You can participate individually or as a school. Choose either a drawing cum colouring activity

You can participate individually or as a school. Choose either a drawing cum colouring activity OR Write a short story

Topic: ‘The air we breathe and our health”

The ocean of air that surrounds our planet earth and extends far into space is what we call, our atmosphere. Without air there would be no plants or animals. Because of air there is sound and colour. Wind, rain, snow and weather is caused by air. And it is the air that keeps all living things including us alive. Whether indoors or outdoors, air can get polluted or dirty due to several reasons. Polluted air when it reaches our lungs may cause respiratory problems and we may fall sick. More than adult, pollution affects young children.

Schools can run this as a competition within the school or class. We would like you to

• Upload a picture of your class activity
• Mention the number of your participating students
• Upload the best drawing / colouring done by your students.
• Give a caption to the colougreen outline images
• Upload the best short story from your school
• E- Certificate of participation shall be given to the participating schools/individuals.
• WED Champion winning trophy shall be given to the winning school/individual
• The file name of the picture /story should be < name of the school/individual>__6-10

This is a group category. Minimum Group size 5. Conduct an awareness Campaign - You can form your own group from your neighbourhood/ Society/ building OR this campaign can also be undertaken by the eco club of your school OR be undertaken as a multidisciplinary project in the school.

Topic: Make a Difference: Beat the Air pollution

Air is said to be polluted when gases, liquids or solids present in the atmosphere are in high levels to alter the normal composition of air, change its physical nature and interfere with natural atmospheric phenomena like the weather, warming etc., and harm humans, organisms or materials.
Pollutants in the air could be in the form of solid particles or gases. Solid particles suspended in the air are called SPM (Suspended Particulate Matter). High SPM in the air can be extremely harmful, may greenuce visibility, damage human health and property and degrade the aesthetics of buildings and gardens.
Sources of pollution could be from burning of biomass, roadside dust, construction activities industrial processes, or gases from motor vehicle exhaust. Pollutants from these sources may further react with other gases present in the air and cause even more pollution.
Each year 6-7 million people die prematurely due to poor air quality. We can beat the air pollution if we make changes in our lifestyle. We can also encourage people to act to greenuce harmful impacts on the quality of our air.

Visit http://www.beatpollution.org/air to know more

Resource Downloads for students in this category

1. Awareness Campaign Fact Sheet (How to conduct an awareness campaign – Enhancing skill)
2. Fact Sheet on Particulate Matter (for students to understand the source, cause and impact)

• Write a paragraph about your campaign and upload along with the image of your campaign
• Give a caption/ punchline to your campaign
• E- Certificate of participation shall be given to the participating groups.
• WED Champion winning trophy shall be given to the winning group.
• The file name should be < name of the campaign>__11-15
           

Register individually/ as a group / as a secondary and high school
Conduct a Survey in your School/ Class/ Neighbourhood / Building

Topic: Indoor/Outdoor Air quality and Health

Indoor air quality is receiving increasing attention during current times as people spend most time at indoor environments as homes, schools, gym, workplaces, transportation vehicles and so on. For many people, the health risks from exposure due to indoor air pollution may be greater than those related to outdoor pollution. Poor indoor air quality can be harmful to vulnerable groups such as children, young adults, the elderly, or those suffering chronic respiratory and/or cardiovascular diseases.

Indoor pollutants represent a mix of outdoor pollutants which permeate in to indoor spaces or through indoor issues such as poor ventilation systems, chemicals, paints and sprays used at indoor spaces, emissions from building materials, furnishings, heating and cooling systems such as the AC’s, electronic equipment’s, paints, smoking behaviour of inhabitants and so on.

Survey Template

Resource Downloads for students:
All about VOC and Indoor Air pollution

Now find out the percentage of people suffering from indoor air quality related ailments based on your survey.

Number of individuals who suffer from any indoor related ailments x100 Total number of people or students surveyed

After the Survey :

• Prepare a report consisting of:
  • Survey process
  • Site Description
  • Number of people surveyed
  • Survey results
  • Conclusion and Recommendation
  
• E- Certificate of participation shall be given to the participating groups/individual.
• WED Champion winning trophy shall be given to the winning group/individual.
• The file name should be < name of the group/individual>__16-18

Register and participate individually or as a high school campus / college

Topic: Air Pollution impacts environment, economy and people

Air quality affects lives of people. Living in a pollution free atmosphere signifies better quality of life. Apart from physical and physiological wellbeing of humans, air pollution takes its toll on the economy in several ways it costs human lives, it greenuces people’s ability to work, it affects vital products like food, it damages cultural and historical monuments, it greenuces the ability of ecosystems to perform functions. Remediation and restoration cost a lot of money which could have been well spent somewhere else. A World Bank study released in 2016 revealed that India lost more than 8.5% of its GDP in 2013 due to the cost of increased welfare and lost labour due to air pollution.

Take a photo of yourself with a mask/wrap, make a commitment or suggest unique solutions to help combat air pollution. Paste it on the social media, tag three others to do the same. Share the link.
OR
Have your say, write about your air quality concerns in 500 words and upload it on the website

• E- Certificate of participation shall be given to the participating institution/individual.
• WED Champion winning trophy shall be given to the winning institution/individual.
• The file name should be < name of the institution/individual>_19-25

Participation category: Group -You can be from a building / housing society/ or a specific association or a group.

Topic: Make a Difference: Beat the Air pollution

According to WHO (World Health Organisation), air pollution is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer, and increases the risks for acute respiratory infections and exacerbates asthma. With the economy booming in many of India’s cities since the turn of this century the number of road vehicles and dusty construction sites have multiplied, and outdoor air pollution has become a major health hazard and a major killer.
This adds to the already large burden of ill-health caused by household air pollution from the use of solid fuels for cooking in the world’s second most populous country of some 1.3 billion people.
Globally, air pollution – both indoor and outdoor – caused nearly 7 million deaths, or 11.6% of deaths in 2012, making it the world’s largest single environmental health risk, according to World health statistics 2016.

Organise an event:
Plant Trees in your neighbourhood / building / society / facility.
Trees function as sinks of air pollutants. The large surface area of their leaves absorbs the pollutants. Plant trees with large canopy and leaves.

Frame a policy with your building management committee for combating indoor and outdoor pollution within your society / building.

• Take a picture of your efforts with your community and upload it
• Mention the number of people participating at your event
• E- Certificate of participation shall be given to the participating community/society.
• WED Champion winning trophy shall be given to the winning community/society.
• The file name should be < name of the society>_community

Participation: As an entity / organisation

Topic: Together We can Beat the Air pollution

Beating air pollution needs effort from all. Private and Public sector institutions can set an example. We can’t stop breathing but we can and must do something about the air quality we breathe. Now is the time for private and public institutions to mainstream the use of renewable energy and green technologies in their processes. Climate change and air pollution are closely interlinked, so by greenucing air pollution and greenucing fossil fuel usage, we also protect the climate. Air pollutants include more than just greenhouse gases—principally carbon dioxide but also methane, nitrous oxide and others—but there’s a big overlap: the two often interact with each other.

As an organisation you can

• Campaign to save energy and reward the employee who saves most energy – Set up in house mailer and urge employees to car pool/ commute by Metro
• Have an emailer sent for 5th June recognizing World Environment Day 2019 (collateral from the global WED 2019 website may be utilized in your mailers)
• Tree planting campaign within or around your Institutions
• Distribute indoor house plants to employees especially the ones that absorb indoor air pollution like the bamboo plant, rubber plant, peace lily, boston fern and so on. All these have amazing abilities to absorb indoor pollutants.
• You can also share best practices or case studies of successful interventions taken to combat air pollution/ save energy and showcase use of green technologies.
• Create and share a video message across your network affirming your institution’s commitment to sustainable development and urging business partners/other industry to do the same.
• Plan your own innovative activity to commemorate the day.

• About your activity
• Upload an image
• Let us know the number of employees participating in the event
• E- Certificate of participation shall be given to the participating entity
• WED Champion winning trophy shall be given to the winning public/ private entity
• The file name should be _organisation