The Earth Day Network (EDN Asia Pacific) collaborated with Royal Enfield’s (RE) to implement the garbage clean up drive pan India across 39 sites in India on World Environment Day, June 5, 2022 to ‘Leave Every Place Better’. Dr Purnima Chauhan, IAS, (retd) is the EDN advisor for the Himachal chapter and has initiated multiple eco – friendly initiatives even during COVID times to raise individual awareness about steps to save the environment in keeping with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She got “Naldera Heights” site near the heritage 1905 Naldera Golf course 20 km beyond Shimla included in this campaign for Cleaning the Mountain.
This site is popular for its pristine beauty, solitude, rugged mountainscape but masses visiting it for pre- wedding shoots, films, mountain biking, late night camping and even dangerous off-roading leave behind garbage littered indiscriminately endangering human and cattle life. Under the EDN umbrella Dr Chauhan brought together the local mahila mandal Baggi Jubbad and Baldeyan panchayat to join this clean-up initiative in partnership with St Bede’s Alumni Association, whispering Breezes Club, Inner Wheel Club (IWC), Whispering Breezes and SAGES (Shimla amateur Garden & Environment Society) to sensitise the 70 volunteers and local groups on the need for local ownership of safeguarding environment quality and reclaiming it for future generations.
On 5th June from 11am – 2pm Naldera Heights was abuzz with St. Bede’s Principal Sister Molly bringing 5 staff and nearly 25 enthusiastic girl volunteers who were joined by nearly 15 ladies from Inner Wheel Club and 3 SAGES members apart from local children who spread out over the mountain in 5 groups after registering and being given RE and IWC T-shirts, gloves, SAGES caps and instructions on the campaign. While savouring refreshments during this activity volunteers participated in a lively Bhu – tattva five elements antakshri, story telling, and clicking selfies with the HEAL THE EARTH slogan too on Naldera Heights. The Isha foundation ‘Save the Soil” placards were prominent in a drive to ensure food safety for humanity.
The Forest Dept under the strong leadership of their RO Sh Himanshu, BO Sh Balwant and lady Forest Guard Kanchan rendered invaluable help in this drive. Post the clean up 10 deodar trees were planted to reclaim this area.
The MC Shimla too helped dispose the waste. To make this effort sustainable we are striving to have a phase 2 of planting flowers in monsoon with the above partners, the active support of the Forest dept and local panchayat and people of Baggi Jubbad. By brainstorming a mutually scientific garbage disposal system with simple safe guards against littering is being designed. Our volunteers segregated and weighed the trash collected, identified the brands before disposing it off scientifically. A change of perception was also instilled about the trash itself from being a hazardous “nuisance” to a “usable resource” that can even generate livelihoods and Wealth Out of Waste (WOW) once it is segregated at the household level.
To sustain and replicate such initiatives within and beyond Shimla such campaigns instils ownership to value and preserve our planet. EDN will afford coverage to this initiative widely in the ASIA-PACIFIC region giving tremendous visibility to those who partner and want to replicate. We look forward to its wide adoption as a people’s movement
