lifestyle practices. Gift wrapping can be done with newspapers present in a fun and creative way. One can also use recycled paper also for gift wrapping.

4. Pick that perfect green present, a plant! How about gifting something that doesn’t require a wrap at all and that grows with every passing Diwali? You can visit a nearby nursery and buy a beautiful green plant for your loved ones.

5. With every gift, write a green message along with it. This will help raise awareness and remind everyone about the environmental impacts of the festival and why people should act to ensure minimum pollution.

6. Make your rangoli with bio-degradable products and they can be served as a feed to birds and would not go as a waste into your garbage bins.

7. Go for most economical ways of wishing. Send text messages, emails or recycled papers for conveying Diwali wishes instead of traditional cards that will bring down paper usage.

8. Recycle items that are no longer functional. If gifts given by friends and relatives are wrapped by a gift cover open it in such a way that the paper is not destroyed and can be used later.

9. Do not buy that what you don’t want. Goddess Laxmi is worshipped during Diwali and mostly people buy loads of stuffs during this time. One should be careful with his/her excessive consumption and be sensitive towards nature conservation. So we should not buy things that we do not need in the near future and not get encouraged by all the discounts and sales extravaganza offered in the market.

10. Think about the poor. Do celebrate the festival of lights with less pollution and do help poor people by offering food and clothing rather than spending huge money on buying crackers.

ONCE AGAIN, WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY AND GREEN DEEPAWALI !!