The Root of all Evil - POP

When an idol made of Plaster of Paris is immersed in the water, it changes form to gypsum, thus adding a large amount of material to the water that breaks down very slowly, while adding to the hardness of water, both of which deteriorate the life carrying capacity and quality of the water thereby causing irreversible environmental effects on the coastal ecology or the eco-system of any water body, which in turn causes adverse environmental effects;
Chemical paints and dyes
In terms of health impacts, paints are a greater source of hazard and most of those used for decorating idols are chemical-based. They contain heavy metals like mercury, cadmium and lead, which are neurotoxin (nerve poison) and nephrotoxin (poison to kidneys).
These metals are bio-accumulative, meaning that once they enter marine life forms like fish; they pass through the food chain and end up in the food that we eat. Incidentally, the brighter the colour, the greater is its toxicity. Red, blue, orange and green colours are known to have higher content of mercury, zinc oxide, chromium and lead.

The safe levels of these chemicals in natural environment are reported in literature in the unit of ppb - parts per billion, which is 1000th part of 1 milligram per liter of water. Sometimes the permissible levels of these toxic metals are reported as one millionth part of a milligram in one liter of water i.e. ppt – parts per trillion!
Therefore, this implies that -one drop in a 20-acre lake can make the fish poisonous to the birds, animals, and people that eat them.
An example:
A study in 2001, revealed an alarming increase in presence of heavy metals in the Hussainsagar Lake (Hyderabad) following immersions. The study showed that subsequent to Ganesh-idol immersions, the concentration of these metals Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, Lead, increased perceptibly. The level of arsenic, a noxious trace element, had increased nine-fold in the lake water after the idol immersion, compared to its Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) standards.
The concentration of mercury was found to be alarmingly high in the lake water. It increased by five to six hundred times in the lake water compared to the specifications of desirable limits set by BIS and ICMR standards.
The various paraphernalia immersed along with the idols and its impact is given below:

Sr.No	Material contributed by immersion	Impact on the aquatic body
1	Plaster of Paris	Increases dissolved solids, contribute metals and sludge
2	Decoration material viz. clothes, polish, paint, ornaments cosmetic items etc.	Contributes suspended matters, trace metals (Zinc, lead, iron, chromium, arsenic, mercury etc.) metalloids and various organic and inorganic matter, oil & grease etc.
3	Flowers, Garlands, oily substance	Increase floating suspended matter organic contamination, oil & grease and various organic and inorganic matter.
4	Bamboo sticks, Beauty articles	Big pieces get collected and recycled while small pieces remain floating in water or settled at the river bottom inhabiting river flow.
5	Polythene bags/plastic items	Adds to the hazardous material and chokes the aquatic life
6	Eatables, food items etc.	Contributes oil and grease, organics to water bodies.

All the figures quoted above and the data has been taken from the report-

1. Preventive Environemental Management plan for eco-friendly Ganpati festival prepared by Dr. Shyam R Asolekar, Professor & Head Centre for Environmental Science & Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B), 2007.
2. ‘Make ganesh Utsav and Durga Puja Toxics free’- a Factsheet on the impacts of eco-friendly idols compiled by Toxics link, Delhi, 2007.

 

Symbolic Immersion- Environmentally Friendly way of Immersion

The origins of Ganesh Chaturthi started with the agrarian community bringing home a mould of soil from the river bank, worshipping it and then immersing it back to the river after the ritual. This ritual was to pay respect to earth and also to signify the cycle of creation and dissolution, acknowledging the fact that all things come from nature and go seamlessly back to it.
However as years passed, the mould of soil became the idol of Ganesha; the ritual remained but the message behind it was lost.
Instead of looking at immersion from a ritualistic point of view, we need to understand the thought behind it. Today knowing the harmful chemicals in the idols as well as colors, we need to make practical adjustments in the immersion practices.

We must opt for symbolic immersion,

1. Instead of the actual Ganesh idol we could immerse a betel nut and pack away the idol for use the next year.
2. Another way of immersion could be sprinkling a few drops of water on the idol and then wiping it off and keeping the idol for another year’s use.
3. In case of metal idols we can immerse the idol in a tub or a bucket at home.

This way we do not lose touch with our culture and tradition but also preserve the environment.

9 Tips to make your Ganesha Green

Want to celebrate Ganeshotsav but don’t want to harm the environment? Here are tips for you!

1. Green Idol: Do not buy Ganesh idols made from PoP (Plaster of Paris) instead look for idols made from Paper Mache, clay or install a metal idol.
2. Green paint: While choosing a clay model, make sure that the colors used on it are eco friendly and do not contain metallic compounds which can be poisonous for the aquatic life.
3. Smaller Size: Reduce the size of the ganesh idol you bring home, this will reduce the harm caused by its immersion.

4. Green Decorations: Instead of going for decoration made from thermocol, use innovative ideas for  green decorations like colorful flowers, lights, cloth drapes.
5. Simple Celebrations: Go for a simple celebration which keeps the essence of the festival alive along with the traditional and religious aspects of it.
6. Green Immersions: On the day of immersion, immerse your idols at artificial ponds in your area or have a symbolic immersion at home; do not immerse them in rivers, lakes or sea.
7. Disposing Waste: Do not throw the flowers, garlands in the water while immersion, dispose them in a paper bag in the nirmalya or waste bins installed by the municipality.
8. No nuisance, please: Also while you take your idol for immersion, avoid using bands or huge speakers which causes nuisance to young and old alike.
9. Common Celebration: Talk to your family and friends and help reduce the number of idols immersed by having a common Ganesh idol. This will not only reduce the strain on environment but also increase the joy of the festival. 

How to make Eco friendly idol at home?

This video gives easy instructions to make Ganesh idols from shadu at Home. Shadu is a kind of clay found in River banks of Konkan region of Maharashtra. However in case you have difficulty finding this kind of clay, use fine soil or any clay.

The idol is made in 30 minutes, let the idol dry for two days and then paint with eco friendly paints or ingredients like turmeric and multani mitti.

Green Bappa is here!

'Green Bappa' is the name we zeroed on this year for our eco-friendly ganesh utsav activities this year. And the sole activity we focused this year was the http://www.greenbappa.com/ website. Since 2009 TWIGG (Together We Initiate a Green Globe) and friends are working for creating awareness about impact of Ganesh chaturthi celebrations on the environment. We previously have conducted workshops on making ganesh idols, exhibitions of different kinds of idols and decorations to create awareness. This year we decided to reach more people through our online campaign.

We have worked hard for three months to conceptualise and collect the information for the website. Till now we have received quite a few good reviews on the look of the website which is attractive. There are many aspects of the eco-friendly ways to celebrate Ganesha chaturthi, we have mentioned like making eco-friendly decorations at home, or places to buy idols from. We have provided a list of locations that sell eco-friendly idols and decorations. There is also a video we created showing how to create shadu idol at home.

We still have many things which we would like to add in the website to make it more user friendly but it is taking time..Since the time the website is online, we are recieving mails from people who read about the information and would like to help us. It is really a heartening feeling seems like all the hardwork is worth the effort.

That's it for now...

Green Bappa Morya!