ECO TIP OF THE WEEK

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IDENTIFY THESESPECIES

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1. Wild plantain squirrel 2. Baby bearcat3. Falcon 4. Melanistic manta ray5. Koala

“The Earth is what we all have in common.”Wendell Berry

ENVIRONMENT02

1. Attending a Diwali mela this week? Carry yourown water in a steel/copper bottle instead ofbuying plastic bottles at the venue. 2. If you see a water bottle with some water

left over, empty it on a near-by plant. Do not let even a

drop go waste! 3. Is cleaningyour wardrobepart of your

Diwali chores?Use a damp cloth

to clean the shelves. 4. Instead of using water

to clean the fridge, usehalf a lemon dipped in

vinegar to clean it efficiently.

Got an idea to conserve the environment?Mail us at toinie175@gmail.com

Have an avid biker orhiker who has to be givena gift? Get a durablebackpack that can holdeverything needed for adaily commute or a longhike. You easily get packsmade from 100 per centupcycled materials.

From clay shaping kits to doll-houses, gift green toys thisseason. You can find toys madeof 100 per cent recycled mate-rials, and packaged the sameway. Gift a reusable item like agrocery bag, travel mug,reusable cutlery set,metal/bamboo straws, or astainless steel water bottle –gifts that will make the recipi-ent ditch single-use items.

UPCYCLE

House plants, saplings,perennial shrubs and suc-culents create oxygen andlook pretty on any windowsill. To gift them, placethe plant in an upcycledglass or metal container.You could also considergifting starter gardeningkits to friends who are asenthusiastic about theenvironment as you. TIMESLIFE

ZERO-WASTE PLANTS

RECYCLE/REUSABLE

YOUR GREEN GIFTING GUIDE

INNOVATIONS IN SUSTAINABILITY

FOOD APP TOCOLLECT USEDCOOKING OIL FORBIODIESEL

Food aggregator Zomatowill collect used cooking oilfrom restaurants in northern

India and supply it to BioD Energy forconversion to biodiesel, which the oil company will use forblending with fuel at their retail outlets. “After this part-nership, we have a collection network of about 130 tonnesper month from 1,000+ kitchens in Delhi-NCR and a fewother cities in north India,” said Ritesh Khera, vice presi-dent (sustainability) at Zomato. The company has set atarget of 1,000 metric tonnes of collection every month by March 2020 and aims at expanding the programme to all 500 cities where it has a presence,depending on distribution capabilities. ET

While bursting firecrackers ispart of Diwali, their harmfulimpact on the environment

cannot be ignored. This year aim to cele-brate a green Diwali, minus firecrackers. Ifyou would still like to use some sparklers,make sure to get only those that causeminimal pollution – eg. a phooljhadi causeslittle air and no noise pollution.

MINIMAL FIRECRACKERS

D id you know that rural women in Raipur thisyear created diyas from cow dung – inter-estingly, these can be dumped in the soil as

they also function as organic manure. You too can beingenious this year by making your own diyas. Join adiya making workshop or create decorative diyas byplacing tea lights in coconut shells, inside peels offruits like lemon or orange; and even old teacups.And if you must buy, try getting them from local arti-sans or NGOs who support them.

MAKE YOUR OWN DIYAS

G et your friends,folks, grandparents,cousins, uncles and

aunts to come togeth-er for a massiveRangoli projectusing biodegrad-able colours or flow-ers. After all, Diwali isall about celebrating thespirit of family!

MAKE A RANGOLI

D onate to your favourite charity; cooklots of food and share it with chil-dren at an orphanage; or buy eco-

friendly products from NGOs that employneedy people or are physically challenged.This Diwali help someone who is perhaps notas lucky as you.

SPREAD SMILES

D ogs are afraid of loudnoises (from fire-crackers); it makes

them anxious and afraid. Youcould offer comfort and food tostray dogs in your area bysheltering them.

PROTECT YOURFURRY FRIENDS

E xperts at the UN believe that fast fashion isresponsible for creating negative social, eco-nomic and environmental impact. With a little

caring and creativity, a sustainable festive season ispossible. Try not to buy new clothes; if you must, thinkof clothes that can be used in different ways or hand-ed over to others after you’re done with them. TNN

SHOP RIGHT

U se your creativity to recycle old waste items as gifts. Youcould use leftover glass bottles,

light bulbs and other waste products and create person-alised gifts for your friends. Decorating old bottles withpaint and making an installation or lampshade out ofthem is one such option. As for gift wrapping, makeyour own gift bags or boxes, go eco with brown recy-cled paper or wrap with fabric. Got extra packagingmaterial? Save it and use for other occasions.

Count yourself as a friend of the

environment? Then make thetime and effort to ensure every

action of yours helps you toprove it. Think ‘DIY’,‘homegrown’

‘home-made’, ‘recycled’ and‘upcycled!’ Do something

meaningful this year and showthat you really care...

BUNTINGS: Useful in deco-rating spaces, theyadd a lot of charm to theoverall ambience of the room.To make one, get all the oldclothes you hate, do not fitinto or those that are spoiledor torn. Cut them to make tex-tile buntings using any tutorialavailable online. Use the left-over fabric as filling for materialfloor cushions. FLOOR CUSHIONS: Take an old bed-sheet; dump waste fabric pieces (or add

more discard-ed clothes) into it.

Then tie this heaptightly with the ends of the

bedsheet. Put this new ballupside down and your all-newquirky floor cushion is readyfor the party. PAINT IT: Choose a wall in yourhome and paint it in your

favourite colour. To avoid patch-es, add textures with another

colour. Lastly, use as many plantsas possible to liven up your home.

DIY is the KEYUpcycling artist Swati Soharia tells ushow to enjoy a sustainable celebration

using upcycled decor items likebuntings from fabric waste

STUDENTS SPEAK

KINGSof DIY

Times NIE Youth reportersshare their DIY strategiesfor an eco-friendly Diwali

I plan to makewall hangingsfrom old news-papers, glue andpaint. To do this,I will make thinrolls of newspa-pers and createcoils of them. I will make many coils ofdifferent sizes; paste them togetherthen paint them in vibrant colours. BHAVIN JAIN, class X, Zebar School ForChildren, Ahmedabad

Every year, mymother and I make

‘khirapat’ (prasad) forGanesh Chaturthi. It con-sists mainly of driedcoconut, dry fruits, car-damom powder and sugar.This year though, weended up with excess of the prasad. So we decid-ed to store it in the refrigerator until Diwali, andnow, we are going to use it as stuffing for the tra-ditional sweet ‘karanjis’. We’ve already done atrial, and it was absolutely delicious! This way, wewere able to avoid food from getting wasted. CHAITRA ABHIJEET VARTAK, class IX, SSPM’s SriSri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir, Borivali East, Mumbai

Instead of giving giftsthat often go unused, Iam planning to giveaway a sapling to any-one who visits me dur-ing Diwali because it isthe need of this hour. Nomatter how many timeswe repeat the point it cannot be ignored thatall of us need to make a collectiveeffort to save the environment.

S M V KAREESMAA, class IX, Ryan International

School, Kharghar, Navi Mumbai

One should always usediyas made from clay,instead of the painted orartificial ones. Usingenvironment-friendlylight on this festive daywill add a lovely touchto the house and alsohelp us to lower our electricity bill.MANJARI PARUCHURI, class 8, Delhi School ofExcellence, Attapur, Hyderabad

One can make beautifullamps from glass bottles.To begin with, clean thebottle thoroughly. Thenuse a glass liner (avail-able in the market) todraw patterns on theglass bottles. Let it dry.Next, carefully, so as to not damage the bor-ders made, colour the bottle using glasscolours. After it dries, put fairy lights inside.SRIJITA CHAKRABORTY, Class XII, BDMInternational, Kolkata

Can’t afford to travel?Guests who go green ata new Finnish resortcould get a steep dis-

count by curbing their emissions,preserving both their budget andthe environment. Arctic Blue Re-sort, set to open in 2022, is offer-ing guests up to 50% off of the to-tal price of a stay for watchingtheir water intake, electricity useand food choices. Planting a treein the nearby forest would knockanother 5 per cent off the tab.

The resort is the brainchildof Finnish distillery Arctic BlueGroup, which conceived of the na-ture-oriented resort as it aimed tofight climate change. Sustainable

features include its own water treat-ment system and renewable ener-gy resources, with food locallysourced and seasonal produce. Ac-tivities will also be geared towardsthe time of year as well as the sur-rounding landscape.

While prices are yet to be de-termined, marketing and commu-nication strategist Simone Bocedisaid the resort “should be accessi-ble to everyone,” with every bit thatguests do making it more sustain-able, lowering their bill while alsoaiding the fight against climatechange. The property will be locat-ed in Kontiolahti, an eastern Fin-land municipality about 450 kmfrom Helsinki. TNN

This resort will offer discount for going green

RECYCLE GIFTS