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Young World
Encouraging young environmentalists
PAROMITA PAIN
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The Volvo Young Environmentalists Award once again saw enthusiastic participation from school teams from the state.
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Saving a scarce resource: Students of Kola Perumal.
The Volvo Young Environmentalists Award is no ordinary science competition but one that is recognised by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and is an ideal platform for encouraging participation and recognising young talent on local environmental projects and aiding environmental education in schools.
This internet-based global environment education programme for school children aged between 10 and 16 aimed at building a more informed and environmentally-conscious civil society. This time the competition saw S. Jashwanth and Meenalochani K. R. and teams from two city schools, participating. Their ideas touched on topics that may not be new but were interesting and relevant.
S. Jashwanth and his team worked on a project titled, ‘Traffic Control’. “It devises ways to reduce the fatality rate and enhance the free flow of traffic during peak hours and help create awareness among the people about the importance of the safety and traffic rules. Also, it is aimed at checking air and sound pollution,” he says.
Save rainwater
Meenalochani K. R. and her squad from Kola Perumal Chetty Vaishnav S.S.S. called their project, ‘Save Rain Water - every drop has life’. This focused on conservation of flood water in the school campus and using the water for plant growth by the drip method.
“Our school is 35 years old and the oldest school in Arumbakkam. It is situated in a low lying area. Flooding is a major problem which affects our school every year. We saved the flood water from draining and entering the sea. We also saved our school from the flooding and promoted plant growth in our school. We are proud to save every drop of rain water,” says Meenalochani K. R.
“We have been working on this project from June 5, 2007 (World Environmental Day). Our project will be installed permanently,” they say.
In 2002 and 2003, the Volvo Young Environmentalists Award was bagged by the Indian Team. This is remarkable, considering that there were over 30 contesting teams from around the world, on both occasions.
In 2002, the team representing India –Team Little Eco-Friends from St. Josephs Indian High School, Bangalore, went on to win the Award and a grant of US$10,000 for their effective project on reducing the usage of poly-bags. This time don’t forget to root for your favourite team and of course a cleaner greener environment!
To register for the award, teams will have to log onto the Volvo Adventure on www.volvoadventure.org . and register on-line to help start their environmental project. They can also download relevant information for guidance.
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