Embracing Environment

Our environment, the world in which we live and work, is a mirror of our attitudes and expectations.

                                                                               Earl Nightingale

We all know that it is requisite to conserve our environment. Therefore, from time to time it is vital to revitalize our ecofriendly mind. Every organisation must responsibly contribute to saving the environment. We the IBDP students of Nagpur thereby decided to organize a 4 day program commemorating environmental conservation as a CAS activity.

We approached our coordinator for consent and planned out the outline of our program. Ms. Vijayalaxmi divided us into three groups of two and assigned each group with a theme. Here is how we organized it:

Day/Date	Topic	Student in charges	Venue
Day 1 7/7/14 Monday	My Planet My Home.	Shraddha Wakode & Kaustubh Murmare	Multipurpose Room
Day 2 8/7/14 Tuesday	How are we affecting our planet?	Jaidev Pahade  & Shafqat Syed	Multipurpose Room
Day 3 9/7/14 Wednesday	Recycling: Why? How? Recycling Resolution	Himanshu Halve & Rucha Verma	Amphitheatre
Day 4 10/7/14 Thursday	Tree Plantation.	DP-2	Gardening Area

I and Rucha also took up the responsibility of making display board poster, play cards and

On the first day Shradha introduced some of the many ways in which humans influence natural earth processes and shed light on the geological and biological alterations caused by humans. I helped her with making a slideshow presentation and contributed the program by sharing a thought for the day to ponder upon.

On the second day Shafqat and Jaidev shared some information on the natural calamities and pollution and attempted to find a link between them. Jaidev explained some physical phenomena and the science behind it to make everyone more aware of the entire scenario. I contributed to the program by sharing some important news and information.

For the third day, the theme was Recycling. So I and Rucha decided to do something new and innovative. Most programs on environmental issues are one-sided. So we decided that we will have a higher percentage of audience participation and make it more of a discussion than a lecture. We had made the display boards earlier and now for our topic we decided to circulate info-sheets about reducing; reusing; recycling; plastic waste management; and aluminum waste disposal to all the students. We conducted a discussion based on this which was primarily handled by me. I knew I had the skills to improvise conversation which was vital in such discussions and I also knew that my co-host Rucha was uncomfortable with it. So I took the lead and successfully compared the discussion. Rucha on the other hand is really creative person, knowing that I asked her to adapt a pledge and a ‘mantra’ for our theme. She did a commendable job there. I believe knowing about myself and others help me put up a good show. Moreover, I learned that one cannot always single handedly orchestrate such events and program. Being aware of the strengths and weaknesses of self and others helps overcome the potential limitations.

The next day, we organized the tree plantation. All of us – Shafqat, Kaustubh, Jaidev, Shradha, Rucha and me – worked together to allocate each student of our school a suitable place to plant their saplings. We also planted our saplings and vowed to ensure its survival.

It was really difficult to conceptualize this program and then successfully carry it out, especially in the time of monsoon. Nevertheless, I and almost all my classmates showed appropriate perseverance. I was really happy to be a part of such an event as it open doors so many new things which I wouldn’t otherwise learn.