Lucknow : Aiming at significant environmental action and awareness across water (Jal), forests (Jungle), and land (Zameen), the Earth Day Summit was hosted here in Lucknow on Monday. Organised in collaboration with Aga Khan Foundation, Water Aid, Action Aid, City Montessori School, Irrigation Association of India under the aegis of the Department of Greater Sharda Sahayak Vikas Pradhikari, under the Irrigation and Water Resources, Government of Uttar Pradesh, the summit was themed around ‘Planet vs Plastic : Harmony in Action with Jal, Jungle, Zameen’.
The summit was inaugurated by Dr Heera Lal, Special Secretary, Irrigation and Water Resources and Chairman and Administrator, Greater Sharda in the presence of Raj Kumar, Managing Director, Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), Uttar Pradesh, Padma Shri Sudha Singh (Rae Bareli), Prof Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, President, City Montessori School and Rajeev Yadav, Additional Commissioner, Greater Sharda, Government of Uttar Pradesh. Journalists from over 50 districts of Uttar Pradesh representing print, electronic, radio and digital media attended the summit as the audience.
Addressing the gathering, Dr Heera Lal said creating awareness of strategies for environmental sustainability should be one of the focus areas of journalists. While calling upon the media persons from different districts, he further said that spreading awareness about plastic is our collective responsibility and media can play the most important role in this campaign. He said that every person should produce as much oxygen as he is consuming, and must plant at least five trees to take good care of Mother Earth too.
Speaking on this occasion, Padma Shree Sudha Singh stressed on the need of water and called for reducing the use of plastic. Prof Geeta Gandhi Kingdon stressed on the need to eliminate plastic waste. Sharing the global perspective on climate change, she pointed out the need to clean the waste dumped in rivers, ponds etc., which is polluting the environment.
Rajeev Yadav, Additional Commissioner said that the present era has become like a plastic era. Citing an international report, he said that micro plastics and plastic chemicals are entering the human body and making them sick. Due to plastic chemicals, diseases like brain hemorrhage, heart attack and paralysis attack are occurring. Plastic is a slow poison, which is affecting both human health and the health of the earth.
Raj Kumar, Managing Director, Swachh Bharat Mission, highlighted that we need to not only respect nature, but also actively contribute to uplift it. He focused on bringing up the groundwater levels and encouraged the audience that planting more trees is an important aspect of tackling climate change.
On the occasion, Sanjay R Bhoosreddy, Chairman UP-RERA, Arun Sinha, Former Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Uttar Pradesh, Padma Shri Ram Saran Verma (Barabanki), Padma Shri Babulal Dahiya (Satna), Sudhir Mishra, Resident Editor, Nav Bharat Times, Pranhsu Mishra, Resident Editor, Hindustan Times, Ashutosh Shukla, State Editor, Dainik Jagran also shared their views on the need to protect the Earth’s natural resources for future generations.
The summit featured four insightful panel discussions led by a diverse group of panelists from various sectors on the theme ‘Planet Vs Plastic’, ‘JAL: Innovative Approaches to Water Conservation’, ‘JUNGLE: Protecting Trees and Nurturing them into Oxygen Factories’ and ‘ZAMEEN: Protecting Land and Conserving Soil’. The discussions were moderated by Saurabh Lall, CEO, Model Gaon, Arpit Gupta, Assistant Editor, The Economic Times, Ebha Singh, Ghar Aayi Ek Nanhi Pari Foundation, and Om Singh, Chaitanya Foundation.
Meanwhile, a district-level workshop was also observed in 55 local offices of Greater Sharda Sahayak Vikas Pradhikari. These workshops were attended by department officers, environmentalists, policymakers and journalists.
