April 22 is celebrated by countries all over the world as the Earth Day. It was first celebrated in 1970 by a group of people in United States of America to draw attention to the increasing environmental problems caused by humans on earth. Now all over the world, this day is celebrated by students, activists and other groups with rallies, campaigns, festivals, clean-ups, etc.
 
April 22, 2000 was the 30th Anniversary of the Earth Day and on this day concerned citizens around the world joined together in a common cause to demand a far-reaching and enduring action to reverse our deepening environmental crisis.
 
CLEAN-Delhi and EARTH DAY
To commemorate the first Earth Day of the new millennium, CLEAN-Delhi took the initiative of encouraging Delhities to refrain from using polybags and to protect the greenery in the capital by means of Saving the Greens campaign.
 
Delhi is perhaps the only capital in the world to be blessed with a natural forest cover, called the "The Ridge’. The two natural features of Delhi which have made it a favourite place of various rulers is the Ridge (for its natural protection, fuel wood) and River Yamuna (for its perennial source of water). Even today, both of them are crucial for Delhi’s survival. The Ridge is a natural boundary between the desert and green areas. It acts as a barrier to keep out the sands and hot winds of Rajasthan. The vegetation acts as a moderator of climate. Temperatures in the Ridge are lower than other areas and the cooling effect extends to a larger area. The area acts as a sink for many pollutants and absorbs 80% of the ozone and dust. It replenishes oxygen in the atmosphere, thus is called the GREEN LUNG of Delhi. It absorbs noise, recharges the ground water and harbours a rich Biodiversity.
 
Unfortunately, the Ridge has degraded over the years due to human activities such as physical destruction to make way for new colonies, encroachments (in the name of religion, educational institutions..) mining and dumping of malba, etc.
 
On the Earth Day 2000, an effort was made to draw attention to this sad fact. Prior to 22 April, professionals from Development Alternatives visited CLEAN-Delhi schools and briefed the students about the Ridge, its significance in our lives and the threats to it. Majority of the students were unaware of the Ridge’s existence and could not visualise Delhi having a forest cover.
 
The Earth Day was thus celebrated by 250 young budding environmentalists of CLEAN-Delhi. The children decided to adopt a positive and demonstrative approach to make Delhi clean and green.
 
Equipped with gloves, rakes, gunny bags and a lot of enthusiasm, the students assembled at a park in the Ridge and took upon themselves the task of cleaning the Ridge. Activities that were carried out included picking up all the polybags that were littering a part of the Ridge and removing advertisements nailed to trees, distributing pamphlets at the crossing to passerbys. In about one hour’s time, the children managed to collect about 20 large gunny bags full of plastic. The activity of removing tree guards from grown up trees was attempted but had to be abandoned as the tree guards were tightly embedded in the ground (and in some cases, in the tree trunks). Some of the students who had the energy left, then proceeded for a tree-walk inside the park. About 20 trees of different species had been labelled and briefly described inside the park.
 
An area which was particularly cleaned by the CLEAN Bangalore is the so called "Monkey Point", situated at the intersection of Sardar Patel Marg and Simon Bolivar Marg. As this area is a home for monkeys, many people frequent this place to feed them and consequently throw the poly bags in which they carry the food. Since the area is inside the Ridge, and thus outside the purview of municipal authorities, over the years the place has become a virtual heap of poly bags. This was affecting the growth of trees and plants and many monkeys also indulged in playing and nibbling the poly bags which could be disastrous for them. On Earth Day, the area was given a face-lift by the students and cleaned of polybags which had probably accumulated over the years. On request, the municipal authorities installed two dustbins and have promised to keep the area clean in the coming future.

PURE AIR
One hectare of woodland (with more than 1000 trees) absorbs 3.7tons. of CO2 and gives 2.5 tons of Oxygen. About 7777 hectares of Ridge would mean a supply of 23,331 tonnes of pure air.

The messages that the children sent out to the public on EARTH DAY were :
n How would you feel if somebody drew a nail into you?
n Even trees feel the pain
n Do not nail advertisements on trees.
n Join the students of Delhi in Saving the Greens.
 
The clean-up drive also witnessed participation from a few passerbys, however there was scope for much more participation. All the participants were then given a jute bag each which showed them a good alternative to polybags and also their certificates of participation. At the end of the event, every student was convinced that it was only through action that we could bring about a change in people’s attitudes. The students left for their homes with the determination that they would conduct similar drives around their schools and thereby involve more and more people in keeping their neighbourhood and their city clean.
 
Similar activities could be carried out in any town and city and one needn’t wait for the Earth Day or Environment Day to act. q