Circular School Eco Club

Several single use plastic products were banned in India, effective from 1st July. This is what we had in  mind when we launched our 21 day #makanakaplastic programme at Panjim market last month. The idea was to give the people a replacement for plastic before it goes on the black market. Show them all their options, let them do the weighing. Shortly after the campaign, we started our  'Borrow a Bag' programme, where we sell #makanakaplastic bags to vendors, who can then give them to customers on deposit. The response has been amazing!  While the ban may not be very well executed, and single use plastic is still everywhere, the awareness amongst the vendors is so exciting to see! We actually interacted with a vendor, Nitin who was very passionate about the environment and already had his own bags on rent at his shop. He started the same concept as us, 15 days earlier.  Other feedback that we received is that even if the customers take their pulses in large reusable b...

Today's climate collective course section was on waste. Specifically, municipal solid waste. What was especially interesting is the HSR unit in Bangalore and how they have a decentralized system of waste collection and segregation. Compost is made from wet waste in a community pit and can be picked up by anyone who needs compost.  I think this is a glowing example of how waste management can be done in an efficient no nonsense way, where members of the community also benefit by indirectly being incentivised to grow produce organically (with free compost)  It's a win-win-win

We went to Pilar today to meet a very interesting Principal - Fr. Pio from Fr. Angel's High School. We're looking into schools to approach with our curriculum on nature education and I was referred to Fr. Pio by someone who had only good things to say about him - he loves working with kids, loves farming and getting his hands dirty, is very enthusiastic about non-textbook learning, etc.  This felt like an obvious decision.  We went there and instantly saw the fruits of Fr. Pio's labour - a large greenhouse with all sorts of vegetables and fruits, potted plants with leafy greens everywhere and a little field for growing cash crops, all in the vicinity of this very little school campus.  The meeting couldn't have gone better. Fr. Pio was excited about everything we wanted to do, and particularly keen on starting an eco club where we could do sessions once or twice a week. What we do next, is design a proposal with budgets and meet again next week. Fingers crossed. 

Today's session for the Climate Collective course was an introduction to circular economy. What stood out to me was one part in particular where they spoke about landfills as the antithesis to circular economy.  They mentioned that methane emissions from landfills account for 15% of total methane emissions in the US. This is an aspect I had never considered. Landfills are not only responsible for soil and water degradation, but also air?? And most methane emissions are from compostable resources. Resources that could have been used to create black gold, which can be sold at a good profit to grow healthy plants bearing good fruit are instead being dispersed into our air as toxic, ozone layer depleting gases?  This segued into the next point: we're running out of landfill space at the same rate that we're running out of natural resources.  Every resource we've ever used still exists somewhere. And most of these resources had the capacity to exist in forms that could have ...

I just started this new course by Climate Collective on Circular Economy because I thought it might help with my project this year. I didn't expect it to be as thorough as it was. It gives a brief on the IPCC report and the Paris Agreement. It's nice to see all the goals put forward by various countries but it makes you think about the difference between how much of an impact we need to make and how much we're doing. There's so much money going into this from developed countries, but do they know where the money's going? Or is it just another item to check off a list? In India's NDC (nationally determined contributions, linked here: https://vikaspedia.in/energy/environment/climate-change/indias-intended-nationally-determined-contribution) we've promised afforestation efforts but I know for a fact the state of affairs here in Goa itself, with the new airport coming up. Thousands of trees are being cut for an airport that no one wants, and conducting statew...

This process was a little daunting for me in the beginning. I don't have much experience in education and absolutely none in designing curriculums. When I got accepted to do the YouCAN Earth Educators Fellowship, and got invited to Tamil Nadu for the initiation workshop, I was certain that I'd be expected to have something of a plan in place. But all I had was a list of activities that I thought would be a fun integration of nature and waste.  Then we went for the workshop, which was easily one of the best experiences of my life. And for my curriculum, it taught me one thing - structure is important. If anything, it's important to have structure so you know how to break it.  When I left from the workshop, I had one day in Mysore to myself. And that was the first thing I did. Thought about structure. What does it mean? And also, instead of reinventing the wheel, would it be possible to take inspiration from any other well designed programmes?  That's when it hit me - use...

Today we went to a school and to the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation to do a street play for #makanakaplastic (our campaign to end single use plastic in Goa) to spread the word about the evils of single use plastic. The street play was well received in the school, with students yelling 'makanakaplastic' and 'amkanakaplastic' (I don't want plastic, we don't want plastic) along with us at the end. Which was so nice to see! This was, however, in stark contrast to the ONGC, where our street play was followed by complete silence. I guess that's the reaction you want from Oil and Natural Gas 💁 Learning about fires, ONGC Post Street play scenes at Mount Mary HSS  Performing in front of a VERY tough crowd

This weekend I thought I'd spend some time with Community Classroom based in Dona Paula to get to know a little more about other spaces that do nature based learning for kids. I was told that it would be a field visit to a farm followed by a trek to the nearby waterfall. I had no idea that my idea of what a field trip was, was so off base. We spent the better half of the day getting cold and wet and covered in mud. We took off our footwear to make it easier to walk and my feel sunk right into the mud with every step. In this state we dug small trenches for water, made holes to plant seeds in and learnt how the farm does grafting for mango saplings. Learning about soil At the end of our work, we were rewarded with a trek to Pal waterfall. I have never been made more aware of how little I know of the outdoors. The kids were racing in front of me, running through slippery wet mud, rain, strong water currents, and steep descents. I felt like a baby who doesn't know how to use their...