Vatavaran – A Rhizome

Vatavaran has been a well-established Non Government , Non Profit Organization  for 25 years. 5 firsts of Vatavaran are :

Organization by the volunteers-

Vatavaran’s  volunteers have worked for our environment  earnestly & passionately . Volunteers have been are like a stream, never permanent but have kept coming for all these years.

Vatavaran Primate Procession –

A path we followed by means of a series of cross media interventions and events and   designed  a monkey sanctuary.

Canine companions-

Innovated stray dog management system which is replicable , practical , low cost and involves community.

Zero Garbage zones-

Created  decentralized  municipal solid waste management  model for urban residential colonies of various economic starta , educational institutes , rural and urban villages .

Source Treatment System-

Innovated  hospital waste management  system in which any chance of pilfiring hospital waste – the biggest problem gets eliminated . Its also economical and more environmentally friendly than any other system.

Our campaigns led to  DelhiRidge –its only natural forest declared a reserve forest, use of plastic carry  bags banned,   blood banks upgraded, slaughter house shifted out,  greening of non-green golf courses, zoos improved,  ‘in vitro’experiments replaced ‘in vivo’ ,  popularized hand-made recycled paper and its products and through our barter system exchanged  non-compostable waste  for saplings of indigenous trees thus encouraging greening and starting colony forests.

We have now decided to expand the influence through forming links with other organisations.  Together we are now a rhizome growing horizontally with lateral shoots . They are our shoots and we theirs. We understand each other’s  vision and mission and agree to it . We are reaching out to the sections of society which we could not with so much efficiency earlier.

The five organizations (representing the five elements  of nature – Earth , Water , Air , Sun, Space )have been selected after a year of  intense mental and physical activity .  With all five Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been signed . The certificates given to the participants of the institutions  for their  respective programs will have Vatavaran and that organization’s name and logo.

Arpan

Known for its work with multiple handicapped individuals (http://arpan.org.in /) is based in Vadodara. Its vision is to have a world free of Child Sexual Abuse and its mission is to empower individuals, families, communities and society with prevention and intervention skills to reduce the occurrence of child sexual abuse and heal its psychological, social, sexual and physical consequences. Joint program is to create awareness on clean and green environment through their programs making a wider and deeper impact on society.

ASHI 

Association for Social Health in India (www.ashiindia.org) is known for its work on social issues. The joint program is to convert one of their bases Anna Nagar, a J.J. Colony in the capital to a clean and green settlement. All construction and other waste will be cleared and every bit of wasteland will be greened by indigenous trees. Additional benefit would be a replicable model for converting public squalors to clean green settlements.

 

Blue Bells International

A school in the capital (www.bluebellsinternational.com) whose outlook epitomizes Rabindranath Tagore’s vision of humanity as one family and its philosophy is ‘One Planet the Earth, One family Mankind’. Its endeavor is to groom children to be true catalyst of sustainable change.  The link is to popularize the use of handmade recycled paper along with making students entrepreneurs of tomorrow. The school has a handmade paper recycling unit but Vatavaran would help in upgrading it, capacity building and greater involvement of the students, allowing them to innovate both at the paper making and product making level thus boosting their creativity.

People’s Theatre Group     

Promotes performing arts and education through art (http://www.peoplestheatre.in/)art beyond man-made boundaries with songs, stories and plays for social causes.  The program carved out for this link is to make Durga Puja (the most celebrated yet polluting festival) a green one across the globe and also incorporate environs awareness through the art and various digital media platforms.

 

Kailash Foundation

Working on education (http://:kailashafoundation.org) will be responsible with the aegis of Vatavaran, to give fellowships for vocational education to the children of waste collectors. Along with this, they have also vowed to provide these children with placements with employers who agree to pay salaries in compliance with State regulations.

 

Deductions-

Being a rhizome, the links are forever.

May this goodwill spread beyond formal organisations into individual endeavours.

The accountability of these organisations lays in the fact that they too occupy a space in the environment and its resources and express responsibility towards it, so in their recognition of these responsibilities they also accept self-accountability.

Earth Day

25th March is Earth Hour, between 8.30Pm to 9.30 pm. We all must switch off the lights and please inform others also. Save energy and our environment.

Let’s all be Buddies to our Earth!

Take ye Heed

🔴Very important message🔴

Please read this and take note. Let this not happen to you.. This could be a common mistake in any household.

This shocking accident
happend. A housewife died due to burns sustained in the kitchen. Her husband too was hospitalized for injuries due to burns while trying to rescue his wife.

How it happened:

The gas was on and cooking in progress.
The lady observed one cockroach near the sink and grabbed Spray bottle of insect killer and sprayed it near the gas, which was on.
There was an explosion and in no time the poor woman was covered in flames, sustaining 65% burns.
Her husband rushed in, tried to put out the flames and his clothes too caught fire.
The husband is still in hospital, in the burns ward,
still unaware that his wife was declared dead on arrival.

Let us understand: – All insect killer sprays such as “Hit”, “Mortein” etc. have highly volatile and inflammable solvents.
The atomized nano spray particles spread very rapidly and one spark is enough to ignite this explosive mixture with oxygen present in air.

Please educate your family & Friends about this and spread the word around….

 

JIO AUR JINE DO

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Vatavaran’s most recent campaign is the ‘Jio Aur Jine Do’ campaign, which envisions a society of peace and compassion towards all of nature. We attempted to ingrain this concept into people through the visual media- ‘nukkad natak’. Street plays are probably the most powerfully effective way to connect to the people at a grassroots level in a de-centralised manner.

Connaught Place witnessed the first series of Jio Aur Jine Do. Treading through the blocks of CP, the acting group presented in every nukkad an ideal symbiotic relationship between man and nature. The actors became cows, dogs, parrots and donkeys, the general nature that dwellers of a metropolitan city encounter. We have caged parrots and parakeets (‘mitthu beta’) in our homes, holy cows and not-so-holy dogs on the streets . Though we encounter all these kinds of fauna on an almost daily basis, are we enlightened with their situations? It is for these reasons that Director Niloy Roy attempted to bring mankind a step closer to our earthly companions. They have an equal right and access to all the resources that the earth has, which they need. It has been man’s innate desire to conquer and consolidate every resource under his authority. The population has grown to such an extent where it is difficult to calculate the accurate number of people hogging over resources. We buy and discard, eat and discard, creating waste till it becomes impossible to manage it and we have to outsource our garbage into outer space. There are many such issues which this 20-minute play brings to our consciousness.

We at Vatavaran thank the People’s Theater Group for collaborating with us in bringing awareness to the people. At the end of the natak many people approached us with varying queries and provided their details offering to help in our campaigns. Many joined us as volunteers. We would like to thank these people who came forward, joined our family and converted the impact into an action. This play will be presented in different locations and institutions around Delhi- NCR. So, if you wish to join us in this campaign or witness any of these plays, please contact director Niloy Roy (9873878238) for further details.

Jio Aur Jine Do

Vatavaran is organising a street play series- ‘Jio aur Jine Do’ (Live and Let Live). It brings to light the importance of co-existence. Through this event, Director and playwright Niloy Roy aspires to bring man closer to the feelings of nature and the problems that flora and fauna grapple with. It is necessary that we transcend from ‘man versus nature’ to ‘man versus his overbearing desire to conquer and rule’. The team of 12 actors don the cloak of animals and present for us a rendezvous with nature.
We hope to see you on 26th December, at 11:30 a.m., in Central Park, Connaught Place.

Jio Aur Jine Do

Vatavaran is organising a street play series- ‘Jio air Jine Do’ (Live and Let Live). It brings to light the importance of co-existence. Through this event, Director and playwright Niloy Roy aspires to bring man closer to the feelings of nature and the problems that flora and fauna grapple with. It is necessary that we transcend from ‘man versus nature’ to ‘man versus his overbearing desire to conquer and rule’. The team of 12 actors don the cloak of animals and present for us a rendezvous with nature.
We hope to see you on 23rd December, at 11:30 a.m., in Central Park, Connaught Place.

A Plastic Ocean

Plastic Pollution Coalition is excited to be working on the worldwide release of A Plastic Ocean, an award-winning documentary film, which brings to light the consequences of our disposable lifestyle. Following an international team of adventurers, researchers, and ocean ambassadors across the globe, the film uncovers the shocking truth about what is truly lurking beneath the surface of our seemingly pristine oceans.

Watch The Film Trailer: http://www.plasticoceans.org/film/

 

How to Host A Screening

On January 19, 2017, movie theaters and non-theatrical venues will be showing the film as part of A Plastic Ocean Day, creating worldwide momentum to coincide with the film’s publicity and online release.

PPC members can plan a local screening of A Plastic Ocean to raise support and gain awareness for our collective missions in their communities. We recommend that local screenings of this acclaimed documentary use it as a tool to make an impact for your organization and start a local conversation about waste. Screenings can be fundraisers and planned along with a discussion or Q&A with local experts.

PPC will be hosting the premiere event for the documentary at a movie theater in Los Angeles, California, with a Q&A and panel discussion after the film led by representatives from several L.A.-based coalition member organizations, including 5 Gyres and Algalita. To participate in this screening or find out more about our format, contact our office.

Contact amy@plasticoceans.org to find out how to host a screening and get details to sign up as an iTunes affiliate!

 

About the Film & Plastic Oceans Foundation

Made over a four-year period, this is a beautiful and chilling film, which documents the global effects of plastic pollution. The film introduces workable technology and policy solutions that can, if implemented in time, change things for the better.

The Plastic Oceans Foundation (POF) was created to address the global issue of plastic pollution that impacts both our ocean and our health. Through education, science and this award-winning film, POF is actively working to eliminate non-essential plastic to prevent this manmade disaster, before it is too late. You can find out more about the foundation at http://www.plasticoceans.org.

Two problems one solution for green colonies

Vasant Vihar is a clean and green colony.Their two problems were the money they were spending every year on sourcing manure which more often than not was adulterated with mud and chemicals and mounds of fallen leaves every autumn and winters. This year the environmentally conscious lady Inderpreet Kaurof the colony wanted Vatavaran to help them sort their two problems.
We helped them manage dry leaves and make their own organic manure that was not only eco-friendly but cost effective.
Vatavaran has innovated an earth friendly and quick way to compost these leaves.
First step was collecting the leaves , mowing the green grass from the park and procuring cow dung from the nearest dairy.

A large pit 12’x8’x5′ was dug. 10 Kgs. of cow dung was procured and freshly mowed green grass was collected. The pit was layered by fallen dry leaves – green grass- cow dung in 6″-6″-1″thickness. It was sealed from the top and a flag put with the date of burial. Next time the leaves falls , they will be collected , the pit would be emptied of the composted yard waste and after a week or so of airing it will be filled again with this seasons yard waste. From the opened tons of earthy smelling , crumbly organic manure would be obtained, to be used in the same park .
The trees , shrubs, flowers, grass and soil of the park would be very healthy with 2 times composting . No money was spent . Vatavaran volunteers and few community ladies formed a close bondage during this two-day exercise.
On the first day the gardeners were busy in their work and the first layer of vegetation in this case some fresh cut grass of six inches covered the floor of the12 foot long pit this was covered with an inch thick layer cow dung(so that the bacteria can act on the vegetation) next was a layer of around 6 inches of leaves then one inch cowdung and the layers were repeated till the pit was full. Then the same layers were repeated but in decreasing diameter . We were making a small mound instead of the pit being flat .
Then came the leaves from another pit near by, around 6 inches of leaves then an inch of dung. The gardener’s under ours and a lady from the resident environment association’s supervision completed around 4 such layers and the 5 foot pit was almost 70 percent full. The gardeners(2 in number) then complained that they were too tired and they would like to quit. So we decided that the gardeners who had learned the process by then would finish the work early next morning and we would just do the sealing.
The next morning we reached there to find that true to their words the gardeners had finished the job and we just need to add the last layer of leaves , cowdung and green grass and seal the pit. We then instructed the gardeners to make a paste of cow dung and mud by mixing them with water. After they did this they covered the pit with this mixture of mud, dung and water.
Their pit is ready and the leaves are decomposing “Anaerobically” ie without air in this case the germs and bacteria of the dung will help. The compost should be ready in 2-3 months. We will come to know as the leaves in the pit will start sinking and the mound we have made of mud and dung will start sinking. Then it will be time to harvest 100 percent chemical free, backyard made 100 percent organic compost.
During the first visit of the area I had not realized that Vatavaran and B Block Enviro Society were going to have a long term association.
Yashwant Singh
Manager Vatavaran

How toys contribute to the problem of environmental pollution?

I spent a lot of my time with my nieces in the last two months. Ana is 6, Ema is 2.  There is nothing more beautiful than spending time with these innocent but naughty girls, understanding how they see the world around them and bringing that beauty of childhood back to me. Life indeed, can be a playground!

I noticed that they are playing with way too many toys and most of them are made of plastics. It kind of shocked me and I wanted to protest. I will not allow something like that. I mean, I am still their aunt, right? I knew, it is not really my decision what they play with but at least I could reduce the amount of those kind of toys whenever they are around me.

For example, some toys like plastic soldiers, baby dolls are responsible for water and air pollution because they leach or discharge hazardous toxins. We are taking so much care of our kids but then they are playing with toys made of PVC plastic, which is the deadliest plastic nowadays.  It is typically mixed with another noxious chemical, phthalate, to make the finished play thing flexible rather than rigid. Two phthalates commonly used in plastic toy production are DEHP (diethylhexyl phthalate) and DNIP (Di-isonoyl phthalate). It causes cancer, liver and kidney disease risks, baby girls who develop breast prematurely.  The fact is that kid’s bodies are tinier, so this deadly chemicals race through their nervous systems and concentrate in their organs faster. Since their brains and the other parts of their bodies are still growing, higher concentrations of these toxins cause more harm than in fully developed system.  Not to mention that kids are putting any and everything into their mouths so the toxins from plastic are easily consumed but not quickly removed.

Plastic battery – operated toys are a double –edge sword of polluting toxins because batteries cannot be recycled.

But then I noticed one more thing. My nieces were actually playing more with “toys”.  Different materials and stuffs around them which are in every household are giving them a real life experience and it seems they are enjoying it the most. Baby dolls and plastic cars are just for a while, but I saw these girls playing for 2 hours with the real kitchen material or with cobs outside in the nature. Of course it was the best to have fun with what I was doing – helping me with making cookies, hang laundry or sweep the floor.  They love it if they can do the same as we adults do.

Wooden toys are by far more environmentally friendly and a better choice for children and the Earth. Unpainted, unvarnished, solid wood toys last longer than plastic toys, need no batteries, and encourage kids to use creativity and imagination to create play. Ema got a gift from India –a wooden elephant family and right now this is her main toy.

 

You can reduce or eradicate plastic pollution by buying fewer plastic toys, or recycling these types of toys rather than disposing them off. Write to your congressional representatives and urge them to lobby for tougher labelling laws so consumers will be aware of deadly plastic in toys.

Plastic toys do pollute, but with increased consumer awareness and cooperation from plastic toy manufacturers, the effects of this type of pollution can be reduced. The best and most sustainable response to “How do toys pollute the environment?” is humankind’s willingness to place stewardship over price and convenience.

 

Katja Polc, Vatavaran volunteer

Ganesha Chaturthi

The great Ganesha festival, also known as ‘Vinayak Chaturthi’ or ‘Vinayaka Chavithi’ is celebrated by Hindus around the world as the birthday of Lord Ganesha. It is observed during the Hindu month of Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September) and the grandest and most elaborate of them, especially in the western India state of Maharashtra, lasts for 10 days, ending on the day of ‘Ananta Chaturdashi’.

 

The Regular Grand Celebrations

 A life-like model of Lord Ganesha is made 2-3 months prior to the day of Ganesh Chaturthi. The size of this idol keeps increasing every year and may go up to 25 feet.

It is placed on raised platforms in elaborately decorated outdoor tents for people to view and pay their homage. The priest, usually clad in red silk dhoti and shawl, invokes life into the idol amidst the chanting of mantras. This ritual is called ‘pranapratishhtha’. After this the ‘shhodashopachara’ (16 ways of paying tribute) follows. Coconut, jaggery, 21 ‘modakas’ (rice flour preparation), 21 ‘durva’ (trefoil) blades and red flowers are offered. The idol is anointed with red unguent or sandal paste (rakta chandan). Throughout the ceremony, Vedic hymns from the Rig Veda and Ganapati Atharva Shirsha Upanishad, and Ganesha stotra from the Narada Purana are chanted.

For 10 days, from Bhadrapad Shudh Chaturthi to the Ananta Chaturdashi, Ganesha is worshipped. On the 11th day, the image is taken through the streets in a procession accompanied with dancing, singing, to be immersed in a river or the sea symbolizing a ritual see-off of the Lord in his journey towards his abode in Kailash while taking away with him the misfortunes of all men. All join in this final procession shouting “Ganapathi Bappa Morya, Purchya Varshi Laukariya” (O father Ganesha, come again early next year). After the final offering of coconuts, flowers and camphor is made, people carry the idol to the river to immerse it.

Impact –

Last year over 300 idols were immersed in the Yamuna after the festival. This included around 36 tonnes of paints and other chemicals. The offering also had around 15 tonnes of flowers, leaves, coconut husks, clothes and other puja material.  There are over 300 registered  associations in the city. This year over 1000 idols will be immersed into the Yamuna. Idols are immersed in Okhla and Wazirabad.

According to Central Pollution Board ‘s study the immersion of idols leads to an addition of various pollutants, including dissolved oxygen, Bio-chemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, conductivity, turbidity, total dissolved solids and metals, to the river.

The Central Pollution Control Board has made new guidelines on immersion of idols. It is planning to develop separate ponds for idol immersion.  Idols should be small as they would dissolve faster. Non-degradable chemical dyes are banned. Prior to immersion, materials such as flowers, vastras and decorating items should be removed and collected for recycling.

Vatavaran way  to celebrate this festival-

Make idols of mango, peepal leaves or neem tree which is also considered  lucky. Placing them on the door can attract positive energy and good luck. Ganesha idol made up of cow dung is one of the luckiest statues you can ever have. This type of idol is helpful in eradicating sorrows and attracting good vibes.

As per vastu, keeping Ganesha idol made up of turmeric can change your destiny without much effort. The presence of this idol in your house is highly auspicious.

Would be to meditate on the stories connected with Lord Ganesha. Pray with faith and devotion that He may remove all the obstacles that you experience on the spiritual path. Worship Him at home.

Feel His Presence in the idol you have created , pray , meditate, tell stories about HIM  and when the time comes to say good bye to it immerse it in clean water.

Importance of Visarjan

Vinayaka Chaturthi or Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations end with the immersion or Visarjan of Ganapati idol in water. The form changes to formless.It is time to accept the eternal cosmic law that which took form has to become formless again . It is a never ending cycle ( Chakra).

Each year Ganesha arrives to teach us that forms change but the Supreme Truth remains the same. Body perishes but Brahman residing in it remains constant. This body becomes energy for another but the source of energy is the same. Bliss is achieved when we realize this.The act also symbolizes Moksha or liberation.

Each year Ganesha arrives to teach us that forms change but the Supreme Truth remains the same. Body perishes but Brahman residing in it remains constant. This body becomes energy for another but the source of energy is the same. Bliss is achieved when we realize this.

 

Dr. Ms. Iqbal Malik

Founder & Director
www.vatavaran.org