Nature Club
THINK GLOBALY, ACT LOCALLY
Nalanda Public School, is at the verge of completing its third year since the nature
club has been formed. The club members are a group of very enthusiastic students
who feel the need to come out of the four walls of the classrooms or their homes,
to explore the outside world . Children want fun. Adults long for it too. When the
objective of learning is effortless, harmless and steady enjoyment, learning is
fun. Children know how to enjoy themselves naturally. However, as they grow up,
they start imitating the adults. They see markets full of things, we call luxury.
It is not easy to practice restraint in such an environment. However, to save our
Mother Earth, we need to think before we act, in our daily lives.
Environment education in schools aims at the three R's namely reduce, recycle and
reuse. It also aims at sensitizing the future generation about sustainable living,
which means, living with an increasing awareness of how one’s daily choices effect
the natural environment.
It has been rightly stated,
If we leave enough places in the world,
where silence is not broken with our noises,
where space is not altered with our objects,
where evolution is not interrupted with our progresses,
where misery is not consolidated because of our greed,
we will be worthy of being part of the shared miracle of life.
The international environment day was celebrated on 5th June 2012, with a quiz on
environmental issues, by the students of the club. The students of std 3 & 4 participated
in an activity on making ‘best out of waste’ in which they prepared utility items
out of scrap to inculcate sensitivity towards bio-diversity existing around us,
These students visited the butterfly garden at Ovalekarwadi situated at ovala village,
Ghodbunder road. Here students spotted various species of butterflies and moths
and observed how specific plants attract these insects where they breed. It was
fun to observe the different stages of the life cycle of butterflies and they learnt
that they can attract butterflies at their residential complex by planting special
plants like the lemon tree, curry leaves, cosmos, marigold, periwinkle etc. The
nature trek to the Yeour hills was held in September to get to the feel of greenery
after the rains and students could observe a few creepy creatures while they walked
into the restricted area of the forest.
The students of std 7 participated in the aforestation program. 100 saplings have
been supplied by the envirovigi,l an NGO very actively involved in imparting hands
on experience related to environment education to school students. Each sapling
(tamarind or jamun) has been adopted by a student, who will take care of it for
the next two years, to make it a part of the forest that school students all over
Thane will be building at the outskirts of Mumbai.
These students also witnessed the Film Festival held at the Gadkari Rangayatan,
organized by the Envirovigil, in which nearly all schools of Thane, participated.
The documentary short films screened, cover several issues like water distribution,
rain water harvesting, waste management, caring for animals and birds.
The students of standard VI had been for a field trip to the theme park of evirovigil
at Kalwa. They learnt a valuable lesson on waste management which is included in
their curriculum. Recognition of trees in our vicinity and managing biomedical waste
were the two new topics dealt with by our resource persons.
A bird watching trail was organized at the Thane creek to get the feel of local
birds and a few migratory species as well. The Flamingo watch at the Sewri creek
was an incredible experience that the students of standard V, could witness.
Apart from the activities mentioned above our students celebrate all festivals in
an eco-friendly way and refrain from using plastic bags. They keep track of their
electric bills and water bills. We plant trees for Vanomahotsav and try to reduce
waste.