Poson festival can be identified as an important religious festival celebrated with festivity by Sri Lankans. Mahinda thero’s introduction of Buddhism to Sri Lanka is the reason for it’s uniqueness. Taking it as the main point, various kind of sacrifices and celebrations have been going on in Sri Lanka for 2500 years till now. For that it is a fact of appreciation of see the amazing abilities of Sri Lankans being honed by mixing with innovations and technology in various dimensions.
But as one negative side of it, it is a kind of sad situation that the measures taken to reduce the damage caused to the environment through these festival celebrations are minimal. Even in the Buddhism, it has been pointed out that protecting the environment is the responsibility of all of us. However it is a problem that arises in the minds of all of us whether the people have got the real idea of some extent. Also, the use of non- degradable materials such as plastic & polythene is in very high level for organizing these celebrations.
For this, according to an idea proposed by us, ZeroPlastic University of Peradeniya, “Green Glow” was implemented for the first time on the occasion of the last Poson Poya day. Our Green Glow project proudly presented an innovative eco poson lantern competition specially designed for all university students. We were able to inspire creativity and environmental consciousness by inviting participants to make Poson lanterns using only eco- friendly materials, that celebrate beauty and importance of nature.
In honor of Poson full moon poya day, this competition seeks to merge tradition with sustainability by encourage the use of sustainable materials. And also we hope to raise awareness about the environmental impact of our daily choices and promote a eco- friendly lifestyle. Mainly we conducted this project to make aware our society, that bio-degradable and recyclable materials like paper, cloth and natural fire also can use for lantern making process.
Here we directly communicated our younger contestants to use only sustainable materials and reduce the environmental pollution and associated health risks and minimizing waste and using non-toxic materials. And our Green Glow project practically proved that this will help for lower carbon footprint and embraced eco- friendly practices for our traditional festivals instilling a sense of pride in cultural heritage and modern environmental consciousness.
Finally, I would like to mention here that our Green Glow project provided a good example of practical application of sustainability for the future youth and one of the first steps were taken at the university level.
Article by : Chamodi Nishshanka
