POLLUTION DUE TO FESTIVALS

INTRODUCTION
I have selected this topic to highlight the impacts on environment due to festival celebration.
To develop awareness among people to save our planet from various bad impacts of festivals.
Due to celebration of festivals , pollution is increasing which is having many impacts on environment.
Pollution prevention is any practice that reduces, eliminates or prevents pollution at its source. Pollution
prevention is also known as source reduction .It is the ounce-of-prevention approach waste management.
Reducing the amount of pollution produced means less waste to control, treat or dispose of. Low level
pollution means less hazardous to public health and the environment.
Pollution prevention reduces both financial costs (waste management and cleanup)and environmental costs
(health problems and environment damage).Pollution prevention protects the environment by conserving
and protecting natural resources while strengthening economic growth through more efficient production
in industry and less need for households business and communities to handle waste.
The healthier the environment the healthier the living beings. India is a land where the life of the people is
beautiful. Festivals are celebrated as a mark of changing seasons end of harvesting or as honors to gods and
goddesses. Festivals are also celebrated as birth anniversary of saints, gurus and prophets.

Diwali is called as festival of lights. It is very widely celebrated festival in India. The celebration signifies end
of darkness and is celebrated by bursting crackers. Unfortunately, every year the quantum of air and noise
pollution caused due to bursting of fire crackers increases in Diwali. Fire crackers releases pollutants in air
such as carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, etc which causes ailments like asthma and
bronchitis.

Holi is a religious Spring festival celebrated by Hindus. Holi is also known as festival of colors. The colors used
in Holi are full of toxic chemicals. The natural colors are now replaced with chemical hosed ones which are
harmful to soil and cause soil pollution. Moreover wood is used for bonfire and huge amount of water is
wasted for playing holi and then washing the colors off the body and clothes.
Using fire crackers in large amount causes a lot of noise pollution. Fire crackers produce sound which is much
higher than the decibels tolerable for humans, animals and plants.
Since everyone can see that festivals are a religious thing but no one thinks about the harmful
effects, its causes on our environment. Bursting fire crackers on Diwali, submerging idols on Ganesh
chhaaturthi etc. are clearly polluting our air and water. Thus my project has the points that have harmful
impacts on our environment.

IMPORTANCE OF THE TOPIC

Several states have announced permissible limit on bursting of fire crackers and use of loud speakers and
loud musical instrument played during festivals to reduce noise and air pollution. Ganpati celebrations and
Durga puja follow the tradition to immerse idols in water bodies. In the early days these idols were made of
natural substance like clay and natural dyes but now- a- days they are made up of plaster of Paris and
harmful chemical dyes. Celebrating festival is fun but we should also keep in mind to keep the world a
better place for the next generation to live. The environment is the natural world which consists biotic and
abiotic components. Therefore, it is the surrounding that affect the behavior and development of a living
being. The surroundings that affect the abiotic components of nature too like air, water, light, soil etc.
Human beings are the products of environment .They are an important factor in the environment. It is the
environment that helps us for our survival, growth, development, reproduction and health. No creature’s
existence is possible without the balance of the natural elements. Thus, there must be a healthy
environment for our sound living. The healthier the environment the happier the living beings including
humans. However, knowing that the environment should be clean, healthy and non polluted, the large scale
celebrations of various festivals have degraded the quality of environment.
The practice of immersion of Ganesh idols after Ganpati festival in various cities is causing a severe water
pollution which leads to the death of tones in of fish and many aquatic creatures. The immersion of Durga
statues during Durga pooja is also a cause of concern for environmentalist in West Bengal and Orissa. In
Orissa alone 5,000 Durga pooja idols are made of which most of them are painted by harmful paints.
Diwali is one of the important festivals in India has the distinction of polluting the environment to the core.
New borns and aged people have a high threshold experience because of the high levels of sound caused by
crackers during Diwali .Noise pollution on Diwali is between 69.7db and 88.3db which are higher than the
prescribed limit of 50 db. The decibel levels alarmingly high in metros and it may reach up to 1000db the
government police pollution control boards are suggesting many alternative ways to celebrate festivals
which do not pollute the environment. Even strict and stringent crackers such as atom bombs, hydrogen
bombs, bullet bombs thousand and ten thousand walls but it all solely depends on the “change of mind”.

OBJECTIVES:
1. To learn how to reduce pollution in our environment that is caused due to festivals.
2. To start using eco-friendly products to pave way for a healthier and more sustainable environment.
3. To learn how different festivals have bad impact on our environment.
4. To learn what can be done to reduce the pollution in our environment.
5. To learn that festivals can be celebrated without polluting our environment.
6. To provide an incentive for manufacturers and importers to reduce adverse environmental impact of
products.
7. To reward genuine initiatives by companies to reduce adverse environmental impact of their
products.
8. To assist consumers to become environmentally responsible in their daily lives by providing
information to take account of environmental factors in their purchase decisions.
9. To encourage citizens to purchase products which have less harmful environmental impacts .
10. To improve the quality of the environment and to encourage the sustainable management of
resources.

PROJECT METHODOLOGY: -
1) Survey method
Questionnaire was used. I asked questions to the 10 people living in Shankar Bhavani area of society Sai Laxmi
about the problems they are experiencing due to the pollution in the area created by celebration of festival.

Following are the questions:-

1) Do you think the idols are polluting the river?
2) Do you think Diwali causes a lot of air pollution?
3) Do you think fire crackers be banned?
4) Does Holi result in wastage of water?
 5) Do you think the instruments played during vissarjan create a lot of noise pollution?
6) Should government implement laws for reducing the impact of festivals on environment?
7) Do you think that the way of celebrating festivals is changing with time?
8) By preventing celebration of festivals will it benefit our environment in any way?
9) Should we citizens be blamed for the nuisance created during the festival times?

Observation:
I observed that people held different views regarding the topic and reacted accordingly. I used graphical
method to show the responses of each question.

Observation Table:
Q. No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes No
2 Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
3 Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes
4 No No Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes
5 No Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No
6 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No
7 Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No
8 No No Yes No No No Yes Yes No Yes
9 No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes

ANALYSIS:
I used graphical method to show peoples responses. People held different regarding the topic and reacted
accordingly.

CONCLUSION
 The above hypothesis is true that due to festival celebration many problems are created and they are
having adverse effects on our environment my research suggested that some people are very concerned
about it and are taking steps to prevent it while some only blame the government for it. Some people
suggested that we can avoid bursting crackers and doing things that are affecting our environment we can
celebrate festivals in a simple way too while some were quite conservative about their festival celebration
method (way).

After discussing what could be the solutions for reducing pollution during festivals we have come to know
about various remedies which are listed as below:

1. Instead of individual celebration prefer community celebration. This will ensure reduced cost of
celebration; paper pollution in a limited space and as compared to individual celebration, community
celebration will cause less air and noise pollution.
2. Even while celebrating commonly make sure that you limit your celebration for a certain time period.
Time your celebration can last for maximum 3 to4 hours.
3. Instead of selecting traditional chemical crackers, this Diwali go for eco- friendly crackers.
Eco friendly crackers are made up of recycled paper and the sound produced by these
crackers is under the decibel limit defined by the pollution board. These crackers produce paper
fluffers and different color lights instead of sound bursting.
4. Instead of electric illumination go for traditional lightening of earthen lamps or diyas. This will
not only enhance the beauty of house but will also cut down the enormous electric consumption.
Though earthen lamps need oil but the quantity is less and it gives light for at least 3-4 hours.
5. Cut down your shopping list and avoid purchasing of unwanted and unnecessary things this
Diwali. Excessive consumerism is directly related to the consumption of raw material used to
manufacture those things. Excessive consumerism increases the undue pressure on the natural
resources.
6. Instead of buying “one time use” items go for recyclable things secondly while cleaning your
home instead of disposing things it is better to give it to under privilege people.