Date: 10th September 2022 Time: 7:45am to 10:00am Venue: Shivaji Park, Matunga

St. Teresa's Institute of Education celebrated yet another day in its Green Calendar with the Environment Club organising a Beach clean-up Drive on the day after Anant Chaturdashi (the last day of the ten-day-long Ganeshotsav or Ganesh Chaturthi festival).The college collaborated with Jay Foundation for this endeavour, which was organised by Prof. Dr. Giselle D’souza, The activity was conducted at Shivaji Park from 7.45 a.m onward. The beach seemed littered with clay remnants washed ashore after devotees bid adieu to the deity Ganesha by immersing (visarjana) idols in water.

The students and faculty of our college along with those from other colleges around Mumbai participated in the event.Everyone was provided with gloves by the NGO and we began cleaning the beach. We all were first shocked looking at the condition of the beach. The clean-up drive consisted of collecting plastic, thermocol and other material that the idols were constructed of. We were taken aback with the waste that disfigured the ocean shore, as nature is the best gift from God any humans could have. The waste collected from the beach during the activity was accumulated in a pile on the shore to be collected and disposed of later by the BMC.

One of the major benefits of organising a beach clean-up drive is that it brought us face-to-face with the harsh existing reality of water as well as plastic pollution. We were able to physically see the quantity of plastic littering the beach and have a greater understanding of the effort required to remove plastic from the marine system where it endangers aquatic life. The event really made us aware about Nature and how we can care for it. Indeed, “We’re a part of nature. As we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves. It’s a selfish thing to want to protect nature.” ---Yvon Chouinard