1. Environment is You - Be The Change Group Members:Saksham AgarwalPrankurAroraNeil KakkarSahilVermaShrey Malik Period of Action – 26 Sep.- 2 Oct. School – Amity International School, Sector-43, Gurgaon, Haryana, India

3. Environmental Issues not only refer to global warming, pollution, eutrophication, etc. but also poverty, hunger, smoking, illiteracy, waste management, etc.

5. Hence, we must take action to create an environment, a symbiotic home for man and nature all together.

6. Today if there is pollution, there is illiteracy it is because of our ignorance, our carelessness, our attitude.

8. So we thought of implementing this idea as it would benefit the society altogether.

11. Interact Session We conducted various activities during the session, which made everyone shocked at the first moment, realized at the next and determined at the final, a determination to change the world. The first activity made everyone realize the difference between their ‘needs’ and ‘wants’. Our jewellery, AC’s, TV’s are our ‘wants’, but food, water , clothes are our ‘needs’. People in the world are struggling to meet their needs but some people are not yet done with their wants. As even Mahatma Gandhi said, “There is enough in the world for man's need but not for man's greed.”

12. Interact Session The second activity was about preparing a budget for a 5-member family, with their total monthly income Rs. 3,000. The results shocked everyone, especially when we compared their income with our total expenditure for a month which came to approx. 50,000! These activities sensitized the youth about the cause, made them determined to work for it.

13. Interact Session - Video

14. Forming a club We formed a club in our school - a club of, for and by the students. Through this we became a part of the WWF ‘Nature Clubs of India’. We did various other activities, had discussions and took practical action. Even after the one week, we continue to meet regularly and take practical action. We divided the club into groups, with each group covering one environmental issue. E.g. – ‘Literacy - Each One, Teach One’. This made the working systematic.

15. Forming a community In this day and age, the youth are well-connected through social networking sites. So, we also formed a group/community on Facebook, called – ‘Environment is You-Be The Change’. And guess what, the number of followers are increasing manifold day by day with international members too. We posted some videos, and are regularly organizing discussions. We also created a website – http://www.wix.com/sahilpro/designforchange to spread awareness. We have had an active response from their too.

16. JOY OF GIVING WEEK Since our period of implementation coincided with the Joy of Giving Week organized by ‘Goonj’, we decided to be a part of it. We spread the message about the week through pamphlets, announcements, etc. We ourselves gave many toys and other interesting games too. We got active response and our school and we managed to get huge cartons full of toys and why not say joy.

17. Donation campaigns We also organized donation campaigns for the people who suffered in Leh-Ladakh. We called our campaign ‘Colouring Lives – Pencil Campaign’. We asked everyone to give at least one colour pencil or any other pencil, because that one pencil could add colours to someone’s life. This was in collaboration with www.ToptoTop.org. We got such amazing responses from all over the school, that we fell short of cartons.

18. Working with NGOs We and our school worked with NGOs like ‘SWECHHA’, ‘Jamghat’, ‘WWF’. We became volunteers in their various campaigns. At the same time, people from these NGOs performed plays in our schools, did interactive sessions, held workshops and all of us had a great time. We still are in contact with them. They continue to conduct workshops in our school and together we undertake practical action.

19. We organized various campaigns too. We also became part of famous campaigns like ‘Save Our Tigers’ in collaboration with ‘Sanctuary’. Another campaign that we became a part of was the ‘WWF - Plant a Tree, Plant a Hope’. We encouraged everyone not only to adopt a tree but also nurture it. We ourselves planted many trees too. We are also looking forward to join the campaign by ‘Jamghat’ and ‘SWECHHA’.

20. Campaigns We organized signature campaigns, signing petitions, etc. including the ones online. We interacted with people in our societies, and together joined hands for the noble cause. We informed the people about various useful websites, where they can spread awareness and sign petitions like www.standagainstpoverty.org www.1billionhungry.org

21. Knowing the real side We went to the villages nearby, and interacted with the people there. The main village was ‘Kanhai’, Sector-44, Gurgaon. We got to know their condition and it was heart-rendering – many of them below poverty line. We also did a mini-census of the people there, and the results were shocking. The village represents the contrasting side of the Cyber City. People were and are struggling to meet even their needs. (a copy of the census sheet is there in the CD.) We informed the people that it is the youth today who can help the most. We spread the idea of literacy, pollution control, water conservation and people pledged not to wait for the future, rather make their own future. They decided to stand up for themselves.

22. Waste Management A major problem that our society suffers is the problem of waste management. Hence, we decided to take action about it. We collected and segregated the waste into different dustbins :- Green – Biodegradable Waste Blue – Rest Non-Biodegradable Waste Red – Plastic

23. Going Green We kept boxes, requested everyone to throw the Tetra Packs in them only and collected all the Packs. This was part of the initiative by ‘Teri’, where they shall collect the Tetra Packs from each school and recycle them. We went to Mother Dairy shops, green grocer shops and told them not to give plastic bag, rather encourage everyone to get their own bags and use a cloth bag instead of a plastic one. We discouraged people from using plastic/polythene bags and were successful to ban poybags in our society Sushant Estate& PWO.

24. Newspaper Management We also did efforts to recycle newspapers. First, we observed the condition of newspapers in each class and saw that there was a lot of wastage. So we took action. We informed the classes about the importance of paper and told them not to waste it. We appointed a monitor in each class who was responsible to make sure that there was no wastage. We set up a specific place where all waste newspapers would be kept and asked all the classes to collect all the waste newspapers and keep them at that place. From there they went to recycle. The best part was that the money that was obtained from this was used for the welfare of street children.

25. Segregating Waste Our school canteen was not a very hygienic place, so we informed everyone the importance of health and hygiene. We segregated the waste ourselves We asked everyone to throw the biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste separately.

26. Water Conservation To ensure that there was no wastage of water, we checked all the taps that were leaking, called the plumber and got the problem solved right away. We also got to know that our school had a rainwater harvesting system with 5 storage tanks. Hence we used the water to nurture plants and trees.

27. Making Leaders Through our club and various other initiative mentioned above, we also made an effort to develop leadership skills in students. We organized and continue to organize various competitions, discussions, debates and above all continue to take practical action. We as a group sensitized the youth, and motivated everyone to spread the idea of this noble cause. We calculated our carbon footprint before the action and after it…….. We could clearly see the figures drop down.

29. We got to learn many new things about environment too.

30. This competition provided us a platform to contribute our part towards this noble cause that we all are striving for.

32. Suggestions We suggest that from our hustle and bustle lives, we should take out some time to think about the world we are living in, think about the problems the so many people are suffering, pay heed to it and work for it. While we enjoy the resources and beauties of mother earth, while we acknowledge the only living beings as ourselves, we must change our attitude. We must acknowledge rather preserve rather let live other life forms as well… Everyone must share their knowledge with all and work together as members of not one community, but one family for a one mother – Mother Earth.

33. Vote of Appeal We as a team appeal to you to pay heed to your environment. We as a team appeal to you to work for it. We as a team believe that if more and more people join this movement, more and more people work for it, time is not far –

34. Vote of Appeal When This movement shall become a revolution; When This dream shall become a vision and then into a reality, When The Mother Earth shall seek back her children with the same love and affection as before; Where there shall be a smile on each face, Where every mouth is fed with food and every stomach’s hunger satisfied, Where every dry throat has water to drink, Where each person shall die a life not of disease, poverty or hunger but a life of contentment. When we shall bring down the heaven to Earth.

35. Yes I Can Potential Optimistic Organised Y Y Welfare Ubiquitous Evangelist Talented Harmonious Reliable

36. Thanks to: Riverside and ‘Designforchange’ Contest for giving us a platform to contribute our part towards this noble cause. Our mentor teacher ShaliniPurwar for her help and guidance throughout. Various NGOs with whom we worked, who conducted workshops and interacted with us. Without their help it would not have been possible. Our school authorities who gave us permission to take action in the school. Special thanks to our parents, classmates and all the students of our school for their help and cooperation throughout. Thank You