31st July 2010 - The Scindia School

For
21
VOL 8 | Jul 2010
Earth hour in schools
- mere tokenism
During Earth hour, students spend an enjoyable sixty minutes in the dark, safe in the knowledge
that the life-saving benefits of industrial civilization are just a light switch away. And that feeling is
often mistaken as ‘caring for the mother Earth’. This is what makes the observance of earth hour
in schools, a mere token.
Earth hour in schools is nothing but a futile attempt to ‘Save the planet’. Turning off lights for an
hour is hardly of any consequence. Just think what did we do once the earth hour got over First
of all gave a sigh of relief and then sat under the ‘electrically’ powered fans. This showed that the
effort was worthless.
The earth hour, in fact, does more harm than good. During the earth hour ceremony, we pledged
to only make use of candles and torches for that one hour. But, candles are actually even
worse in creating carbon emissions than electric lights. These emissions are what cause global
warming. As for the torch, dead batteries produce carbon emissions and therefore are bad for the
environment and global warming.
I’d like to conclude by saying that when people think they are doing their part for the environment,
they are actually causing more carbon emissions and destroying the ozone layer. And this shows
that technically, the schools participated in the event without knowing its pros and cons.
It is nothing but mere tokenism similar to days like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s day, Father’s day and
so on which are celebrated to express love for our near and dear ones while expressions of love
should be spontaneous and need not be restricted to an hour or a day.
Earth hour in schools is a mere token to our mother earth. It is just like a card from her children
saying that we care. However that card doesn't carry any meaning at all because we play havoc
with the planet on all other days and hours. What difference would one day, one hour make It is
just a facade, a shame, a mockery.
Sidhivinayak Singh
X E
(The School observed Earth hour on 27th March)
Literary
Section
Against
Let me start by saying, “Let there be no light."
It was exactly 15 minutes past 8 (Indian
standard time) and I was in my hour of
‘voluntary darkness.’ The earth hour, was on.
Now some may see the earth hour in schools
as mere tokenism and question its need. But,
to their misplaced cynicism, I have some valid
justifications.
I ask why not have an earth hour I believe that
such tokenism is needed. Think about it, how
many of us get the time every day to tell our
parents how much we love them How many
times do we acknowledge their presence in our
lives At least on father's or mother's day, we
make some gesture to honour their presence.
Yes, token gestures. But wishing them, thanking
them for their contribution and presence in our
life makes the gesture meaningful.
Similarly, we could debate till the cows come
home, but the fact remains that in this one
hour, there would be no power consumption,
no electricity flowing into unwanted
appliances, no wastage. Whether we like it
or not, the truth remains that we realise the
importance of something only when we feel
its absence. Perhaps in that one hour, we
become conscious of the importance of saving
electricity, the importance of no wastage.
Maybe that one hour makes us aware of our
misuse of electricity and we get ready to make
a fresh beginning on a blank slate.
Though we may not have power in our lives for
that one hour, we do gain more inner power as
conscious human beings! Let’s not demean
the importance of that one hour by calling it
mere tokenism as that one hour of voluntary
darkness is indeed a major step towards a
brighter future.
Fort Fables Eco Club
The Fort denizens can justifiably boast of
growing up with a rich variety of flora and
fauna all around them. From hornbills to green
pigeons and golden orioles, from porcupines
to the common palm civet and pythons, from
ashwagandha to neem chameli and ashtawar,
you name it and the Fort has it. This quite
naturally sensitises the residents towards the
environment and they are ever so keen to do
their bit for its conservation.
A laudable effort in this direction was the
founding of the Eco Club in the year 2000 by
Mrs. Sujata Aslam. After her Mrs. Raksha Siriah
and then Dr. Jyoti Puri held charge of the same.
Presently Ms. Sangeeta Jain and Dr Geeta
Shukla are guiding the Club and its activities.
Mr Jitendra Jawale who has extensive
knowledge of the rich biodiversity of the Fort
has been of active assistance to all of them.
The Club has been creating awareness
amongst the school community about
its immediate environment and global
environmental issues, ever since its inception.
The members of the Club are committed and
enthusiastic about their role.
The Eco Club has undertaken a number of
activities like motivating the students to keep
their surroundings green and clean by extensive
plantation of trees especially near the mess.
Several clean up drives have also been taken
up to motivate students to adopt a life style
focused on minimum waste generation. They
are taught eco friendly concepts such as
source separation of waste, taking the waste
to the nearest disposal point and recycling.
This has been done in collaboration with
the Community Service and Ladies’ Club.
To encourage people to minimise the use of
plastic bags, paper bags are distributed to
parents on every Founder’s Day.
The Club has also been putting up regular
exhibitions for the Founder’s Day from the
year 2000 onwards. Some of them centred
on themes of water, extinct and endangered
species, curtailing use of plastics, herbs found
on the Fort, birds and sustainable development
Activities like essay writing, poster making,
slogan writing competitions, making Power
Point Presentation, posting eco news on notice
boards are undertaken on a regular basis to
keep the message of conservation alive. The
Club has been instrumental in getting waste
bins placed at all strategic points on the Fort.
T-Shirts with suitable slogans and cards of
handmade paper made by children were put
on sale to generate funds for the Club.
The Club also organised visits of eminent
people like Mr. Sunderlal Bahuguna, Mr.
Aniruddha Mukherjeee from the Wildlife Trust
of India, Mr. Rakesh Jaiswal from a Kanpur
based NGO- Eco Friends- and Dr. Singh,
an ornithologist working with the Chambal
Sanctuary, to name a few.
From time to time, students are taken on visits
to nearby places like the Chambal Sanctuary,
Tigra Dam, bird watching and walks around the
Fort. Nature walks have been a regular feature
wherein students have been made aware of the
indigenous flora and fauna. Students are able
to identify more than thirty species of birds
here. The various types of trees growing here
have been recorded. Members have also been
given wide-ranging information about different
trees- the nurturing they require, the value of
their parts, the kind (warm\cool) of shade they
provide and so on.
In addition to this commendable work, the
students also participated regularly in the
Green Olympiad (Eco quiz) organized by TERI.
In 2005, five students took part in National
Children’s Science Congress – Harness Water
Resources for a Better Future- and reached the
final stage.
The Surajkund Solid Waste Management
Project which was a Pilot project for the
Surajkund area to be replicated in the whole
school was appreciated by Volvo Adventure in
2003 by giving an award. The Project aimed at
creating awareness about the 3 R’s –reduce,
reuse and recycle. A power point presentation
for the residents of Suraj Kund, a street play,
a detailed plan for waste disposal, covered
bins in front of the residences, compost pits
behind the residences, a well chalked out
timeline, distribution of dustbins and jute bags
to the residents were some of the activities
undertaken as part of the Project. The students-
Vijaylaxmi Pande, Anirbed Baruah, Shreyansh
Divyankar, Vikramaditya Malladeb and
Shubham Madaan- and the teacher guide, Mrs
Sujata Aslam were awarded Certificates. A cash
prize of Rs. 35,000 was given to the school. We
stood second among 27 schools in India.
We are sure that the members of the Club will
continue with their dedicated work and take
the Club from strength to strength leaving a
rich heritage for the future inhabitants of the
Fort.
Mrs. Raksha Siriah and Mrs. Sujata Aslam with the
students during a tree plantation drive
22 Fort
Fables
VOL 8 | Jul 2010