Walk to create awareness about depleting environment

Team L&M

In a bid to create awareness about the need to maintain environment, a group of people from Kolkata have decided to undertake a 1000 km walk titled From Hill to Sea. The 33-day walk began on Feb 19 from Tiger Hill of Darjeeling and will culminate at Sagar Island, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal on March 25, 2019

“Global warming poses a big problem for all of us, still people are being very careless about it. No one is taking it seriously. We want to spread this awareness among common people that each one of use has to do something about reducing the global warming. Hopefully, this walk will help,” says Rahul Deb Biswas, the brain behind the walk. “The idea is to connect people to nature,” he adds.

As many as 12 districts of West Bengal will be covered in the walk. These include Darjeeling, Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, Bardhaman, Nadia, North 24 parganas, Hooghly, Howrah, Kolkata and South 24 parganas.

“Through this walk we will have a clearer picture of the areas, we will get to know about the problems the people of these areas face because of pollution. A “Green corner” will be organised every evening wherein local people can come and discuss issues they face,” says Kallol Roy, a member of the organising committee.

Through this walk, activists also want to draw the attention of the government towards lack of Environmental Impact Assessment of construction and other projects undertaken, rampant deforestation and filling of wetland, water body or paddy fields, extinction of animals, failure of the municipalities in managing non-biodegradable waste and rising noise, water and air pollution.

Being aware of the natural environment and making choices that benefit–rather than hurt–the earth is what is meant by environment awarenss. In recent years, environmental awareness has gained increased attention. It is fair to say it has become a bit of a trend: from environmentally friendly tiny homes to organic food, environmental awareness is a hot topic. However, it is nothing new and it ought to be more than just a passing fad because of its importance. Let’s dig deeper and learn more about environmental awareness.