Celebrate an eco-friendly Ganesh Chaturthi

Everybody loves to decorate Ganesh idols beautifully and celebrate Ganesh festival with great enthusiasm but the most serious impact of the Ganesh festival on environment is due to the immersion of idols. Celebrating eco-friendly Ganesh festival enables you to celebrate festival grandly without harming environment and other living beings. Here are some useful tips for celebrating eco-friendly Ganesh festival.

Eco Friendly Ganesh idols. Avoid buying Ganesha statues made of Plaster of Paris, which is highly toxic in nature, Instead buy an eco-friendly clay idol, so that after immersions (visarjan) it does not pollute water and surroundings. Clay idols that have been painted with vegetable dyes are a good alternative. It is best to use natural clay Ganesha idols, paint it with turmeric, multani mitti and red sandalwood. It can be dissolved easily in a bucket of water and this can be used to water the plants.

Eco friendly Decoration-

Don’t use materials like thermocol or plastics for decoration which are not degradable and which do not dissolve in water. Instead you can use biodegradable items like plain paper or colored paper for decorations.

People use artificial garlands to decorate Ganesha. Instead one can use garlands made of red hibiscus, Durva grass, pomegranate leaves, conch flowers and lotus. fresh flowers like jasmine, marigold and even rose petals can be used for decoration.

Avoid plastics

Always During celebrations, it is best to use banana leaves, paper bags, and newspaper bags for distributing Prasad, other food offerings and gifts.use cloth bags to carry prasad and other offerings as they can be reused later.

 

Artificial immersion tank

Using rivers, ponds, lakes or seas to immerse Ganesha idols can cause health hazards and is bad for the environment. Use an artificial immersion tank to immerse the idol. You can request your community members to do the same.

Save Energy

Switch on decorative lights during the “aarti” or “pooja” and evenings only when necessary. Use energy efficient CFL tubes instead of bulbs to save electricity. Coloured papers can also be wrapped on bulbs to give more colours rather than buying expensive bulbs.

Use natural colors for rangoli:

Use biodegradable colors such as turmeric, henna, rice powder, coloured dal and gulaal to make rangoli. These colors are eco-friendly and safe. Such colours do not pose a threat to human health and do not affect the environment also.

Say no to noise pollution

Loudspeakers can create problem to hospitals, old age homes, and educational institutes. Avoid playing loud music which might create disturbance to others. Mridangam, Tabla and such low sound instruments can be used instead. Make sure to turn off the music by 10pm and abide by rules. Avoid bursting firecrackers; Firecrackers will also affect the hearing of small children as well as aged people of the community