– By Odette Katrak (Co-founder, Beautiful Bharat)
“Patriotism has three colors – and green is one of them!” is a line that came to me one sleepless night a few years ago as I lay pondering the irony that we celebrate our national days with great pride, yet inadvertently bring disregard to the nation and our planet.
Independence Day is a time when Indians across communities celebrate the greatness of our nation. But at the same time, we make use of plastic flags and tricolor balloons that add litter to our streets and waste to our landfills. Now is the perfect time to bring ‘green’ back into patriotic celebrations. We must honor our Mother India without forgetting our Mother Earth. This article aims to make it easier for every proud Indian home, apartment and community to celebrate the upcoming Independence Day in a way that our celebrations do not burden an already stressed planet further. Not just on the day, but at all celebrations and events going forward.
Why No Balloons?
Why do we say NoBalloonsPlease? Because the use of balloons at birthdays, weddings, community celebrations, etc. all end up as non-recoverable litter after the event. Once discarded, the strings can entangle and cause harm to birds and animals or to sea creatures that swallow the fragments. They are non-biodegradable – they break into tiny fragments that contaminate soil and water tables.
Worst of all, if an infant swallows a balloon fragment, it could lead to choking and instantaneous death – google to see cases from the world over. If I had the slightest inkling of the safety hazard from balloons as a careful mother, I would not have let them into my home when my children were young – which I confess I did because these facts were not known then.
Created by Adhya V. Marulappar of Bengaluru for the #NoBalloonsPlease movement.
Perhaps the practice of balloon release and use of balloons in celebrations evolved decades ago before it was known that balloons have a negative impact on our environment and also on the factory workers who inhale many harmful chemicals during the manufacture, often under very poor working conditions, with child labor issues (little-known facts about those pretty balloons that aren’t so pretty). Thus, balloons hurt not only the environment but also us living beings and it is time to stop the use and balloon releases.
What can you use instead?
What, no balloons?! Then how do we get the festive feel? – people may ask.
The good news is that there are many amazing alternative decorations that are easy and really fun to make. Even better, they can be made from waste material, leading to a double benefit as they divert waste from landfills.
Decorations of paper are totally earth-friendly, beautiful and a soothing sight for celebrations in 2024 at a time when climate change is much talked about. Our small steps to shift to these alternatives will inspire others.
Created by Srilakshmi V (Paper Butterflies), Sujata Nanda Kayal (door hanging) and Navita Singh (Paper Decorations)
Paper decorations if handled carefully can be reused. And once they tear, they can be recycled.
Apartments and Communities can invite children to make these decorations, cultivating a deep sense of concern for the planet. They can make any of the DIY ideas in our series, chakras, stars, pom-poms and more. These can be hung from strings to form buntings used in celebrations. How much better to have these than to have balloons! This idea could be rolled out as a contest amongst different blocks of the community, encouraging children to make many innovative designs.
If you do not have the time to make it, you can instead buy it. Flower decorations look beautiful and they can be composted. Convince your local street vendors who sell flowers to plan and stock strings of tricolor flowers the day before and the morning of Independence Day. Influence your community and local groups and convince them to buy flower strings instead of balloons. You would be supporting local vendors and small enterprises while reducing the purchase of balloons.
Picture by Shanteri Shanbag
Yet another idea, for birthday celebrations, ask your local tailors for cloth scraps (something they are more than happy to provide!). These can be converted to buntings which add a different glamour to the celebration and they can be folded up and reused.
Created by Padmashree Mahesh
Here’s our DIY series of different ideas for paper decorations made from newspaper or magazine paper in the color of choice. Try them and tell us if you can add more. We’d love to expand the series.
How did this begin?
Beautiful Bharat (earlier Beautiful Bengaluru), a citizen volunteer group that focuses on clean, green, safe living, launched the #NoBalloonsPlease campaign in 2018 and has been encouraging citizens to celebrate without balloons since. We have an ongoing petition to our PM asking that this issue be addressed as an environmental concern and that the practice of tricolor balloon release be discontinued.
The tricolor balloon releases are no longer appropriate and your support to sign and share this petition is appreciated so that we can augment efforts with policy changes.
We hope more families make the shift this August and choose to celebrate without balloons. And of course, no plastic flags either. And while I’m at it, no mixed or unsegregated waste, because celebrations generate huge volumes of waste that include eatables, plastic bottles, paper cups and other disposables, all discarded in one large garbage bag. For truly green celebrations, let’s remember – No balloons, no plastic flags and no mixed waste.
So let’s celebrate without balloons, whatever the occasion. In the office, at home, or in our community. Be it a birthday, wedding or anniversary. Be it a national, state, public, private or community celebration. Come join hands to honor our Mother India without disrespecting our Mother Earth.
Support the campaign – connect to know more about how you can drive this in your community or city.
Instagram: Beautifulbharatorg
Website: https://www.beautifulbengaluru.org/
Facebook: BeBeautifulBengaluru
Twitter: BeautifulBluru
(the author is an Environment & Sustainability changemaker and advocate for planet-friendly practices)