Thinking, Reflecting and Acting for a Sustainable Habitat (T.R.A.S.H) Festival 2015
We most certainly would take the leisure to make our list of complaints about the way our environment is being exploited. But seldom do we take the leisure to enjoy the good things that the earth provides us with. Seldom do we even talk or learn about the little initiatives taken towards making our environment better.
Under the aegis of Project SEARCH, a TERI-TETRA PAK initiative, the annual T.R.A.S.H (Thinking, Reflecting and Acting for a Sustainable Habitat) festival is one of the few initiatives towards celebrating all that is good on earth. The event provides a platform to students, teachers and social and environmental entrepreneurs to learn, teach and enjoy the little ways of living sustainably by inculcating the habit of reuse, reduce, and recycle.
The T.R.A.S.H festival was organized in Bengaluru on February 11, 2015 at the TERI, Southern Regional Centre. This one-day event is generally the most awaited event amongst the students and teachers of project member schools. This year the festival witnessed a participation of more than 300 students and 35 teachers from 22 schools spread across the city. The festival also hosted a green mela whereby various NGOs and social entrepreneurs such as Silver Nut Tree, Parikrama Centre for Learning, Samvit Sudha were invited to display their work and activities as well as to make a sale.
As the gates opened for registration at 8.30 am, the silent campus soon resounded with the hustle and bustle of students and teachers as they prepared themselves for various competitions and workshops.
The inaugural of this august occasion began at 9.30 am. The inaugural session began with a lamp lighting ceremony in the presence of the Chief Guest Dr Ayi Vaman Acharya, Chairman KSPCB, Mr PR Dasgupta, Fellow and Director of TERI-SRC, and Mrs Ranjana Saikia, Director of Educating Youth for Sustainable Development Division, TERI. The special address by the Chief Guest gave much food for thought to the students and teachers. His speech gave the much-needed motivation and encouragement to the young torchbearers who have assumed the responsibility of protecting and conserving the environment. The inaugural session concluded with a melodious self-composed song on waste by the students of BGS National Public School.
Post the inaugural session, students and teachers dispersed to the respective venues for the inter-school competitions and workshops on 'Entrepreneurship for Sustainability'. This sensitization workshop was the highlighted event of T.R.A.S.H 2015. The workshop was organized for both the teachers and students of Classes IX-XII.
The inter-school competitions organized included T.R.A.S.H Couture, Tetra Pak Carton Relay, and Badge Designing. In T.R.A.S.H Couture, students were seen redefining fashion by making creative costumes from waste materials such as newspaper, milk packets, old clothes, and tetra pak cartons. In the Tetra Pak Carton relay, students in teams of four raced to the finish line after completing the steps of cutting, cleaning, and collecting used tetra pak cartons. Students participating in the badge designing competition wore their creative caps and made beautiful badges with some witty slogans that gave the judges a tough time choose the best of the best.
In the second half of the day, students and teachers participated in various hands-on activities. These included CD Rom, bottle painting, and jewellery making from used tetra pak cartons. The activities were conducted by social and environmental entrepreneurs - Ms Devika Krishnan of Studio Sattva, Mrs Aparna Vinod of Craft Caravan, and Ms Suvidha of the Nagarjuna Vidyaniketan School.
The one-day festival concluded with the prize distribution ceremony in the presence of Mrs Ranjana Saikia, Director of Educating Youth for Sustainable Development, TERI. Winners were awarded with certificates and book vouchers.