The Department of Environmental Science observed World Environment Day 2023 during 4th - 6th June, 2023 at its biodiversity-rich green campus and also outside the campus. The theme given by the United Nation for this year’s World Environment Day is “Solutions to plastic pollution” under the campaign #BeatPlasticPollution. An online pledge “Lifestyle for the Environment” was also undertaken by a number of participants through the link provided to them and an eCertificate was issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Government of India and NITI Ayog, Government of India.
A number of events as part of World Environment Day were conducted under Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) program of the Government of India, in collaboration with Centre for Environment Education (CEE), Lucknow; Awadh Forest Division, U.P. Forest Department, Local Municipal bodies and Prithvi Innovation (An NGO), Lucknow. The sites where activities were conducted were Kukrail forests (Kukrail Picnic Spot), Scorpio Club (Nearby Forest Area) and Paikramau village wetland. Following are the day wise details:
Day-1: 04 June 2023 (Sunday): Department of Environmental Science took part in campaign for collection of plastic waste at Kukrail Forest area near Maulshree Auditorium from 7:00 to 9:00 am in collaboration with an NGO i.e., Centre for Environment Education (CEE) and Department of Forest, U. P. Government. The program was enthusiastically attended by nearly 50 participants, especially the students, research scholars, faculty and HoD of the Department of Environment Science, Integral University along with other NGO volunteers. The collected plastic waste was safely handed to the Local Municipal body.
Day-2: 05 June 2023 (Monday): The day of EVS volunteers began early with “Plastic collection and removal” from the forest area near Scorpio club at 7:00 to 8:30 am in collaboration with volunteers from Centre for Environment Education (CEE) and Uttar Pradesh Forest Department. Again, with huge enthusiasm students, researchers, faculty members from the Department of Environment Science participated in the event. Overall, nearly 55+ participants enthusiastically participated in following all the safety measures for plastic cleaning purposes and collected waste was disposed of safely to the Municipal body.
Another event on this day was an awareness rally for “Plastic Free Campus” organised at the campus with the Oath delivered by Prof. Monowar Alam Khalid to all the participants pledging to reduce plastic in daily life. The rally was followed by a Signature Campaign, in which students, faculty members/staff and senior officials of the university activity participated.
Day-3: 06 June 2023 (Tuesday): A visit to Paikramau wetland for plastic removal was organized in collaboration with a prominent NGO i.e., Prithvi Innovations, who are actively working in the field of waste management and plastic removal. There was great enthusiasm seen at the wetland site as huge amounts of plastic was collected from the area following all safety norms with support from the local community. This was followed by an interesting and informative lecture delivered by Mrs. Anuradha Gupta, Founder of Prithvi Innovations, Lucknow on the topic “Plastics-What is in Store: Solutions or Problems?” at Hall-1, which was highly participative and motivated the students and faculty. The program started with the planter presentation to the eminent guest by Dr Shweta Yadav, followed by welcome address delivered by Prof. Monowar Alam Khalid, Head, Department of Environmental Science & Dean Students’ Welfare, who also gave a brief introduction about the Speaker Ms. Anuradha Gupta, who is a proactive and enterprising person with multiple skills and diverse experience. In May 2023, she accepted on behalf of Prithvi Innovations the IESA (The India Energy Storage Alliance) and Earth Day Network Global Clean Up Heroes Award in New Delhi. The International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN), with an emphasis on chemicals in plastics and other products, selected her as a mentor for the International Youth Project on Toxic Chemicals and has received numerous other awards in recent years. She delivered an interactive lecture with the students about the single use plastics and its alternatives and also suggested ways to minimize the use of plastics in daily life by explaining 5R’s concept i.e., Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle.
The Department of Environmental Science also organized Poster Making and Essay Writing competitions, which saw enthusiastic participation by students of various departments. Students participated in the Poster Making (online mode) on the theme “Say No to Plastics for Sustainable Life” and in an Essay writing competition on the Themes 1. Beat plastic pollution for Sustainable life and 2. Alternative to Single use plastic. The winners of the competitions were awarded certificates by the guest speaker and HoD, EVS. At the end of the programme, a memento was given to Ms Anuradha Gupta by Prof. Monowar Alam Khalid. The vote of thanks was delivered by Dr.Amina Jafri and the program was successfully anchored by Dr. Rahila R. Khan of the Department of Environmental Science.