Earth Day: Children grow their own food
It’s Earth Day today. Worldwide, various events are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection on this day. First celebrated in 1970, Earth Day now includes events in more than 193 countries, which are coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network.
The goal of the Earth Day Network is to broaden, diversify and activate the environmental movement worldwide, through a combination of education, public policy and consumer campaigns. The theme for this year is “It’s Our Turn to Lead.”
With this theme in mind, The Resort in Mumbai held a three-day activity named ‘Grow Your Food’. The idea behind the activity was to engage with young children and convey to them the importance of conserving and preserving nature so they can take the lead in future. Around 20 to 25 children participated in the activity which concluded on April 19.
Children in the age group of 6 to 15 gathered at The Resort premises where they were taught to grow their very own patch of vegetables. Guiding the children was environmental expert Hemant Dhavade who has over 10 years of experience in the field of horticulture. He spoke to the children about how to grow organic vegetables and nurture them. He explained to them that growing your own produce is not difficult. You can find packets of seeds or individually potted seedlings in nurseries, and it just takes a small amount of planning to water and weed your garden.
The children were given vegetables like cucumber, Lady’s Fingers, tomatoes, pumpkins etc which they planted in small patches in the gardens. Many places these days are largely devoid of nature, and children spend more time indoors, hindering their natural connection to the rhythms of nature.
This Earth Day activity aimed to bring about a small change by helping children bond with nature. It is via hands-on interactions with nature and teaching them about actions to protect the natural world that they will be motivated to preserve Planet Earth.
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Regards,
The CSR Journal Team
