During the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown, the Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI), an environment conservation group, is holding sessions through digital platforms to encourage eco-volunteering at the household level.
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While field volunteering activities have been stopped, the EFI plans to resume restoration of water bodies in western and southern parts of the city from next week. It was decided to host sessions on eco-friendly solutions to encourage people to spare their time for environmental conservation.
The organisation has been holding hour-long sessions on several eco-friendly solutions, including kitchen and terrace gardens, e-waste recycling, waste management at home and how to make home-based chemical free detergents.
EFI founder Arun Krishnamurthy said, “We found that sewage load and air contaminants deposition in water bodies have reduced drastically since the lockdown. If people could adopt eco-friendly measures, it will help sustain environmental conservation better.”
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As of now, the sessions are held for large groups, including corporates, schools and colleges and residents welfare associations. Each session has nearly 150-200 participants and quiz contests for students. The next session would begin from May 27 and there are plans to host sessions for individual participants from June 5.
From next week, activities to restore 14 water bodies in Ambattur, Thiruverkadu, Velachery and Tambaram would resume with machinery. The organisation had stopped maintenance activities due to restrictions and to ensure the safety of workers. “Dumping of solid waste in water bodies has dropped by 70% in the past two months. Water bodies are recovering faster during the lockdown. We plan to postpone all field volunteering activities till September. People can reach us through indiaenvironment.org ,” he said.