The World Environment Day (WED), also called the Eco day, is an initiative by the United Nations Environment Programme that is celebrated every year on the 5th of June to raise global awareness to take positive environmental action to protect nature and planet Earth. To commemorate this day, week long celebrations were held in P. S. Senior Secondary School, Chennai. Students from classes 1 to 12 took part in various activities as part of the event and awareness related to various environmental issues was created among them.
The students of classes 1 to 5 had a variety of activities to create awareness on bringing back the ‘Sparrow’ into the environment. The aim of this campaign was ‘Provide, Protect and Preserve the Sparrow’.
Children from the first standard were given a sketch of a sparrow to colour. The students were full of enthusiasm and their sparrows full of bright strokes. Students from the second standard were shown a short film about the sparrow with relevant information to enhance their knowledge about this bird. The teachers talked to students of class 3 about birds as an integral part of our environment which drew an enthusiastic response from them. Initiative was taken to provide food and water for the birds.
To mark the importance of trees and plants to birds, small animals and insects, students of class 4 brought saplings of various plants and planted them in the school garden. Children of class 5 wrote an essay on the topic ‘Sparrow a beautiful bird and a sociable creature’ which will encourage them to take small steps towards the conservation of these creatures.
A class discussion was held for the students of class 6 on ‘Helping the Environment by reducing waste’. The discussion centered on different methods of efficient disposal, reduction, controlling and separating of wastes. Among various facts exchanged in class, one of the highlights was a student sharing information about steps taken by the NASA to reduce waste in space. Other subtopics like oil spillage, waste labeling, etc. were also discussed. The students, at the end of the discussion, had better awareness about possible contribution to their surroundings.
Students of class 7 wrote an essay on ‘Causes and effects of Global Warming’. The students did extensive research and they talked about the variety of causes that have led and are leading to Global Warming and their effects. Steps to prevent Global Warming were also mentioned along with creative slogans by some of the students.
Students of class 8 delivered a speech on ‘Conserve Sparrows to save Bio-Diversity’. They talked about the habitat and ecosystem of sparrows, the important role they play in our day-to-day lives and numerous simple measures that can be practiced to save these birds.
A debate on ‘Mobile towers must be removed as they have caused the decline on sparrow population’ was held in classes 9 and 10. The opposition stated various causes for the decline of the sparrow population other than mobile towers while the proposition listed several harmful consequences of these towers and some solutions to this problem were also brought to light.
The students of classes 11 and 12 conducted seminars on ‘Ways to enhance natural resilience against climate change.’ The students presented various cases and examples in nature where trees and plants were able to survive natural disasters and climate change even when a large number of the human population couldn’t. The power of Mother Nature in her capability to withstand harsh conditions was evident from their presentations.
The World Environment day celebrations were a grand success at the school and the students from all classes became more aware of several aspects of the environment and have learnt that it is their duty to appreciate and preserve nature and the benefits that come along with it.