‘Time to promote green ideas among youth’

Divya Sharma

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 22

As mother Earth faces a grave environmental threats such as man-made and natural disasters, many residents, schools and organisations in the city are taking steps to encourage young minds to adopt a sustainable living.

Many educational institutions and social organisations have been advocating setting up vertical gardens across the city to promote green space. FICCI FLO’s city chapter has also been making efforts to encourage the idea of sustainable development.

Chairperson FICCI FLO’s city chapter Arushi Verma said: “It is important that our youngsters not only understand but realise the gravity of the situation. I have introduced the concept of Panchvati, a collection of auspicious trees for my children.”

“FICCI Flo is helping residents create vertical gardens at their spaces and distributing seeds balls at public events. The aim is to increase our outreach to promote the idea of sustainable development,” She added.

Some educational institutes have adopted rain water harvesting and taken eco-friendly measures such as replacing bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps, promoting green plants. Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) has introduced cycles on rent and banned entry of four-wheelers on the campus to curb pollution.

Khalsa College has installed 14 rainwater harvesting points on its campus. Local BBK DAV College for Women had also installed rainwater harvesting system, besides setting up vertical gardens and a terrace garden having medicinal plants to help students understand the need for greens.

Elaborating on practical measures to be adopted by residents for a greener environment Professor Adarsh Pal Vig from the Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences, GNDU, said: “The concept of recycling of products must be adopted in our daily lives. People must learn to re-use things at their places. It has been noticed that there has been an overuse of plastic and packaged items in our homes. Harmful gases produced by these are dangerous for us, especially in the wake of poor ventilation. We need to go back to our roots.”