ALL PERSONAL celebrations need to be eco-friendly. It is easier said than done, for it is our personal celebrations that make us do more ecologically harmful acts than any other events, say social functions, religious occasions or at times of cultural undertones. They come less frequently than these personal occasions.

Every day is a special day for someone, and someone is celebrating it somewhere in ways, both eco-friendly as well as polluting the environment. As it is very difficult to make a social or religious occasion less harmful to the environment, I think it is a wise idea to take the initiative in our strides and make our personal occasions an opportunity to be eco-friendly and eco-educative.

Birthdays, marriage anniversaries, convocations, promotions, first employment, first salary, retirement, foreign tours, scholarships and similar personal occasions could be an individual platform to inculcate an eco-culture in the community. We could do it by simply adopting bio-friendly materials, ecologically sustaining eating habits and encouraging energy management initiatives.

Celebrating occasions during day, preferring healthy natural drinks to aerated canned and pressure packed beverages, avoid eating junk food, cracking less fireworks, and not spoiling the soil by littering it with wastes and exerting less pressure on the power grid will make the environment less polluted. And there are many other options depending upon the nature, importance and magnitude of the function being celebrated. Why can’t we plant a sapling on all our personal occasions? Why can’t we tell our kids that it’s their personal occasions and all their deeds adds to the surroundings they live in?

One thing is for sure, if people feel that being educated individuals everyone has a moral responsibility to sustain the environment we live in, there are not many platforms and venues than those personal occasions that happen in our daily lives. As it is a daily affair in someone’s life somewhere, there is a room for initiating a great change towards environmental protections. So why can’t we make our personal celebrations more eco-friendly and our happy times as healthy times, both for us and for the environment. It is a wise idea I believe.