India has always been in the highlights for its adverse situations in its big cities of the country when it comes to pollution and we are well aware about the situation of pollution in India. The problem has always been there, and yet somehow gone unnoticed. Well, one such reason for the pollution in India is the biggest and the most awaited festival of the year, Ganesh Chaturthi. On Ganesh Chaturthi, numerous devotees or worshipers bring Ganapati idols for ten days. In those ten days individuals visit family members, nearby Ganesh mandaps. Moreover devotees listen to spiritual songs and offer flowers, Modak, Durva and many more. The day ends with singing Aarti to pay tribute to Ganapati, other gods and holy people. Despite the fact that Ganesh Chaturthi celebrated all over in India, the most extreme energy is found in Maharashtra State. While observing Ganesh Festival individuals largely disregard natural effect of contamination on Air, Water, Noise, strong Waste, and so forth brought about by different exercises acted in puja. During this celebration, firecrackers are utilized profusely by the devotees as it is their way of expressing happiness which leads to air pollution as it releases harmful substances and toxic materials. While the devotees sing aarti to pay tribute, this prestigious festival is also celebrated with all means of loud music be it bhajjan played on speakers or welcoming the mighty lord Ganesha with Dhol. All this does give the devotees joy and happiness but this directly affects the elderly and the children as at some point the noise level may also increase to extreme. During the festival, huge traffic is witnessed that leads to air and noise pollution at its peak. As most idols are produced using Plaster of Paris and toxics, non-biodegradable chemical colours, the result of which ends up causing harm to the marine life. Considering the environmental situation and; with the aim and initiative to decrease the natural harm, numerous devotees have started introducing Ganesha idols that are both creative and eco-friendly. Numerous idols across the nation are made with Plaster of Paris (PoP), at times with little amounts of plastic and concrete. PoP contains calcium sulphate hemihydrate, a material that takes anywhere between months and years to completely dissolve in water. With being done, it diminishes oxygen levels in the water, executing the fish and other amphibian life. Not only are the idols created using Pop but the idols are also painted with bright colours that contain heavy metals, such as lead, nickel, cadmium and mercury. The use of such metals can in turn affect the PH balance of the water that makes the water further more acidic and poisoning for the inhabitants. When such materials meet the water body it can cause skin diseases to a human life when they come in contact to the water and also poison the humans through the fish and birds eaten as food from these water bodies. Moreover, it is necessary to note that the idols are immersed with a lot of other polluting materials which can also be termed as solid wate like the flowers, plastic decorations, camphor, and even polystyrene also known as thermocol which is used for decoration. This strong waste at the end winds up in water bodies, further stressing our effectively contaminated waterways and lakes. Indeed, even the flowers, which are typically bio-degradable, frequently have pesticides and manures that leech into the water. This contamination has different impacts. The strong waste hinders the normal flow of water; which can cause stagnation and the reproducing of mosquitoes and other hurtful pets. With no place to go, the water winds up being additionally contaminated by different types of waste. The final result is the tremendous amount of water contamination that harms our water bodies for quite a long time.
So, what can be done and what we need to do to create a balance between the celebration of the festival and also to protect our environment is that we can bring home or create one ourselves, an organic eco-friendly idol that dissolves easily in the water. These idols can be decorated using food colours and also have things embedded in them that would serve for the benefit of the environment. As we can create an eco-friendly Ganesha idol ourself and even if not, avoid using public water bodies like tanks and lakes especially when it comes to the household idols, instead we can do the visarjan or immerse the eco-friendly Ganesha idol at home so that we put less pressure on the water bodies which already is under pressure due to the stagnations over the years and the contamination of the water bodies, ultimately protecting the environment. As a festival should always be joyous, blissful and delightful, Tree Ganesha encourages you to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi favourable not only for you but for the environment as well, by worshiping an Eco- friendly Ganesha idol and celebrating in a zero pollution way.