Hope you all celebrated World Environment Day (WED) in your own special ways.

5^th June 2016, this year's WED was special for me as I was awarded first prize (Outstanding student) –SEAA  for my environment efforts, advocacy and projects.

The sixth annual edition of the Sharjah Environment and Awareness Awards (SEAAs) was held by Bee'ah, the region's leading environment and waste management company. Total 3 winning students were rewarded for their innovation and contribution to environmental sustainability and energy conservation.

Best part is that all the 3 student winners in 'Outstanding Individual Achievement Award for Students' are from our school. I won the first prize. Manav Jha won second and Shreya Gupta won the 3^rd prize. It is such a matter of pride and joy that 3 of us are also associated with Tunza Eco Generation. Manav and I are Eco Gen Ambassadors and Shreya was ambassador last term. This shows the deep impact of both our school and Tunza Eco generation on us which made us win this award.

Supporting the vision of His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan Bin Muhammed Al Qasimi, Member of the UAE Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, to raise awareness about environment preservation among all members of society, the awards were launched by Bee'ah in 2010. 

For the 2016 awards, many schools and students were considered for the five main award categories. This year saw the highest number of entrants and awards in the competition's six-year history.

The 2016 categories included a first and second place award for Best Environmental Play (KG – Grade 2), Best Environmental Movie (Grades 3 – 6), Best Environmental Invention (Grades 7 – 12) and the Outstanding Individual Achievement Awards – for students. 

Our school Delhi Private School-Sharjah won the Best Environmental Invention award  for an an innovative air conditioner which is actually like a portable machine that is user friendly and that can be put together using simple tools such as a bucket, fan, ice, foam bars, and plastic pipes. Our school has been using this sustainable cooling/air conditionaing device in 3 of the rooms.

Our school also  won Inter-school recycling contest (ISRC). Our school won maximum awards at the glittering award  ceremony.

I was elated because I have won it for the second time. Earlier in 2014 too, I had won 1^st prize and this year as well. This confirms that I am moving on the right path towards environment sustainability.

Like all of you, I have also been just doing my part by following eco-friendly lifestyle and advocating the same to others through workshops, seminars, awareness sessions, self-initiated projects  and various campaigns. We don't do it for awards, we do it as responsible citizens of this planet earth but if by doing this we get rewarded, it can't get better. It motivates us and encourages us to increase our efforts and act in a bigger  and proactive manner.

It would  be unfair on my part if I don't thank this wonderful, hugely popular and successful platform TUNZA ECO-GENERATION for providing me platform & tools to practice my passion of environment advocacy (by actions as well as campaigns). THANKS A TON TO TUNZA ECO –GEN.

I am specially grateful to our school environment head Ms Anjum Hasan who herself is an environmentalist and has always encouraged me.

Thanks to all of you for always supporting me and encouraging me with your ever-motivating comments. Thanks for inspiring me with your various activities about which we get to read through your reports. Afterall, this forum is about learning from each others' best practices and exchanging ideas to tackle environmental issues.

I was humbled and glad to give interviews to so many media who were there to interview the winners. As said in my interviews, I repeat here that  "Going green" doesn't have to be a daunting task, we don't need to bring drastic changes to our life style.  Whatever we do impacts environment. So before taking any action, please ask yourself 3 questions.  Is it necessary? , What will be it?s impact on environment? And Is there any eco friendlier alternative? Simple & small  things can make a difference. They may be small at individual level but if all of us follow them, they collectively  have a bigger & positive impact on the environment. Afterall my carbon foot print adds to yours, yours adds to mine and ours adds up to the global carbon footprint. Remember, the earth can live without humans but humans cannot live without earth, We have only one planet, there is no plan(et) B".

This year the award procedure had set up specific standards and criteria for each category of the awards. So each category had a different standard. Individual Achievement student category had the theme 'Energy Conserved is Life Preserved'.

Contests and awards like these are helping to nurture the next generation of environmentalists, allowing them to understand the critical role they play in sustaining the environment and its precious resources. The awards are influencing the level of environmental awareness in the community - in a progressive, environmentally responsible way.

It was published in TGT and Azad news, below links :

http://azadnewsme.com/en/59/6/8809/?LoginUserId=2&AdminAccess=all&previewLang=1&preview=on

and

http://gulftoday.ae/portal/1b09d2ae-08b8-471c-8639-78913ed8d7da.aspx