Read here about our activities for 2007.

Diwali is one of the most widely celebrated festivals in India. It symbolises the victory of good over evil, and new beginnings. Diwali is celebrated over a period of five days namely - Dhanteras, Narakachaturdashi, Diwali, Padhwa and Bhai Dhooj.

Links with Nature

Did you know that Diwali actually falls on the darkest night of the year? The new moon night of the month of Ashwin ( of the Hindu calender) which may arrive either in October or November ( of the Gregorian calender) is considered to be the darkest night of the year by the Hindus. The tradition of lighting lamps on this night may have come from the need for light on this intensely dark night.

Diwali also celebrates the abundance of the autumn harvest. The autumn harvest (kharif) of rice for example, accounts for 53 percent of total production.  It is sown  between March and August and harvested between June and December. Seventy per cent of India's population lives in villages, and a vast majority solely depends on agriculture. As a result most of the festivals are related to the agricultural activities of the people. Farmers get ready to thank god, earth and their cattle for the wonderful harvest and celebrate the occasion with joyous festivities and rituals.

In Nepal, the first two days of Diwali are celebrated by worshipping animals. On the first day, cows are given offerings, in appreciation of the food they have given and agricultural work they have performed. On the second day, dogs and all living animals are revered and offered special food.

Celebrate an ecosensitive Diwali this year!

The first step towards celebrating an ecosensitive Diwali is to become aware of the impacts the festival of Diwali has on Nature. Here are three such imapcts:

1. Firecrackers and Air Pollution

Firecrackers are the fun of Diwali! These aesthetic forms of light seem so appropriate when celebrating the 'Festival of Lights'! But in our increasingly polluted cities, the temporary joy of watching the firecrackers is soon replaced by the intense air pollution caused by these. The toxic substances used in the firecrackers release toxic gases that are harmful to the health of all living beings. The high level of noise generated by the crackers also cause immense sufferring to birds and animals and are dreaded by the sick and the ailing.

Besides few of us realise that the firecrackers are made by very young children using child labour. Since the substances being handled are extremely toxic many of these children get sick and die in their early teenage years.

Say No to Fire crackers and ‘Yes’ to life!

Harmful effects of chemicals used in crackers

Copper: Irritation of respiratory tract

Cadmuim: Anaemia and damage to kidney

Lead: Affects the nervous system

Magnesium: Dust and fumes cause metal fume fever

Sodium: Reacst violently with moisture and can attack the skin.

Zinc: Leads to vomiting

Nitrate: Could lead to mental impairment

Nitrite: Could lead to coma

Let there be an explosion of joy without crackers!

Noise Pollution due to Fire Crackers

Crackers that make a noise of more than decibels upto a distance of metres are banned by the law.

Noise pollution leads to hearing loss, high blood pressure, heart attack and sleeping disturbances.

Sudden exposure to loud noise could cause temporary deafness or permanent relative deafness.

2. Consumerism

An indirect but equally significant impact of Diwali on nature is due to the increased consumption. Since Diwali is also a celebration of abundance and wealth - many people believe that it is a good time to buy. Often, people go out and buy new items even when they dont need them. Advertisements and hoardings scream out to people offerings sales extravaganzas, bargains, discounts encouraging us to buy and buy more!

How does this increased consumption affect Nature?

All man made items are made out of materials that come from Nature. Be it plastic, metal, paper or cloth – the raw materials for all of these come directly from nature. Those sources that are non renewable ( cannot be grown back) such as fossil fuels and metal ores get depleted and will one day run out. Depletion of non renewable natural resources is one of the most significant impact of consumerism. The gold earrings that you will buy from Diwali is coming from a gold mine that is not only depleting the gold resources of the earth, but in the process of mining is probably ruining several ecosystems.

Where do all the things we throw away go finally? Solid waste created by human beings which is non biodegradable ( does not easily decompose ) has to be filled into holes dug up in the ground. These ‘landfills’ as they are called may exist for centuries without completely getting integrated into the soil. The plastic toys that you are throwing away today, may exist in a landfill several generations after yours!

This is why to be able to conserve our natural environment it is important to

• Reduce : the amount of things we use
• Reuse : the things we have in different forms until we have absolutely no use for them
• Recycle : items that are no longer functional.

In addition we could add two more principles

• Rethink : the choices we make when deciding to buy something and
• Refuse : things that we do not need at all.

Before you buy something new this Diwali apply the above five principles and only then pay at the counter!

3. Energy Consumption

The festival of lights puts a considerably heavy load on electrical energy sources that are already overloaded. The use of electric lights to adorn homes, business establishments, monuments and roads requires a huge amount of electricity.

The older tradition of burning oil lamps is a possible alternative to electric lights – even though it does use oil, the duration of the lamps is shorter.

Eco sensitive Initiatives around Diwali

With the growing recognition of the impacts of Diwali on the environment, several groups have started to reinterpret the rituals and traditions to become more sensitive to nature. Read about some initiatives below:

The children of NCL school, Pune celebrate a different Diwali, sharing clothes with the lesser privileged.