Updated on: Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Inspired by the quote: ‘Be the change you want to see in the world', Shriya Mahajan, student of Std. IX of Etasi Timpany Secondary School, CBM Compound, has taken the onus of spreading the message of ‘save our environment'.
To start with, she has initiated a club ‘My Envirovision' along with 20 other like-minded friends. Detailing on the activity of the club, she said, “our core role involves educating the people from all strata of society on waste management.”
She said over 20 million tonnes of garbage was generated in cities alone. This garbage took precious land and is a major source for a number of diseases, floods, and release of the lethal methane gas into the atmosphere. To combat this, Shriya and her club members have been visiting schools and colleges to educate the young minds on waste management.
“So far we have identified two schools - Zilla Parishad School at Yarada and St. Joseph's Girls High School at Gnanapuram. After talking to the students, we have created coloured dustbins to collect bio-degradable and non-bio-degradable waste. Green coloured bins are for biodegradable and the red ones are for non-biodegradable. In each of the schools we have also created vermi-compost pits. Our idea is to convert the bio-degradable waste into organic fertilizer for cultivation. By doing this we are effectively managing our waste and as well as creating an alternative for chemical fertilizers,” she said.
She started this club in October and has been able to create quite an impact in the schools that she and her team members have visited. On why she took up this issue, young Shriya said, “I was a victim of health problems due to pollution. Seeing long queues of children waiting at the hospitals prompted me to do something. This year, I won the Horlicks Wizkids title, and I took this platform to launch my plans.”
Website
She now intends to launch a website and a Facebook page in the name of her club to spread the message far and wide and also invite global participation.
Keeping her activity going, she dreams to become an IAS officer so that she can reach the masses through her profession. All her endeavours are being well supported by her parents A.K. Gupta and Sonal Gupta.