Soon, the time of year will come when the people of India will engross themselves in the celebration of the most pompous religious festival, the festival of Ganesh. Every state in India has its own group of artisans who prepare Ganesh idols. Every major city has the potential consumption of Ganesh Idols in thousands. And soon when its all over, the immersion of these idols will start. This last leg of this festival is something that is a matter of concern.
It is also time, when the awareness for the eco-system and environment needs to be understood and spread. The immersion of the idols usually happens in the rivers, lakes, wells and sea shores. The preparation of the idols plays an important role in ensuring that the immersion process does not cause any pollution.
Most of the Ganesh idols are prepared from Plaster of Paris (PoP) and variety of chemical paints, which give them that glowing look. The problem with PoP and these chemical paints is that they do not dissolve easily in the water. The PoP idols resurface in the waters after days of immersion, especially the large sized idols. See this to believe it. Since they are immersed in the rivers and lakes which are the major sources of water supply to the cities or towns, the water becomes less usable. The chemical paints containing quantities of lead, chromium, cadmium contaminates the water which makes the water poisonous and as a result damages the aquatic life.
In Bangalore, study done by the Central Pollution Board revealed that the acid content in the waters increased, the heavy metal content sampling showed an increase in metals such as iron which increased nearly 10 times and the content of copper increased by 200 to 300 percent. Not just the idols but the accessories used to decorate the Idols are made of thermocol and plastic, which are non-bio-degradable and adds considerable to the pollution.
The awareness about the environmental effect of this is spreading rapidly among the people, but this is still not enough. This awareness has to be spread in huge numbers. They have to be educated to go in for alternate options such as the choice of Eco-Friendly idols which are made of Clay or Paper. In fact making our own Ganesh will take less than 15 mins. Here is the video which will help if your interested. There are a number of things that we as individuals can do to spread awareness. To begin with,
- Start using eco-friendly Ganesh idols.
- Encourage family and friends to do the same.
- Use eco friendly materials to accessorize your Ganesha.
- Make your own idol.
- Talk about it with your colleagues at work.
- Write, blog, tweet, use social networking medium to spread the word.
For people residing in Mumbai, Pune or Hyderabad, the eco friendly Ganeshas are available for purchase from the stores here. For those residing in Bangalore, this link might just serve you.
Have a Happy Ganesh Festival!
1 comments:
You are right, people need to be educated about the hazards of using non-biodegradable materials. Let us start using eco-friendly Ganesh idols and save the nature :)
Post a Comment