Make Mother Nature Love You This Diwali!
The festival of lights is just around the corner and the celebrations have already started. One of India’s biggest festivals, Diwali brings with itself an unmatchable excitement and celebratory spirit.
Diwali is a festival that signifies the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil, and hope over despair. However, in the recent years, extravagant celebrations have not only put a great strain on the environment, but have also put people’s health at stake.
While these celebrations may seem fun, their far-reaching consequences are not. Air pollution levels rise to dangerous levels, energy and food wastage increases exponentially, plastic packaging and cracker debris litters the roads and several elderly people and animals suffer from anxiety attacks.
However, there may be some who want to celebrate an eco-friendly Diwali but are not sure how to go about it. Here are some ways to celebrate a noiseless, pollution free and joyful Diwali.
1. Buy Earthen Lamps & Diyas
Diwali is no doubt a festival of lights. And once you go to the market for Diwali shopping, its difficult to resist the temptation of shopping for those eye catching LED lights, lamps and curtains, all made with low quality plastic.
But hold on to your urge. There are other ways to keep the house looking bright and illuminated. Why not buy earthen lanterns/lamps and diyas?
Hanging a few earthen lanterns/lamps in your house can not only make the décor look ethnic and elegant but you will also feel proud to having contributed towards lighting your house the natural way.
2. Use Natural Colours for Your Rangoli
Chemical colours may look appealing but try designing a rangoli using natural colours and you will never go back to using the chemical rangoli colours.
Imagine having an option to use the different coloured pulses, fresh flowers and bright yellow turmeric and red kumkum! What a stunning rangoli can be designed out of these!
3. Shop With Jute Bags
Diwali is a time to shop! That also means carrying home not just what you have shopped for but also the bags they would be stuffed in. Do the environment a favour… carry your own bags next time you decide to head off shopping.
The best part is you save yourself the trouble of doing away with all the unwanted plastic at home when its cleaning time! A win-win for you and the environment!
4. Biodegradable Plates and Glasses
Disposable thermocol plates are a regular feature at big Diwali parties. However, environmental activists recommend using plates made out of bamboo leaves instead. Not only are they bio-degradable, they are stronger than thermocol plates.
5. Gift plants
Reduce your carbon footprint and help someone breathe easy by gifting planters or organic plant pots to decorate their homes and terrace gardens. This gift idea is both creative and environment friendly.
6. Give to those less fortunate
Diwali, the gifting season as we know it in India, has become a festival of excess. The gift-wrapped packages making their way across the city are getting bigger even as more courses are being added to our feasts. In this land of stark contrasts, wasteful habits become more pronounced during festivities. But several organizations have recognized the potential of turning our excess into valuable resources, whether in dealing with poverty, hunger or education. Check them out, or start your own initiatives.
7. Banish crackers with these alternatives
Although there are a number of environment-friendly crackers that have begun to flood the market and are definitely less polluting than others, this Diwali give the fireworks a complete miss.
Instead…
Get all the children of the community to go for a nature walk the evening before and collect dry leaves, grass, twigs etc. Fill up balloons with glitter or small pieces of coloured paper and spend the evening bursting them, either with your family at home or with a lot of friends. You could even have the kids blowing up brown paper bags and bursting them by jumping on them. The cheerful sound will be enough to usher in Diwali.
8. Go Easy On The Volume
Just like the cacophony of firecrackers, loud music for an extended period of time is a nuisance. Tone it down. You will not only feel good but will also help those who need to rest.
You never know your aged neighbour next door may be unwell and wanting some rest, or there might be a little child in the neighbourhood waking up from her sleep with the loud music being played by you.
9. Buy Less
People do shopping on Diwali. It’s an age old tradition to buy something new on Diwali. But some of us still wonder about how this kind of excessive consumption can affect the nature and society as a whole. Plastic materials, papers and even clothes come directly from the nature and some of these items are non renewable like fossil fuels and plastics. One day will come when all these raw materials will be insufficient. So, this Diwali try not to purchase things that are of no use for you, or make purchases that can be reused and recycled.
10. Save energy
Diwali is a festival which puts heavy loads on the already overloaded electrical sources. The time of festivities, especially, in Diwali, a number of homes and business entities are adorned with colorful lights which definitely consume huge electricity. It is necessary and wise to consume energy thoughtfully.
We all love the fairy lights and bright incandescent bulbs that are widely used on Diwali. But they are a waste of energy and are expensive too. LEDs are the energy-efficient products that reduce energy costs without compromising on brightness. Ensuring more savings in a long run, LED lights are suitable especially for the festive season like Diwali. LED lights are not easily hampered, even if used for longer hours. It is cooler than halogen bulbs and emits very bright, clear and, white light.
Ketto & the Environment
Since its inception, Ketto has been a strong advocate of environmental sustainability in this country. Click on the links below to view crowdfunding projects it has been involved with for conservation efforts. If you feel inspired, you can start your own project with Ketto as well.
Ketto Blog remains committed to inspiring and compelling social change to India’s most pressing problems through the power of great stories and engaging our audiences to take meaningful action.
