ACTIVITES DURING THE PAST FEW MONTHS
1. DEAN Programme- August 9,1999
Under the auspices of CLEAN (Community Led Environment Action Network), an NGO promoting community participation in environmental conservation, students from Vasundhara participated in its DEAN (Delhi Environment Action Network) programme.
Along with A Member Of DEAN and Mrs. Jyoti Venkatesh, students went all around the city and tested water samples for various pollution indicators. After the tests, the results were announced to the other Nature Club members and the procedure was also explained. A summary of water pollution levels around the city was also thus prepared.
2. Millennium Young People’s Congress Competition, August 24,1999
Our students were invited by WWF-India under their NCI (Nature Clubs of India) movement, to participate in a national contest for selection of delegates and activists to the Millennium Young People’s Congress, Hawaii, October 1999.
Organized by Peace Child International, UK and YES (Youth for Environmental Service), USA, this event brought together more than 700 youth from over 103 countries together in Hawaii between October 21-30 to formulate youth priorities and solutions for the new millennium.
In the Delhi region contest, our school emerged with flying colours. Out of the eight best speakers chosen in Delhi region, four were from our school including Divya Chopra, Aditi Rao, Prashant Verma and Dhruv Malhotra. After the formal interviews Dhruv was selected as one of the two national delegates from 50,000 children from all across the country, Divya tied for third position and Aditi and Prashant were awarded encouragement prizes. One of the nine activists also going to the congress, Anika Singh was also from our school.
3. Energy Conservation Movement, September 22,1999
Under the activities of WWF-India’s NCI (Nature Clubs of India) Movement of which we are members, an energy conservation campaign has been started. Initiated by the Ministry of Power, this movement is intended to involve youth in the Herculean task of conserving our depleting energy resources.
Ms. Mandip Sukhija, the senior physics teacher, is supervising this movement. The first activity undertaken was a survey of home appliances and
summarizing the energy consumption of an average domestic household. The students are then going to design a house, which makes optimum use of all resources available relative to appliances in the house. The plan will subsequently be presented to an architect who shall use the suggestions of the students’ design in his own plans.
4. Heritage Trail-September 27,1999
WWF-India organized a ‘Heritage Trail’- a visit to a monument of historical importance and education about the environmental logistics kept in mind while building the monument as well as about preservation of that monument and its present day relevance. 16 students from Classes VI and VII participated in this activity and were taken to Qutub Minar accompanied by our history teacher, Ms. Mani Arora. There they also participated in the painting competition and Aditya Sharma of Std. VII secured the second position in the same.
5. Wildlife Week-October 2-8,1999
Vasundhara observed the Wildlife Week from 2-8 October in an attempt to heighten awareness about biodiversity conservation and sensitise the students to the grave dangers posed to the environment by our callousness. Various contests were
organized by the club for students of Std. VI-IX. These included poster-making, poetry-writing, declamations and skits. Many excellent entries were received and at the end of the week, these were put up on the display board.
The most successful part of the whole week was the visit of the senior school students to the junior classes. Some students from Std. IX went to each class of the junior school individually to hold an interactive session with the students about environmental degradation and the importance of conservation. This initiative received a very enthusiastic response and we were amazed at the awareness-level of the junior school students.
6.Survey on the use of fire-crackers on the occasion of Diwali
A survey was conducted by Vasundhara students of Class XI among the students of the school to assess the awareness levels of the students as regards the ecological and social impacts of the excessive use of firecrackers. After, the survey students were enlightened with a talk outlining the various hazards of firecrackers such as their vitiating environmental impact as well as the spawning of child labour.
7. Setting up of a Nature Club Stall for School Fête
As a part of our ongoing efforts to promote recycling and recycled products, we decided to set up a stall at our school's fête. As we yet do not have our own
recycling plant, we chose to supply bulk amounts of waste newspaper to an external
recycling organization in return for their products which were sold to us free. To that effect, we collected more than 700 kg. of waste newspaper during the month of December and supplied
to same to the organization. Our stall was a great success and attracted many interested
spectators and buyers. Our products were sold at a marginal profit. Thus, while generating some funds for forthcoming
activities of the club, we succeeded in propagating our message to popularize the use of
recycled paper and to reduce excessive use of plastic and other non biodegradable materials.
8. DEAN Meet-Delhi Public School, New Delhi
Some students of the club went as representatives to the Delhi Environment Action Network's annual meet in the Delhi Public School grounds. There we presented a skit highlighting the need to conserve and the importance of community participation in environmental preservation. Dhruv Malhotra, the Deputy Director of our club also addressed the gathering about the formation of a state level student led organisation working for social and environmental issues.
9. Auto Expo 2000-January 13, 2000
The Auto Expo, a very famous automobile exposition, and the biggest of its kind in Asia, is an annual event held in New Delhi. To highlight the importance of the use of Eco-friendly technologies in the manufacturing as well as running of automobiles, this year, for the first time, there was a 'Green Pavilion' at the exhibition. DEAN (Delhi Environment Action Network) had a stall there and students of our club were invited to run the stall there on one of the days. The activities undertaken by the students there included illustration, talking and introducing visitors to the impacts of vehicles on the environment as well as delivering a talk on our club's idea, purpose and mission.