Say ‘No to Crackers’ and ‘Yes to life’!

[Ramanuj Asawa]

Say ‘No to Crackers’ and ‘Yes to life’!

Crackers are a source of highly toxic chemical air pollutants. Besides air pollution there are other ethical reasons for not using crackers. Thousands of children are employed in the manufacture of crackers. This violates the rights of the children – they should be in school, not exposing themselves to severe health hazards while making crackers.

 

Additionally, air pollution and smog is extremely common at night and on the morning after Deepavali, and may be harmful to inhale and causes difficulty for drivers through reduced visibility.

 

Deepavali is often be treated by some as an opportunity to show off their status or purchasing power. This competitive approach encourages the use of ever larger and noisier fireworks.

  

Efforts to combat the menace include

• The Supreme Court of India, observing that the "right to peaceful sleep is a fundamental right of the citizens", has banned crackers between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am during the Dasara and Diwali festival
• The Central Pollution Control Board has banned fire-crackers with a decibel level of more than 125 at a distance of 4 meters from the bursting point.

     

Fire Crackers Affect our Health

     

Sudden exposure to loud noise could cause temporary deafness or permanent relative deafness

    

Noise pollution may lead to:

Hearing loss

High blood pressure

Sleeping disturbances

 

Crackers that make a noise of more than 125 decibels upto a distance of 4 mtrs are banned by the law.

  

Harmful effects of chemicals used in crackers

Copper: Irritation of respiratory tract

Cadmium: Anaemia and damage to kidney

Lead: Affects the nervous system

Magnesium: Dust and fumes cause metal fume fever

Manganese: Emotional disturbances, spastic gait and paralysis

Sodium: React violently with moisture and can attack the skin

Zinc: Leads to vomiting

Nitrate: Could lead to mental impairment

Nitrite: Could lead to coma

 

Children get most affected by air pollution!

  

Anti Crackers Campaign

  

Approach: Campaign

  

Method: Discuss issues related to fire-crackers with the students. Ask them about, and supplement their information on:

• The air and noise pollution caused by fire-crackers
• The advantages of banning fire-crackers
• The problems in banning the use of fire-crackers

 

Help students plan a 'No Crackers' campaign to reach out to the whole school.

 

They could work in groups choosing from the following ideas:

1. Announcement in the assembly and class to class appeals and discussions
2. Write and perform a skit to educate others about the negative effects of crackers (air pollution, noise pollution, injury and support of child labor)
3. Recruiting volunteers from each class to make posters for their own class – this is likely to evoke greater participation and therefore greater commitment from more students
4. Prepare an Oath Letter for not using the crackers at any celebrations or festivals and circulate copies to schools. Invite all students to take a pledge in the days just before the festival
5. Make and distribute badges of ‘Say No to Crackers’ or ‘Shun Crackers’ They should explain to all students that only if they are really committed should they wear the badge. At the same time, they should explain why it is important to reduce the use of crackers
6. Form a network of Anti Crackers Schools

          

Related activity: Anti-Cracker Slogans

Divide the students into small groups of 4-5 and have them come up with slogans for an anti-cracker campaign.  Give them 20-30 minutes to come up with a catchy slogan (such as ‘cracker-free community’).  

 

Groups can then present their best slogan and the class can vote on which one/ones they like the best.  This slogan can then be incorporated into a class anti-cracker campaign. 

 

http://www.greenteacher.org/?page_id=172

 

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CS Ramanuj Asawa
Company Secretary by profession, Acupressure therapist by hobby, Human by nature, trying to alleviate the pains of suffering humanity.

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मेरे नाथ !

 

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[Ramanuj Asawa]

Thanks for the input. Who knows how much is too much?

From: CS Ravi Mall <csrav...@gmail.com>

Sir,

 

I am again writing a mail just to convey my thoughts.

 

When Shri Ram killed Ravan and returned to Ayodhya, diyas were lit to commemorate his return and the victory of good over evil. The time at which diwali comes is after the harvesting season, when there are a lot of insects, they get attracted towards the flame of diyas and are thus killed. Same is the case with crackers, they kill the insects with their flames and blasts. In good olden days when there was no pollution and there was a lot of greenery this was a good means to get rid of those insects and of course to celebrate too. We should therefore definitely curb the excessive use of crackers (instead of discontinuing the same), due to the reasons elaborately covered by your good self, but at the same time also encourage others via same media to plant more trees and reduce pollution.

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