GreenLine - Greener People, Greener World

4th October 2011 The Go Green Club of Don Bosco High School Borivali is ready to prove their environmental commitment. In their first session as part of the Green Schools Campaign, 27 student leaders came together to understand the problem of waste in the city, and the process of conducting a waste audit in their school. The session was marked by the students’ eager questions and intelligent comments. One of the boys summed up the issue of environmental destruction by stating that we lack a sense of ownership of and belongingness to the planet, and this pushes us humans to exploit it for monetary gain. Another student explained to the group that although we are busy chasing profits, no amount of wealth will sustain us if we exhaust Earth’s resources. The members of the Go Green Club were quick to select their leaders and form teams to conduct the waste audit. They also expressed their willingness to involve other students and teachers in environmental projects in the campus. The ...

3rd October 2011 The students of Sacred Heart High School Vashi are not only implementing green projects in their campus, but are also making sure that environmental consciousness becomes a permanent part of their school culture. In their second session on Environmental Leadership, the students of the Eco-Club presented the draft environmental policy that they have been working on. The most striking feature of the policy so far is that the draft was prepared in an entirely democratic fashion. The process began with all students from Stds. III to X participating in a competition to select the best policy suggestions. After this, the teachers selected the best suggestions, which were debated by the eco-club members and the house captains. The policy was then drafted by the eco-club. The environmental policy covers four sectors—Supplies, Waste, Energy and Events—and includes a variety of possible practices, from reusing decorations at events to having regular energy consumption report...

1 st October 2011 The first day of sunny October saw the GreenLine team at Apostolic Carmel High School. The School was participating for the first time in the Green Schools Campaign. That does not however, mean that they have not been doing a great deal for the environment already. The girls of the Nature Club here are called the “Green Giants”, and aptly so, for the work they are doing is nothing short of giant steps in little shoes. The girls have not only been promoting environmental awareness in the school itself, they actually went out into the streets, arming the local market vendors with paper bags in place of the regular polythene bags! Something like that from seventh eighth and ninth standard girls should definitely ring wake-up calls for all adults. So the activity for the month that the girls here are taking up is the waste audit. The girls want to see their school spic and span within the next one month, and start cutting out on all the excess waste they can. The g...

29 th September 2011 For 48 students of St. Joseph’s High School (Wadala), the nature trail to the Vikhroli Mangroves was a chance to make their textbook lessons come alive. The trail was conducted by the Godrej Company’s Soonabai Pirojsha Godrej Marine Ecology Centre (SPGMEC). The trail began with Mr. Hemant from the SPGMEC explaining to the students, especially those from Stds. IX and X, the characteristics of mangroves. He helped them relate the plants they were seeing in the mangrove forest to the science topics that they will soon be studying. For the younger children, the trail was an opportunity to touch the mangroves, examine caterpillars and moths, and experience nature at its unspoiled best. The hilltop view, the aquarium, the mangrove walk,  the mangrove nursery  and the exhibition at SPGMEC—all these experiences are sure to remain with the students and strengthen their commitment to preserving the natural wealth of our city. 

28th September 2011 Don Bosco Development Society’s GreenLine, an environmental endeavor, hosted a workshop for schools participating in the Green Schools Campaign, on Organic Farming on 28 September 2011. This workshop was conducted by Urban Leaves, an organization with expert understanding of how even the smallest places can be used for the propagation of a new garden. The event was attended by 15 teachers and 55 students, from 14 different schools. The event began at 10.00 a.m and continued for three hours. The resource team from Urban Leaves included Ms. Purvita Kapadia, Mr. Harshal Deshmukh and Mr. Julius Rego. Fr. Savio Silveira, director of Don Bosco Development Society introduced the resource team to the participants, and also gave to the resource team a glimpse of the objectives, work and the successes of the Green Schools Campaign. Following this, Purvita explained about the organization, and then began explaining the finer details of the work they carried out. When this w...

26 th September 2011 There are a lot of different things that we have noticed as the Green Schools Campaign has journeyed out this year. There are schools that are doing a great many number of activities and there are schools that are doing a little lesser, since they are new to the campaign. However, one thing that remains constant, through all the schools that we visit, and all the students that we interact with is the fact that everyone wants to do something, everyone wants to make a positive impact. This phenomenal attitude was seen once again today, at St. Paul's Boys' High School, Dadar.  Close to seventy students from the school, all part of the school's Eco-club, attended the first session for the Green Schools Campaign in their school. Following the GreenLine movie, the children listened attentively to all of the waste facts and figures for the city of Mumbai. The children were unanimous in saying that cleaning the city was an important prerogative and shou...

23 rd September 2011  The eco-leaders of St. Joseph’s Wadala have completed their waste audit! Our second session at this school began with the students presenting the findings of their waste audit, which was conducted over 4 days in the month of September. The students concluded that the average waste per month, from the entire school, was 286 kg. They identified food waste as the biggest problem. This was followed by paper waste and plastic waste. Further, the audit indicated that a system for segregation of waste needs to be set up and maintained. The students also interviewed their Principal Fr. Bernard regarding the waste policies of the school, and made a video recording of the interview. The Principal stated that while the school does not have an environmental policy yet, the management and students will work together to draft an Environmental Vision Statement for the school. The students also asked the Principal whether the school’s environmental initiatives can be ex...