Festivals and Environmentalism

The festivals of Diwali, Holi, Durga Puja, Ganesha Puja etc are celebrated with a lot of pomp in India. Durga Puja and Ganesha Puja celebrations include construction of huge pandals on roads that house larger-than-life idols made of clay. Diwali celebrations involve firecrackers, and Holi celebrations are around spraying of coloured water and “abir”. These festivals are celebrated by great many Indians, of all social statures, often by religious minorities also. However, these celebrations involve massive utilization of natural resources. Burning of Diwali crackers also causes sound and air pollution, huge pandals for Durga Puja and Ganesha Puja often cause tremendous civic inconvenience, especially for people whose priority is different from celebration. That is why, in recent years we hear environmentalists appeal to people before these festivals to avoid usage of firecrackers, coloured water etc., on the grounds of pollution, wastage of resources, civic inconvenience etc. Another ground is that, the firecracker production industry is a notorious employer of child-labour, where children have to work in unhealthy conditions with toxic matter.

I am generally environment-conscious. Nor do I have any great passion for celebrating the above-mentioned festivals, not any more. I find the sound of crackers very irritating, though I do enjoy fireworks. I agree with all that environmentalists have to say in this matter. They are definitely correct. But somehow it appears strange to me that specific festivals, which occur over only a few days of the year, are targeted, though in our day-to-day life throughout the year we harm the environment in a multitude of ways. Be it usage of use-and-throw paper cups and glasses (sometimes justified for hygene), establishment heavy industries/dams in ecologically sensitive areas, unnecessary usage of electricity to decorate shops, malls etc, use of personal vehicles instead of walking/public transport even for short, solo drives- the list is endless. Diwali crackers do come with unnecessary packing which is not eco-friendly, but so does Dominos Pizza. The current neo-liberal growth pattern in India encourages consumerism and materialism shamelessly, trying to convince people that greater consumption stands for “economic development”. Similarly, our society stands on child labour and exploitation of the poor, probably in every aspect of life. The environmentalist activism before festivals indicates that there are people in the country who are aware of these issues. That is no doubt a positive sign, but I don’t see why these thoughts are attached to the festivals only. I doubt whether it even makes any difference to the environment if we only change the way to celebrate a few festivals, while our day-to-day lifestyle becomes more and more profligate. Indeed, I would rather suggest that if we can live an austere, eco-friendly life daily, and build an inclusive society with dignity of labour and free from exploitation, then it is probably not harmful to celebrate a few days of festival with some amount of pomp!