Alva’s, residents join hands for beach cleanup, environmental awareness at Hejamadi

Mangaluru: A beach-cleanup drive was hosted on Sunday at Hejamadi estuary beach by Alva’s Education Foundation and residents of Moodbidri area.

Shashidhara Shetty of the National Environmental Concern Federation told a joint gathering of Alva’s and families, children and parents that guarding environmental cleanliness must become a daily responsibility for everyone, not a one-day exercise, and that children need an attitude of care and duty from the earliest years.

The distinctive drive, he said, was organised to create cleanliness and environmental awareness. “People had not assembled only to clean the beach. They had come to acquaint children with the actual condition of the surroundings, with responsible disposal of articles in use, and with the importance of protecting nature. Concern grows more when children see that condition in the midst of nature itself than when they meet it only on a printed page,” he said.

“Plastic, glass, foam and other objects collected on the beach should be regarded as resources that can be sorted and reused, not merely as garbage. Proper segregation and disposal from the home would allow most of that material to be reused or reprocessed,” he added.

Absence of an adequate disposal system and public neglect, he said, are sending such objects onto beaches, into rivers and into water sources. “A sound waste system must function effectively in every gram panchayat. Collecting refuse at the origin from each house and separating dry waste from wet waste would greatly reduce dumping in public places. Otherwise people will go on throwing and environmental workers will go on clearing, which he compared to covering a disease with a bandage instead of removing its root. Prevention before the problem appears is more important than remedy after it appears,” he concluded.

Vivek Alva, trustee of Alva’s Education Foundation, said that the group had met for a purpose larger than sanitation work. “The attempt was to show the next generation the environment’s real condition directly and, from today, to raise awareness about cleanliness and conservation. Children should think of the surroundings as part of their own home. Genuine environmental concern takes form only when the feeling of our house, our town, our environment and our earth grows in them,” he said.

“Conservation is every family’s responsibility, not only that of government or of a few environmental workers. Involving children in such programmes can develop a habit of cleanliness and also responsibility, social concern and a relationship with nature. Cleanliness campaigns must therefore become campaigns that change attitude, not only exercises in removing refuse. Environment-friendly conduct followed by elders in the family affects children directly, so awareness should begin at home,” he added.

Family members and children joined the cleanliness work on the beach, collected various kinds of waste and separated them.

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The Hans India