How to Celebrate an Eco-friendly Diwali?
- Author: Tanya Sood Published: 10th October, 2019
The beautiful festival of lights, Diwali, is around the corner, and everyone is psyched about celebrating the good over evil. This festival is all about spending time with loved ones and lighting diyas and welcoming positivity in the house.
While celebrating the blithe of Diwali, one may forget the consequences it has on the environment. Days after Diwali are followed by the horror of air pollution, noise pollution, wastage of precious resources, and much more. Taking care of the environment is as important as celebrating the victory of Lord Rama, so let’s come together and contribute to the mother nature’s wellbeing.
Here are a few ways explaining how to celebrate eco-friendly Diwali:
Say No To Crackers
Say no to crackers, and this goes without saying. Although burning firecrackers has been a trend since the beginning of the time, but is not really good for the environment. Apart from being a problem for those with respiratory problems, firecrackers bother your little furry friends. The noise of crackers really bothers animals, and it is like a horror show for street animals. It increases air pollution, creates a lot of noise pollution, and there are uses many valuable resources from the planet.
If you can not opt-out crackers for Diwali, the least you can do is buy eco-friendly crackers, and make sure you don’t overdo them.
Natural Colours For Rangoli
Decorating the house is a beautiful Diwali tradition. Making a gorgeous rangoli design outside the house is considered auspicious, and is an excellent way to explore the creativity in you. Instead of using chemical colours, you can go for
a natural colour substitute. You can use different items for different colours:
Yellow- Pulses or turmeric
Brown- Cloves
Green- Cardamom & Saunf
Red- Dried chilly or even kumkum
White- Rice Grains
And there is so
much more you can use like flower petals & rice paste.
Eco-Friendly Products For Diwali Decoration
As stated, decorating the house is a beautiful Diwali tradition. When you buy Diwali decorations, make sure the material is eco-friendly. Instead of buying plastic décor items, go for natural flowers, clay items, maybe recycle your old dupattas and sarees to create colourful curtains. You could even paint old newspapers, and hang them up like lanterns. Buy décor items made out of jute, cloth, paper, and other recyclable items.
Eco-Friendly Diwali Gifting
One major tradition of Diwali is exchanging gifts. Instead of wishing your loved ones with sweets, try wishing them with green plants instead. Plants not only express the feelings of care towards someone, but they help to combat air pollution after Diwali. Gift beautiful greens like peace lily, philodendron plant, spider plant, china grass, snake plant, and others which are excellent air purifiers.
Eco-Friendly Crockery
Diwali means a visit from your friends and family and sharing a delicious meal with them. Instead of using your fancy china or buying expensive crockery for the dinner entourages, use eco-friendly options like banana leaves, areca leaf plates, and sugarcane bowls. Not only it will give an authentic touch to your Diwali feasts, but it will also help save water and your time on washing plates.
Earthen Oil Diyas Instead Of LEDs
What is Diwali without bright lights? Electricity is a depleting resource, and Diwali is the festival where we leave out LEDs turned on for several nights. Instead of buying plastic LEDs and lamps, use oil diyas, organic candles, incense sticks, and other substitutes.
Diwali is not only the festival of lights but a festival of happiness. Make sure you make it happy for everyone around you, including mother nature.