Nicodemus Wilderness Project
Nicodemus Wilderness Project
About Us Projects Education Links Volunteers Membership  
Nicodemus Wilderness Project

 
 

NWP Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists - Kathmandu, Nepal

« ++ ·
http://www.wildernessproject.org/apprentice_ecologist/data/500/thumbs/15568155681556815568155681556815568155681556815568NWP.jpg
<<
http://www.wildernessproject.org/apprentice_ecologist/data/500/thumbs/15517155171551715517155171551715517155171551715517YFMP1.JPG
<
http://www.wildernessproject.org/apprentice_ecologist/data/500/thumbs/15519155191551915519155191551915519155191551915519581972_435235293174078_1855238969_n.jpg
·
http://www.wildernessproject.org/apprentice_ecologist/data/500/thumbs/15491154911549115491154911549115491154911549115491Apprentice_Ecologist1.JPG
>
http://www.wildernessproject.org/apprentice_ecologist/data/500/thumbs/15445154451544515445154451544515445154451544515445After_1.JPG
>>
· ++ »

Kathmandu, Nepal
(Click on photo to view larger image)

deepakd92



Registered: October 2013
City/Town/Province: kathmandu
Posts: 1
View this Member's Photo Gallery
Urbanization of a city results to population growth due to rise in demand and the process of suppliers working to fulfill these demands. Kathmandu City also the capital of the country has been witness to this phenomenon with huge growth in population and with it shops and outlets catering to the rising demand of the population. In recent years, the practice of offering poly bags when selling goods by outlets has resulted to the use of polythene bags to such an extent that you can see litter of poly bags everywhere. Convenience has overtaken the care for environment by the consumers. The cost factor of polythene bags which are negligible to those made of paper and cloth has resulted to the wide use of it whereas the effects of this practice have resulted to an alarming waste management nightmare. Day by day the piles of poly bags along with other garbage produce by the multiplying population is overriding the capacity that the government and concerned authority can manage it and dispose it. Disposing of poly bags is close to impossible as it is not biodegradable and damages the soil’s capacity to produce.
Due to lack of proper solid waste management services in Kathmandu Valley, plastic bags cause sewage and drainage blockage causing flooding which then is a danger to public health. People resort to burning plastic which increases toxicity in the atmosphere causing respiratory problems. Degradation of soil which results in less fertility and crops is caused by plastic that is thrown away anywhere and everywhere. On the other hand the people have developed deeply ingrained habits of using plastic bags because there is no affordable alternative to cheap plastic. Several short term advantages of plastic makes it difficult for people to give up the habit of using plastic. For example, plastic bags are light, easy to carry, cheap for shopkeepers to give out for free to customers, and water proof which makes them multipurpose.


It would be being too optimistic to dream of totally eradicating the use of poly bags but it is also not right to be a pessimist and wait for the earth to die due to negligence of this age creating a dangerous environment for the future generations. Thus a planned and positive approach to generate awareness then educating the masses and impacting the people to learn to respect the nature, practice environmentally friendly behavior and generate a sense of belongingness as well as responsibility to preserve the environment to ensure a better environment than the one we are presently living in would be a working plan of this project.
Firstly the SAYS team targeted Buddhist community because regular offerings at religious places with items that are plastic wrapped and put in plastic bags means they are polluted with lots of plastic bags. INGOs such as WWF have started seeking cooperation from spiritual traditional leaders to strengthen the environment protection movement. Amongst these His Holiness Karmapa and His Holiness SakyaTrizin have emerged strong proponents, encouraging thousands of followers worldwide to become eco friendly. There is a strong Buddhist community in Nepal, in particular in Kathmandu. SAYS 2012 Nepal team had chosen to work through the Karmapa Environment network to reach out to several thousand followers and promote 3Rs of plastic use through its 26 strong institutional members and that was quite fruitful while working. This had helped people of this community to work responsibly in this sector which is somehow more sustainable approach of educating people.
Similarly Pharping town is well known for its Hindu worship spots. Here the offerings and the plastic wrappings create massive amounts of garbage. The plastic waste can be seen there which had been ruining the religious place and it was very necessary to aware people about the plastic bags creating harmful effect in their society. Local organizations, youth clubs and students would be encouraged to continue through the introduction of this simple but innovative idea.
Inculcating healthy and disciplined approach to 3Rs regarding plastic bags among children would be much more effective and fruitful because they take a more principled stand. Simple, do-able solutions such as the 3 pledges will make it attractive for the students to follow. In cases where they are schools of the SAYS 2012 Nepal team monitoring of cases would be feasible.
So due to these necessities we the SAYS team of Nepal brought out the campaign called “Plastic Bags Stop with me”.


Phase I
Implement “Plastic Bags Stop with Me Campaign” in religious institution
On 26th June, during His Holiness 17th Karmapa Orgyen ThinleyDorje’s Birthday among monks, nuns and lay Buddhist community. The 17th Karmapa is a strong and influential proponent of environment protection among the Buddhist community worldwide. More than 1500 devotees visited Dilyak Monastery on the day and the SAYS team took advantage of this event, so simultaneously while the CAP proposal was being processed; the team approached potential sponsors for partial or full sponsorship of the activity. We got a good support from different organizations which became very valuable assets during the campaign.Activities done in the Boudha included:



• An Eco Friendly Model Tshog (offering)
Devotees come with offerings that they usually bring in plastic bags. Many offering items are also plastic packaged. HH the 17th Karmapa has emphasized the need to make such events eco-friendly. SAYS 2012 team assembled an eco-friendly Tshog (which uses minimum plastic) and promoted such offerings among the devotees for which the people responded very positively.
• SAYS team offered eco friendly bags in exchange of plastic bags and at the same time encouraged all visitors to use eco friendly bags in the future.
• Visitors were encouraged to sponsor as many eco friendly bags as possible and channel the contributions as seed fund for giving continuity to further production and use of eco friendly bags in a sustainable manner. The team successfully collected about seven thousands rupees as a seed fund which the team donated the Monastery for their similar initiative.
• Creative and practical reuses of plastic bags were demonstrated by our partner organizations Himalayan Roots to Fruits and Pragya Seeds.
• Produced attractive wall hangings of 10 main points from HH Karmapa’s 108 guidelines on Environment protection was complied and offered to visitors for fund raising as seed fund for disseminating these guidelines in the future.
• SAYS 2012 team made a three component pledge as their lifelong commitment to 3R’s of plastic bag use.
• These pledges were printed on flex posters which was displayed and distributed to monasteries, schools and local organizations.
We did this campaign in Boudha because we had a good reason, we wanted people to take the environment thing seriously and we wanted to treat that as a daily routine. This was possible only by making people responsible through their beliefs and religions.


Phase II
July 13: “Plastic Bags Stop With Me” Rally: Collaboration with Karmapa Social Service and Karmapa Environment Network to Promote Use of Eco Friendly Bags



The Karmapa Social Service and Karmapa Environment Network organized a mass rally on July 13th, 2012 around the Patan area of lalitpur to raise awareness and promote the use of eco friendly bags instead of plastic bags. SAYS 2012 Nepal team had joined in the event as an organizing partner. SAYS 2012 Nepal team cooperated by taking part in the rally and also by contributing in making of eco friendly bags.
The event saw a big crowd joining the rally from different organizations and schools and similarly a huge response of local people there. We distributed eco-friendly bags along with eco friendly message contained materials to the people on the street, at shops and in houses. At the end of the rally in Jawalakhel there was a street drama based on environment protection theme performed and there was also a Break Dance Performance too which attracted hundreds of people.


The organizations who took part in the rally were Karmapa Environment Network, Karmapa Social Service, Himalayan Roots to Fruits, Pragya Seeds Nepal, Nuns’ Welfare Foundation and SAYS 2012.






Phase III
Pharping Mela: “Plastic Bags Stop with Me”


Phase IV
“Plastic Bags Stop with me” Sharing


In order to raise awareness among the students the SAYS 2012 Nepal team had a sharing session in different schools of Kathmandu valley.
1. The presentation we made in different schools generally focused on the following areas:
• Overall information on SAYS program and its objectives
• Experience of the US visit and training we had there
• CAP preparation
• Need for movement to reduce, reuse and recycle plastic bags
• Role of students in this campaign and the impact they can create
2. Presented the Pledge flex scroll to the schools with request for it to be displayed in a prominent place.
3. We also had signature campaign where we collected signatures of students who made pledge of not using the plastic bags. This reflected the commitment the students have in saving the environment.
4. Similarly we also made a documentary regarding this and shared among the students of different schools. And also we have a documentary uploaded on YouTube: link???.
The schools we shared our story and the CAP were Budhanilkantha School, Advance academy, other schools of Madhyapur and pharping.





Strengths and accomplishments of your project
We were able to involve a wider range of people from different religions and different age groups, ranging from students to adults and elderly people from different places in and around the Kathmandu valley. This project directly reached out to approximately 5000 people including students, teachers and parents from different schools, local people of Pharping, Boudha, Budhanilkantha, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur district. Furthermore, this project applied efforts to correct some traditional and religious practices which are detrimental to human health and the environment. The use of plastic bags while giving out Tshog, i.e. a religious offering was discouraged and people were asked to use eco-friendly bags. Similarly, the presentation about the creative things that can be done out of plastic wastage was influential.




The outcomes of our program are:
• The targeted population in three districts within Kathmandu Valley is aware of easy ways of contributing to reducing use of plastic bags; they are aware that the initiative needs to be taken at personal level alongside promotion among larger number of people.
• Sharing was done in different schools of Kathmandu valley.
• We collected seed fund for Dilyak Monastary in Boudha for its environmental protection initiatives which has helped them.
• A club of Budhanilkantha School (Students For Change) have started follow up activities in Budhanilkantha and had started working on it.
• The total number of people we reached out to include:
Boudha Program: around 1700
Rally in Lalitpur district: 3000+
Pharping mela: 1300
Total number of School students during our sharing: 3000+
We got positive response from our communities which encouraged us to strive for better performances.
Date: October 15, 2013 Views: 4930 File size: 28.2kb, 61.2kb : 403 x 403
Hours Volunteered: 1050
Volunteers: 7
Authors Age & Age Range of Volunteers: 17 & 16 to 29
Area Restored for Native Wildlife (hectares): 5
Native Trees Planted: 20
Print View