Millions of people across India are currently celebrating a 124 years old traditional festival called “Ganesh Chaturthi”. During this festival, families and communities build or buy an idol of God Ganesha and worship it for 10 days. These idols can be as tall as 78 feet and are usually made of not so eco-friendly Plaster of Paris as well as decorated with chemical paints having mercury, cadmium, lead and carbon. On the last day of the festival all these magnificent idols throughout the country are immersed in nearby lakes, rivers, ponds, seas and oceans after its grandiose procession on the streets. The "visarjan" (idol immersion) raises the pH level of water to 7.5 from 6.7 according to a research published in International Journal of Scientific Research. The resultant increase in total hardness, chlorinity, salinity and turbidity of water also disturbs the aquatic eco-system as well as breeds harmful pests detrimental to the society’s health and hygiene.
According to an article dated September 28, 2015 in the newspaper The Hindu read nationwide, approximately 50,250 such idols were immersed in lakes and beaches of just the Mumbai city, last year. Hardly 20% of them were immersed in artificial lakes that were built by the government in order to restrict the extent of water contamination. Uncontrollable water pollution due to these idols has been menacing the environmentalists, Municipal Corporations, and the society since many years.
Affected by this nuisance, a 30-year old local artist of Mumbai named Dattadri Kothur, took the responsibility to not only discourage usage of hazardous materials for making idols but also enrich the city’s green cover. He developed a unique process to create clay idols with seeds of okra planted in it so that they are transformed into plants after the festival. These go-green idols are made of red soil, organic fertilizers and "shadu" clay filled with seeds of plants. The idols are then set upon clay pots filled with soil and watered during the festival, instead of immersing them. Hence, as the clay melts and soil dampens, seeds start germinating into sprouts in a few days thereby creating a lasting memento of the idol. The technique is so simple that anybody can build their own idol at home.
This initiative started last year by Dattadri has received worldwide recognition under the name Tree Ganesha and thousands of people have adopted it this year. Leading a team of 8 artists with a total capacity for 500 idols, Dattadri is already busy meeting demand for 4000 more such idols. Many other social organizations have promoted the cause and are planning to expand its reach for changing people’s mindset to emphasize environmental concerns over religious sentiments.
Can we term Tree Ganesha as a truly social innovation and Dattadri as a genius social entrepreneur? Tree Ganesh is definitely not a revolutionary technology but surely a disruptive idea to curb a seasonal environmental crisis. It has the potential to make a vast social impact with economic benefits for the state governments as well as innumerable religious citizens of India. According to the definition of social innovation given by Stanford Social Innovation Review, Tree Ganesha is a novel solution to a social problem (pollution and disregard for hygiene) that is more effective, efficient, sustainable, or just than existing solutions (artificial ponds) and for which the value created (cleanliness and plantation) accrues primarily to society as a whole rather than private individuals. And Dattadri has posed as a bold and accountable change agent who relentlessly pursued an opportunity to create social value through continuous innovation and learning, with limited resources in hand. Unknowingly, he applied design thinking to address pressing needs of people as well as nature and created a human-centered solution while adapting to the religious predispositions of the society.
References
Karishma Shah
MISM 2017 | Heinz | CMU
The blog throws light on how can we modify the age old religious practices to save the environment without hurting the sentiments of the people.
ReplyDelete