India will celebrate its 75th year of Independence on 15th August 2022. This year India will be celebrating “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav” which has five(5) themes namely Freedom Struggle, Ideas@75, Resolve@75, Actions@75, Achievements@75. The day is celebrated in every part of the country by all religions, castes, and creeds. It is a day to rejoice freedom of the country from British rule. With the periods of change, the way of celebration also has changed drastically. We need to think about its impact. Plastic balloons and plastic flags clog the drains and many livestock are harmed. We can adopt some eco-friendly ways of celebrating sustainable Independence day.
Let’s discuss some of the ideas of celebrating sustainable independence:
1. Ditch plastic balloons instead use paper decorations-
The plastic balloons that are used to decorate for a few hours remain in the soil for over 500 years. Can you imagine? There is no denying point, that the balloons are colorful, and fun to bang but the cost of wrapping our mother earth in plastic and harming lives is too high! Hence we need to find alternatives to plastic balloons. Create a DIY decoration from a newspaper cutting, color it and use it as a bunting, or streamers. Check this brand’s flat lay on the Indian map. Even you can use reusable water balloons. The crocheted water balloons are mess-free, latex-free, eco-friendly, and reusable. You need to dunk it in the water and throw it.
2.Seed-Based National Flag-
Usually, we use our national flag to show our patriotism in form of badges or gift tags on Independence day. At the end of the day, they are mostly lying on the grounds. This time let’s not do that instead grow the flags into a plant. These flags have seeds embedded in them. You just need to moisten them and sow them in the soil. It is a simple step toward a sustainable Independence day.
3.Be the waste warrior-
What’s a better deed than cleaning the garbage in your neighborhood? Charity begins at home. Hence start it from your own locality to make India – trash free. Pick the waste, segregate it into biodegradable and non-biodegradable, and put them in the bin accordingly. Install a home composter in your locality. Housekeeping collects waste from every apartment on a daily basis. Add the wet waste and other necessary additives to the composter. Let’s pledge to decrease all the nuances we create by cleaning the neighborhood.
Image credit:Hoppingsparrowdiyfest
4.Plant a sapling-
Planting a tree, shrub, or flower in your backyard can be a great way to help the environment. It’s also fun for the whole family and will get kids interested in environmental issues. You can plant saplings at home or in your neighborhood.
Image credit:Hoppingsparrowdiyfest
5.Use a real flower garland to celebrate-
Independence day is a grand reason to buy patriotic-style tri-color flowers and decorate tables, and bouquets. Purchase fresh flowers, sustainable plants, and shrubs from your locally grown store or gardens. Discard those artificial, foamiran flowers. A mixed bouquet or a flower arrangement in a basket decorated with the tricolors of the Indian flag; saffron, white and green along with a central circular blue is admirable. You can choose begonia, marigold, orange roses, orange lilies, cosmos, and cannas for the saffron color. Tulip, dahlia, petunia, hibiscus, camelia, rajanigandha(Polianthes tuberosa), Chrysanthemum for the white color, and leaves for the green color. Another idea is to bring some tri-color pots/planters to decorate the stage and ground for flag hoisting.
Image Credit:Online Pune Florist
6. Exchange Electronic greetings-
Ditch those paper greetings and choose the e-cards. It saves time and helps in deforestation. You might think that choosing one ecard will not help but always remember every bit helps. If over time more and more people switch to ecards then it will make a big difference.
The 15th of August is a great time to celebrate our country. It’s also the perfect time to recycle because we’re told to make sure that we use less and less stuff. So how can you celebrate a Sustainable Independence Day? We’ve got six ways to do just that!
