Royal Enfield’s ‘Leave Every Place Better’ initiative being implemented and coordinated through Earth Day Network (Asia-Pacific) in which cleanups are scheduled at 39 sites across India for Sunday, June 5, 2022 (World Environment Day).
Earth Day Network (EDN) that works in the Asia-Pacific region to save the environment and the planet with its Dr Purnima Chauhan, IAS, (retd) is the EDN advisor for the Himachal chapter that has initiated multiple eco-friendly initiatives even during COVID times. In keeping with the Sustainable Development Goals # 11 & 12 for the June 5, 2022 “Leave Every Place Better, Clean the Mountains” two sites have been chosen in Himachal- a) Naldera Heights near the heritage 1905 Naldera Golf course 20 km beyond Shimla and b) Nivritti Ashram at Shahpur in Dharamsala.
Naldera Heights hilltop is very popular with locals and tourists for its pristine beauty, solitude, rugged mountainscape. But the masses that visit it for pre- wedding shoots, film shooting, mountain biking, camping late into the night with blaring music and even dangerous off-roading leave behind garbage littered indiscriminately, broken bottles, camp fires that are endangering and ruining this site making locals resent such visitors.
Hence for this clean-up initiative of EDN local partners are SAGES (Shimla amateur Garden & Environment Society), St Bede’s Alumni Association, Whispering Breezes Club, Inner Wheel Club and other local groups that feel a sense of ownership for the environment and want to reclaim it. We are expecting 30 volunteers on 5th June from 11am – 2pm to participate. Along with the above partners the active support of the Forest dept and local panchayat as well as people of Baggi Jubbad village are striving to make this effort sustainable by brainstorming to mutually evolve a scientific garbage disposal system with simple safe guards against littering.
Our volunteers not just clean the trash, segregate it and dispose it off scientifically. They also instil change in perception 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. Post the clean up we hope to plant suitable trees to reclaim this area. While savouring refreshments during this activity we will engage the volunteers to sport the T-shirts of the sponsors and join in some fun games, antakshri and story telling too on Naldera Heights.
To sustain and replicate such initiatives within and beyond Shimla needs a mind set change that takes ownership because we value our planet and feel a sense of stewardship. The coverage this initiative to clean the mountains will be captured by EDN for circulation in the ASIA-PACIFIC region giving tremendous visibility to those who partner and want to replicate. We look forward to your support to make this initiative so successful that it is adopted as a people’s movement.
