A gala time for every Indian, Diwali is the celebration of the triumph of light over darkness. Earthen lamps shine on moonless night to exalt all that is good and to discard away everything that is evil. Traditional Diwali celebration mainly included house decoration, performing ‘pooja’ and lighting lamps. However, with changing times, Diwali is more a carnival of electric lighting and fire cracker bursting.
Imagine all the evils that the modern method of celebration brings with it: excess consumption of power, pollution of soil and air and off course noise pollution. Add to this the multifarious health hazards like respiratory problems, fatigue, headache, high blood pressure, loss of hearing and the like. As you celebrate the festival of lights, it would also be good to take some initiatives to check the environmental and health hazard that the modern celebration brings with it. Go eco-friendly for a greener Diwali. Help yourself by helping the environment!
[box_dark]The Green Signal[/box_dark]
There are many ways in which you can make your Diwali eco-friendly without compromising on the joys of celebration. Choosing the place and time for celebration and being calculative on the materials required for celebration can go a long way in making your Diwali green.
- Preference for community celebration: Rather than celebrating individually, go for community celebration. Once a number of people celebrate Diwali in a common area, the celebration expenses as well as noise, air and paper pollution is limited to a considerable extent.
- Time limit: If you limit the time span of celebration to around 4 hours rather than for a very long time, the expense and pollution level is considerably reduced.
- Space selection: Make sure that the place where you are gathering for your Diwali celebrations is away from hospitals. Also ensure that an open place is selected rather than a crowded region.
- Traditional lights: Instead of using electricity, light up your home with ‘diyas’ which are conventional earthen lamps. Earthen lamps consume less amount of electricity and also look brilliant.
- Green decoration: You must be using a lot of plastics for your Diwali decorations. This Diwali cut down on that and go for a green decoration with gorgeous sarees and dupattas. For ‘rangoli’ use organic colors and replace artificial flowers with real ones.
- Gifting it Green: Make it special with organic gifts. You have a variety of options in organic gift items: coffee, ice-cream, spice, tea, cream and soap.
- Mitigate consumerism: Do not procure unwanted items and opt for recyclable articles. This small environment friendly act of yours is a great contributor in the reduction of raw material use.
[box_dark]Crack it green[/box_dark]
It is close to impossible to imagine Diwali without fire crackers. Even if you are a hard core environmental enthusiast, you would agree to that! So, let’s get into a win-win situation through the use of eco-friendly crackers. There are a variety of options like balloons and electronic ‘ladi’ that produce light but no smoke or sound and ‘charki’ producing ‘gulal’. These types of crackers create less air and noise pollution.
Some cracker sellers claim that two exclusive crackers locally named as Wishing Diwali Balloon and Butterfly are quite environmental friendly. The Wishing Diwali Balloon, a new arrival, emits less smoke than rockets. Once fires, it rises high and opens in the form of a parachute to display the letters ‘Wishing Diwali’. The Butterfly on the other hand is like a small sky shooter. It gives out butterfly shapes that keep on beautifully changing their color. In the entire process, there is no sound pollution.
So, this Diwali, initiate the crusade against the evils of environmental pollution and ecosystem imbalance. It’s easy and also healthy, to go green!
