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"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves."
John Muir
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ENVIRONMENT
Sample Projects:
- Organizing local garbage collection & trash can use
- Assisting in the construction of rural toilets
- Conducting seminars and interactive workshops on the environment
- Participating in watershed management projects
- Installing solar panels to traditional village homes
Along with education, India has many problems of environmental concern, many of these a direct result of overpopulation. The environment and education go hand in hand. One of India’s primary issues is the lack of organized garbage collection. Everywhere one looks, the ground is littered with garbage. Unsanitary conditions are the breeding ground for disease. While part of the problem is lack of education and awareness, part of the problem is also cultural. In India, there has long been a segment of society, the Untouchables, who engage in sweeping the streets, collecting garbage, and even cleaning the toilets. And without these people, then there is no one to clean up. The issue of a clean surrounding is also something that is actively taught to kids from poor families to rich families. Kids learn from watching their parents. And in India, one can find a middle class or upper class family riding in their car with a child in their lap. The window is rolled down and a candy wrapper is thrown out onto the street. In the West it is called ‘littering’ and usually there is a fine or penalty for it. However, in India children watch adults litter, so they grow up, and also without thinking, teach their children to litter. A TGU volunteer can have a major impact in working to institute a campaign of cleanliness. The simple acts of manual labor to make a ‘neighborhood’ clean can have a lasting impact and even inspire local community leaders to continue efforts.
TGU volunteers will discover that small, remote villages are much more ‘clean’ than villages close to cities, or urban cities themselves. Villages far removed from ‘Western’ life have less plastics, paper, and packaging and thus have less trash. As Western consumerism is introduced, there are more products and more packages to choose from. Should a volunteer hand out small chocolates to 100 kids, they will most likely find 100 chocolate candy wrappers thrown on the ground.
Remote villages offer unique projects such as installing smokeless ovens for village women, an effort that reduces harmful smoke from cooking. Moreover, the installation of small solar panels to mud houses in the dry arid state of Gujarat can bring natural sunlight energy to harvest light.
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