46+ Tips To Celebrate An Eco Friendly Ganesha Festival

Are you ready for an Eco friendly Ganesha Festival? Every year, a 10-day long festival of Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated with great joy throughout India, especially in Maharashtra. It is celebrated to honour the Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati’s son, the elephant-headed God, Ganesha’s birthday. Lord Ganesha is widely revered as the God of wisdom, deity of good fortune and remover of obstacles. He is one of the most adorable Gods in Hindu culture. Almost everyone loves this cute, chubby and sweet god . The ten-day festival unites people from across communities. During this festival, you can feel the festive ambiance everywhere. The entire mood of the state changes. It’s time to…

Welcome Ganesha idol
Enjoy mouth-watering delicacies
Feel the rhythm of energising dhol, tasha and lezim parades
Hop on dramatically themed pandals
And finally immerse the idol on the last day.

It’s Time For An Eco-Friendly Celebration!

Ganpati festivities have hugely evolved over the years, with each year being grander. People now want an impressive celebration to make it to the headlines. The real message of the festival and its essence are lost somewhere in the bass of loudspeakers, huge-tall Ganesh idols and commercialized grand pandals. And it’s not just about public pandals. Even at household level, we are doing the same. We often do many small things that cause huge harm to the environment. Traditionally, only clay idols of the deities were worshiped and immersed in water. But today, like all other things, Ganesha idols too have been commercialized. Gradually clay models have been replaced by Plaster of Paris idols with chemical and synthetic paints. Our joy is costing the environment in short and long term. Do you think it is ok? Are we really that insensitive? No. We all are good people. Right? We just need some guidance. We don’t have to stop celebrating festivals, but just have to celebrate them consciously. It’s time for an eco-friendly Ganesha festival! Here are some simple ways to celebrate Ganesha Festival in an eco-friendly way. This year, let’s take a step towards some eco-consciousness.

1. Eco-Friendly Idols Rock!

Plaster of Paris (POP) and clay have been the predominant material used to carve the idols. Plaster of Paris idols are still the most popular choice. However, with increasing environmental consciousness, people have been looking for alternatives to POP idols. Clay is definitely better than POP. But it has its own limitations and drawbacks. So, go for eco-friendly idols with water-soluble, organic natural dyes.

2. Size Matters: Why Small Is Sweet?

Most people / Ganesha pandals try to one-up their neighbours, society and other pandals with huge Ganesha idols. Nowadays, public Ganesha idols could stand at anything between 1 foot and even 51 feet. I feel it’s absolutely foolish. Remember it’s the ritual and your emotions that should be big. Not the idol. But what’s wrong with the big idols?

They are not good for the environment:

Most of the bigger idols are made up of POP, which is extremely harmful to the environment.
Huge idols also consume more material for its making, adding more waste to environment.
Post-immersion, tonnes of debris from these idols accumulate on beaches and also chokes rivers, lakes and ponds.

They are not cost effective:

Big idols are expensive.
They occupy a lot of space. So a larger setup is required to accommodate them.
This increases the overall budget of that pandal.

They are difficult to transport:

Big idols need large trucks for transportation.
They cause traffic congestion during transit.

They are difficult to immerse:

Due to their large size, immersion of these idols becomes a challenging task.
Immersion of such idols is possible only in larger water bodies like sea, rivers and big lakes.
Boats / floating platforms are required to carry the idols for immersion is sufficiently deep water.
They take a lot of time to dissolve in water.
While getting dissolved; they break into pieces, hurting devotee’s sentiments.
As these idols do not easily dissolve in water, the remains are collected by the local government body and demolished through a bulldozer, which completely fails the purpose of celebrating Ganesha festival.

So, rather than competing with each other to keep the tallest idol, we should try to stand out in the crowd with unique themes. A big idol can definitely grab attention; but a great theme with a strong social message can gain even more praises and mouth publicity in long run.

3.Do We Really Need So Many Public Pandals?

Festivals are supposed to bring people together. Nationalist and freedom fighter Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak turned the private, household Ganesh Chathurthi celebration into the present day carnival to bridge the gap between various castes and communities. But today’s scenario is completely different. The commercialization of this festival has eroded its real significance. Apparently there are dozens of pandals in the same area. The count just keeps on increasing with every year. Every day, irritating and stubborn volunteers from various pandals knock the door to collect donations for their pandal. And we can’t even refuse! It becomes really annoying. Also, there is an unhealthy competition between all the pandals to prove how their pandal is the best and most popular than others. This leads to unnecessary show off, chaos and fights.

More pandals means more…

Number of immersions
Pollution
Blocked roads
Waste of money, electricity and manpower etc.

Can we celebrate the festival with same enthusiasm by having lesser number of pandals? This is possible only if we all could come together under one roof to celebrate. Happiness when shared becomes double. So, instead of celebrating Ganesha festival separately at different pandals, what if we make one big pandal in our area for the entire neighbourhood?

By doing so, we can prevent:

Noise, Air, Light and Water Pollution
Unhealthy competition between various pandals
Long queues and traffic congestion
Waste of money, time, electricity and manpower

Also,

You don’t have to give donations to multiple pandals in your area. This saved money can be utilized for something better and more worthwhile.

Do you think it is impossible to keep only one Ganesha in your area?

What if I tell you that there is a village which has been worshipping only one Ganesha idol every year since 58+ years? Wow! That’s amazing. Let’s learn more about it.

One Village-One Ganesha

This entire village worships only one Ganesha idol every year.

Agroli village (Navi Mumbai, India) is a very unique example of celebrating Ganesha Festival together. For the last 58+ years (Since 1961), the entire village has continued to host a single public Ganapati idol for 11 days.

How it started?

Prior to 1960’s, before this concept was adopted, every family would bring home individual idols to mark the celebration. Poor fisher folks and saltpan workers from the village used to take loan from the landlords to fulfill the tradition and religious commitments. Most of them were unable to repay the debts due to poverty. This prompted Sakharam Patil, leader of the salt workers, to initiate something unique. He proposed the construction of a Ganesha pandal on behalf of the entire village. His idea got accepted by the villagers. This decision was definitely a brave one considering the social and religious beliefs at that time.

How it works?

Agroli village celebrates the festival with the motto of ‘One village, one Ganesha’.
Every family contributes to fund for the celebrations. This includes cultural programs where kids showcase their talents along with other devotional shows.
All gather for aarati (worship)
Offerings are made on the behalf of entire village
And entire village participates in the immersion (visarjan) procession.

As the village of over 100 families comes together to celebrate:

It sends out a strong message of peace and unity.
The number of idols have reduced from about 100 to just 1.
This helps to protect the environment by reducing the waste and preventing pollution.
It also reduces the financial burden on individual household. Poor villagers no more need to be in the debt to celebrate.

Note: With the growth of new residents, it is becoming increasingly difficult to convince people to come together for just one Ganesha idol. The original residents are firm about having only one idol, but new residents do bring idols for one-and-a-half days. However, No second public Ganesha pandal has come up there. If the entire village can do it, why not us?

4. Go For Eco-Friendly Decoration

Lighting:

Lighting plays a vital role in enhancing the overall effect of your decoration.

Use LED lighting that saves electricity and money.
Wrap coloured transparent papers on the bulbs to give more colours and dramatic look rather than buying expensive bulbs.
Switch on decorative lights only when necessary.

Rangoli:

Colourful big Rangolis look just so beautiful. They make even a regular tar road look like a decorative carpet. These Rangolis are mostly drawn directly ground. Using chemical based colours can lead to soil pollution and allergies.

Use natural materials such as turmeric, vermillion, rice powder, etc. to make rangoli colours.
These colours are eco-friendly and safe. They do not pose a threat to human health as well as environment.

Decoration:

Many plastic and non-degradable decorative materials (like thermocol) have a huge demand during festive season. They are bright, shiny, attractive and easily available. Perfect for the celebration. Isn’t it? Unfortunately, these materials add more danger to our environment when dumped as garbage later.

So, rather than decking up the pandals with piles of thermocol and plastic products,

Use natural materials such as flowers, leaves, cloth, wood, coconut shells, jute or coir ropes, hay and paper etc. for decoration.
Use materials which can be used for some other purpose after the pandal is dismantled.
Reuse decorative materials from previous years in different ways. This will also help to celebrate the festival with a small budget.

How green decoration became the best Prasadam ever…

One Delhi (India) based pandal went one step ahead in eco-friendly decoration. They decorated the pandal with thousands of potted plants. After immersion, these plants were given away free to those visitors who wished to take them. Pandal didn’t forced people to take a plant, but expected a good care of plant from those who took it. No doubt devotees enjoyed this Green Prasadam very much.

Theme:

Sometimes good things don’t necessarily need a money or a fancy setup. All you need is to work out an innovative theme. An innovative theme will make your pandal stand out from the rest and will attract more visitors through mouth publicity. You can…

Create awareness about any issue with your creative theme

For example:

Environmental issues (Pollution, global warming etc.)
Water & energy conservation
Social issues (Female foeticide, social media addiction etc.)

Promote a noble cause and encourage people to donate or simply participate in the initiative to create awareness.

For example:

Convincing people to donate eyes and other organs posthumously.
Spreading a word about a NGO doing an impressive work.

How Sparsh Vinayak (Touch Ganesha) touched everyone’s heart…

blind friends with Sparsh (Touch) Ganesha — Visually impaired friends with Sparsh (Touch) Ganesha. Image source

While we are privileged to see the magnificent beauty of this festival, there are those who, unfortunately, are unable to experience the same joy. In order to make them visualise how the idol actually looks, the easiest way is to make them feel it. That’s why a pandal came up with an idea of Sparsh Vinayak (Touch Ganesha). It was specially made by using materials like cotton, nylon and thread treated with wax to drape the idol. This gave it a pronounced definition for the blind/ visually impaired to touch, feel and visualize the idol of their favourite elephant god. This way, the pandal was also able to create an awareness about importance of eye donation. The best part is yet to come. The pandal even ditched the usual festival finale ritual of idol immersion. Instead of immersing the idol in water, it was donated to a blind school. Such a brilliant concept! Isn’t it?

5. Say NO To Noise Pollution

Playing loudspeakers in full volume has become a part and parcel of any festive celebration across religions and localities. Loudspeakers create noise pollution. This annoys hospitals, old age homes, educational institutes and your neighbours. Babies and elderly people require undisturbed rest. Why trouble them unnecessarily? And what about the firecrackers? Most of the people think that greater the fireworks, better the celebrations. This festive madness leads to bursting firecrackers on a large scale. This increases air and noise pollution even further.

So, next time before playing a loud music, just think about others.

Avoid loudspeakers and noisy DJs.
Try playing traditional instruments like Mridangam, Tabla etc. that are soft and soothing to the ears.
Say No to air and noise polluting firecrackers.
Make sure to turn off the music by 10pm and abide by rules.
You can also form anti-noise committees in your society. They can keep an eye on such incidents and even inform the police if required.

6. Mind The Waste You Produce

Use cloth bags to carry offerings:
Whenever people visit the Ganesha at home or public pandal, they offer various sweets and fruits to the deity. Sadly, most of these offerings are packed in plastic carry bags. Plastic is extremely harmful to the environment. Hence, it’s wise to use cloth bags to carry prasadam and other offerings. They are comfortable to carry, biodegradable and can be reused later.

Avoid food waste:

Ganesha loves sweets. Especially ‘Modakam’ and ‘Laddoos’. So everyone wants to please him by offering the same. Every year, we receive many boxes of such sweets during the festival. We either distribute them among neighbours or consume them as much as we can. Especially the milk maid sweets are highly perishable and should be consumed within 24-48 hours. Distributing them is even more tiring.

I have received some really weird answers like:

Ohh… Sorry. But I have a diabetes. Do you want to get me killed?
Sweet? No… No… it will totally ruin my weight loss plan.
Are you kidding? I have even more sweets at home. Tell me if you want them.
Umm… this is not my favourite one. Do you have ‘Kaju Katli’?

Ugh! I feel a sigh of relief when someone offers Ganesha other than the sweets, like fruits, dry fruits or even a cash. This reduces the burden on our shoulders and also on our poor fridge (which is already overflowing with the sweets).

If we can’t handle so many sweets; just think about Public pandals!

Can you imagine the amount of sweets and other perishable offerings they must be receiving daily from thousands of visitors? Even if they distribute them among devotees, it is still too much to handle. Half of them must be getting spoiled. Forget about the pandals. We will just concentrate on lord Ganesha. Have you ever thought about him? Although he has a huge appetite; eating so much of sweets is a gigantic task. So, I beg you. This time, please give offerings in the form of cash. It won’t go waste and I can use it for a better cause. If food offerings make you feel more satisfied, give dry fruits or some other snack items that can stay fresh for days. I don’t think Ganesha would mind having a variety of food. Even he must be bored of eating same sweets again and again. So try something new. Tangy, spicy..anything!

Use biodegradable plates:

Many times, pandals serve various types of mouth-watering sweets and delicious food items to devotees as Prasadam. This food is served mostly in disposable, non-biodegradable plastic plates and containers for convenience. Once used, these plastic plates and bowls are generally thrown here and there. This adds to the litter in that area. Hence, skip plastic and serve food in natural plates made up of paper / banana leaves or bowls made up of dried leaves for distributing Prasadam.

Dispose organic waste in paper bags:

We offer flowers and other organic products to the god on regular basis. Composting these leftover materials is a great way of recycling the waste. That’s why many containers are placed near immersion sites to collect such waste for composting. But tell me one thing. Is there any sense in disposing biodegradable material in non-biodegradable plastic Bags? No! Then why do people dispose ‘Nirmalya’ (flowers, leaves etc.) and other offerings in plastic bags? They can be easily disposed in a paper bag. Won’t they?

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Also Read…

19+ Unique Eco-Friendly Ganesha Idols To Replace POP All You Need To Know About Plaster Of Paris (POP) Idols It’s Time For An Eco-Friendly Idol Immersion (Visarjan)

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References:

https://www.idiva.com/career/advice/8-ways-to-have-an-eco-friendly-ganpati/15583
https://www.makaan.com/iq/living/eco-friendly-ways-to-set-up-durga-puja-pandal
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/One-village-one-Ganesha-a-56-year-tradition-continues/article14376348.ece
https://www.thebetterindia.com/14106/government-citizens-steps-environment-friendly-safe-ganesha-celebrations/
https://www.thebetterindia.com/159317/ganesh-chaturthi-green-eco-friendly-festival/