World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated every year on June 5 and is the most significant day especially for environmentalist.

As you know that I am the President of youth community group 'Students for the Earth' which is also a member of Earth Charter International Youth groups. We celebrated WED this year by organizing variety of campaigns, online and outdoor events. I am pleased to shared them with you here .

WED Events

Turtle Release , Beach Clean Up and Mangroves Plantation

We joined Emirates Marine Environmental Group(EMEG)'s World Environment Day 2016 event in releasing the sea turtles into their natural habitat. We also planted a number of mangrove plants and did a huge beach clean up to provide a clean habitat for the turtles. The event was attended by a number of SFE members and the team was led by Maathangi Anirudh.Venue was Jebel Ali Marine Sanctuary.

Registration on official WED site : This event was registered on official WED site and below is the link :

http://wed2016.com/event-detail/1633

WED Online Contest

This year theme for World Environment Day is 'Go Wild for Life' which signifies the importance of caring for animals , being kind to them ,  abstaining from killing them and not abusing them in any manner. The theme aims to spread awareness about the serious issue of wild life trade by conveying message 'Stop wild life trade'.  I aimed  to spread this message through this online contest. It was organized by me.

Rules were as follows To participate:

• Post your picture with any animal.
• Write a one line message in line with the theme e.g. Say no to animal abuse  /  Let's save animals/ Let's say NO to wild life trade /Don't shoot animals with guns, shoot them only with cameras.
• Best 3 entries (picture with message) will be announced as winner and will be given winner certificates .
• Be creative with your picture or message.
• Pl send your entries to Arushi Madan at madhumadan2003@yahoo.co.in
• While sending entries, pl write your name and school.
• 
  

Registration on official WED site : This event was registered on official WED site and below is the link :

http://www.wed2016.com/event-detail/1635

I posted a separate detailed report about this event on our Ambassador forum and below is the link. You can read it in detail through this link:

https://tunza.eco-generation.org/ambassadorReportView.jsp?viewID=38133&searchType=name&searchName=arushi&pageNumber=1

Best Eco Family Contest

To celebrate World Environment Day we conducted 'Best Eco Family Contest' to recognize and appreciate the efforts of eco friendly families and to honour the best of them.

This contest invited students to enter contest by sending a picture with 50 words description as to why their family should be called Green/Eco Family. Picture should show them doing an eco-friendly /green activity. This was conducted and led by one of our team leader Venkatesan Sundar.

Registration on official WED site : This event was registered on official WED site and below is the link :

http://www.wed2016.com/event-detail/1636

My Green Ramadan Contest   

This year the month of June was special because it not only brought us WED but also the most holy period of Ramadan (fasting by Muslims from Dawn to dusk). This annual observance 'Ramadan' lasts for about 29-30 days . Fasting people only eat before sunrise and after sunset and in between they neither eat nor drink anything.

Usually people overcook for the Iftar (time when the fast is broken/opened to eat after sunset) resulting in excessive wastage of food during Ramadan.

Also during this month, people do a lot of charity especially organizing Charity Iftars where they donate free food to people especially poor/labourers etc because it is believed that if you help feed a fasting person , you get the same reward as the fasting person. This month is celebrated with  the spirit of giving, sharing and caring. So in large charity Iftars or giving events, snacks or drinks are distributed in huge numbers in plastic cups/containers and after consuming people just throw away plastic and paper openly thereby causing harm to environment.

So to spread a very positive message and to encourage  people to enjoy 'Green/Eco-friendly Ramadan' we organized an  innovative and very interesting competition  called 'My Green Ramadan' contest.

To participate, people were asked to send  a photo of how you celebrate Ramadan in an Eco-Friendly way along with answer to the below questions within the word limit:

i) What is your idea that you follow to make your Ramadan Eco Friendly ? ( Limit 30 words)

ii) Why is it Eco Friendly? (Limit 50 words) 

To appreciate the most passionate participants who are putting in their best efforts to  have eco-friendly Ramadan, we wanted to give prizes. So I approached Bee'ah which is Sharjah's environment and waste management company. I was glad when I heard from Bee'ah that they are willing to help us with the prizes for this event. So we got nice powerbanks from Bee'ah and Bee'ah school of Environment.

We concluded the event on 24^th June for accepting entries and on 27^th June for voting for the 'Most Popular Entry'.

Our judges included environment heads/ teachers from the UAE and young environmentalists. I was one of the judge and enjoyed reading various entries.

Entries can be viewed online from the album "My Green Ramadan Contest Entries" through the below link :

https://www.facebook.com/studentsfortheearth/photos/?tab=album&album_id=926175664160384

All details of the competition, dates, judges, schedule, etc are available on http://studentsfortheearth.wix.com/mygreenramadan 
or you can click "My Green Ramadan Contest" on our Ramadan Portal- http://sferamadan.weebly.com/

Registration on official WED site : This event was registered on official WED site and below is the link :

http://www.wed2016.com/event-detail/1637

Paper bag making Campaign   

We celebrated the spirit of Ramadan by organizing a charitable event "Charity Iftar at Women's Labour Camp" where we gave a meal, snacks and basic toiletries (like soap, toothbrush etc) to women labourers. To pack and give these, we encouraged our members/participants to make paper bags and bring . We were thrilled to see people bringing so many nicely made paper bags. WE packed the items in paper bags and gave to labourers. We appreciated and gave e-certificates to those who made paper bags to inspire them to continue making and using paper bags and stop using plastic bags. We shared with our members how plastic is an environmental menace and causes serious damage to not only environment but also human and aquatic lives.

By variety of above - mentioned events , we aimed to make a difference towards environment and we hope we did. I am sure that these events would have promoted positive environmental values in participants' minds.

Our various initiatives have been appreciated by various media, few links are :

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/nation/general/there-is-no-planet-b-its-just-earth

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae-group-urges-reward-system-to-boost-eco-friendly-behaviour

http://azadnewsme.com/en/60/6/8844/?LoginUserId=2&AdminAccess=all&previewLang=1&preview=on

http://www.dubaiprnetwork.com/pr.asp?pr=110865

http://epaper.khaleejtimes.com/PUBLICATIONS/KT/KT/2016/06/12/index.shtml