World Environment Day & Dist. Environment Awards Ceremony hosted by KSPCB

World Environment Day & Dist. Environment Awards Ceremony hosted by KSPCB

World Environment Day (WED)& District Environment Awards Ceremony hosted by Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) in association with District Administration; Mangaluru City Corporation; District Legal Service Authority; Forest Department; National Service Scheme (NSS); and Bharath Scouts and Guides DK District

Mangaluru: As they say “Better Late Than Never”- even though the World Environment Day every year is celebrated on 5 June, these organizers had scheduled it for 28 July 2017, but was cancelled due to the death of Former Karnataka State Chief Minister Dharam Singh- so the said programme was re-scheduled for today, 8 August at Town Hall-Mangaluru, from 10 am to 2 pm. Yes, it was time once again where UN Environment seeks to make the biggest global call and mobilization for action on World Environment Day (WED).

World Environment Day is the biggest annual event for positive environmental action and it is a day for everyone, everywhere. Since it began in 1972, global citizens have organized many thousands of events, from neighbourhood clean-ups to action against wildlife crime, to replanting forests. “Connecting People to Nature”, the theme for World Environment Day 2017, implores us to get outdoors and into nature, to appreciate its beauty and its importance, and to take forward the call to protect the Earth that we share. This year’s theme invites you to think about how we are part of nature and how intimately we depend on it. It challenges us to find fun and exciting ways to experience and cherish this vital relationship.

Despite repeated global pledges to protect the planet’s environment, the trees, animals and other living species and their habitats – and the goods and services they provide – the earth natural resources continue to decline at an unprecedented rate. Human activities are the cause. In such a grim situation, the celebration of World Environment Day – provides a timely opportunity to focus on the urgency of safeguarding our valued environment for the wealth, health and well being of living beings on the Planet. Prior to the formal function of awarding the deserving people who have contributed a lot to the environment, a variety of cultural performances were held, comprising of dances, songs and comedy skit.

The program began with a short prayer service invoking God’s blessings followed by welcome address by Rajashekar Puranith-the Environment Officer at KSPCB. The President of KSPCB-Laxman gave an elaborate introduction of WED, and briefed about the projects undertaken by KSPCB for the betterment of the environment. The programme was inaugurated by lighting the lamp by Chief Guest Ramanath Rai- state minister for forest, environment and ecology, along with other dignitaries on the dais namely- MLA J R Lobo; MCC Mayor Kavitha Sanil; MCC Commissioner Mohammed Nazeer; Laxman- president of KSPCB; Pius L Rodrigues- Member, KSPCB; Mallanagowda Patil-Senior Civil Judge, and member of District Legal Service Authority among many others.

A documentary CD of the projects undertaken by KSPCB was released by Minister Ramanath Rai and was also screened for the audience to watch. 21 students who were the winners in the drawing competition pertaining to the topic of WED, were presented with their awards by Chief Guest Ramanath Rai- state minister for forest, environment and ecology. Various other organizations and individuals who had contributed towards the betterment of green/environment were also awarded on the occasion by the Minister. Hotel Taj Gateway-Mangaluru was awarded the “Best Green Initiative Award in Hotel Industry sector, and GM of the Hotel, Peter Nirmal accepted the award; St Ann’s College of Education-Mangaluru received the “Best Green Initiative Award in the First Grade Colleges Sector”, and the Principal of the College, Sr Claire AC accepted the award; Sanath Kumar Shetty of Planet SKS accepted the “Best Green Initiative Award in Residential Apartments Sector”; among many others.

Individual persons also received awards for their dedication, commitment and hard work for bringing awareness in the community on green/Environment and also awareness on Pollution. Environmentalists K Krishnappa and Madhav Ullal were felicitated for their initiatives in tree planting at schools, colleges and other private and government places etc; Donny Menezes – of Mangalore Bicycle Club for promoting ideas and awareness on green environment, and stop pollution by riding bicycles; Anil Shet of Mangalore Cycle Club for the similar initiative on Pollution control by taking up cycling; Dr L C Soans of Soans Farms, Moodbidri for his contribution in the field of vegetables and fruit bearing trees and for creating a green environment; among many others.

Chief guest Ramanath Rai addressing the gathering said, “We need to compliment KSPCB for their great work in bringing awareness on Environment and Pollution. World Environment Day is a very important day in our life. It is the day when we get aware of issues related to our environment and pledge to keep it safe for our better future. We should take care of our environment all through the life. It can be done only when we will keep our eyes open and be active to bring some positive changes within ourselves and the environment. We should make our kids and children aware of this issue so that they can be the active agents of this campaign in future. The condition of our healthy environment is getting declined day by day just because of the industrialization, deforestation, technological development, global warming, pollution, etc. It affects the health of living beings and environment very badly.”

“We need to do something effective in order to reduce the rate of climate change as well as save many natural resources for better life on the earth in future. 3R techniques (reduce, reuse and recycle) can be very effective in lessening the impact of our bad activities over the natural ecosystem. We should start from small but effective steps like, switch to organic food from inorganic food, use of natural fertilizers over chemical fertilizers, reduce the use of electricity, reuse things, recycle wastes, stop deforestation, save wild animals, etc to reduce the rate climate changes. Our positive steps will really help in solving environmental issues in near future. As the Minister of Forest, Environment and Ecology I will do the best for a cleaner and better environment- and your support is also very much needed – let’s work together for a greener and cleaner environment,” added Minister Rai.

MLA J R Lobo addressing the gathering said, “The condition of our environment is getting declined day by day because of the pollution and global warming. We should celebrate and promote eco-friendly development in our state and City in order to save the environment for better future. All the actions have brought a big change in this planet which resulted in many environmental problems. Increasing demand of technologies and industries in the modern time impacts the nature. The increasing invention of new technologies has changed the interaction of people with environment which permits more population to grow. The modern technologies have immense power which has altered the whole environment in an unimagined way. The indiscriminate use of the environment is the root of the ecological crisis. Such continuous increase in the technologies and human behaviour are correspondingly very serious. Such amazing technologies have become the reason of economic growth in the 20th century however it had dramatically affected the natural resources.”

He further said, ” Some of the environmental problems are rapid growth in world population, deteriorating natural resources, diminishing forests and wetlands, erosion of soil and coral reefs, depleting underground water, regular shortage of fresh drinking water, vanishing plants, etc etc. Some other issues are the loss of biodiversity, rapid extinction of some important animal species, the collapse of fisheries, rising air and water pollution, rise in atmospheric temperature, thinning of the ozone layer, spoiling rivers, seas and underground resources. Even though science and technology have radically altered the terms of adaptation to nature, we still need to adapt to the environment. Human society is embedded in an environment. We must not forget that the human being is first and foremost an animal, sharing living space with other animal species in an environment on which they are mutually dependent. It is our responsibility to save our environment and earth and make the possibility of healthy and happy life here.”

Few other dignitaries on the dais also spoke and urged the audience to help in bringing changes in the community through active participation in creating a better and cleaner Environment. The Vote of Thanks was proposed by Jayaprakash- Senior Scientific Officer at KSPCB, and the programme was compered by Rj Prasanna of Red-FM. In conclusion, Environment is the surrounding in which we live. It is the source of life. Our whole life is dependent on the environment. It directs our life and determines our proper growth and development. The good or bad quality of social life depends on the quality of our natural environment. The need of human beings for food, water, shelter and other things depends on the environment around us. There is a balanced natural cycle exists between environment and lives of human beings, plants and animals. Human society is playing a vital role in degenerating the natural environment which in turn negatively affects the lives on this planet. All the human actions in this modern world directly impact the whole ecosystem. Therefore we need to practice and make a change in our life style for a greener and cleaner environment through our initiatives and actions. Go Green!

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