This document discusses the environmental impacts of firecrackers during Diwali celebrations. While Diwali is meant to symbolize the victory of light over darkness, today it has become a festival of noise and pollution due to firecrackers. Firecrackers cause air, water, and noise pollution and harm humans, animals, and the environment. They can cause injuries, respiratory issues like asthma attacks, and even deaths. The document urges reducing and limiting the use of firecrackers to curb pollution and protect all living beings.

1. HAPPY
GREEN
DIWALI
PPT-11
Green Earth Movement
An E-Newsletter for the cause of Environment, Peace, Harmony and Justice
Remember - “you and I can decide the future”

2. DIWALI or DEEPAWALI , THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHT
is celebrated by Indians throughout the world in a joyous
mood, with zeal and enthusiasm. We all enjoy colorful
display of lights, crackers, sweets, shopping, happiness.
The festive spirit brings people of different communities
closer, to celebrate the vibrant festival in the most
blissful and lively.

3. On Diwali night, little clay lamps are lit in homes of
Hindus. It is through the light that the beauty of this
world is revealed or experienced. Most civilizations of
the world recognize the importance of light as a gift of
God. It has always been a symbol of whatever is positive
in our world of experience.

4. To Hindus, darkness represents
ignorance, and light is a metaphor for
knowledge. Therefore, lighting a lamp
symbolizes the destruction, through
knowledge, of all negative forces
-wickedness, violence,
-lust, anger, envy,
-greed, bigotry,
-fear, injustice,
-oppression and
-suffering, etc.

5. Though Diwali is a festival
of lights symbolising triumph
of good over evil, today like
many other festivals, Diwali
has become a festival of
noise and pollution.
Something common to the
festival of lights all over the
country is fire crackers. The rockets
illuminating
the skies with multicoloured bursts, the noisy
sizzle of fiery chakris (ground wheels), ear-
deafening 'bombs' and dazzling phooljhadis

6. The real meaning of bursting crackers seems to have
been lost to a great extent as grand fireworks have
become a status symbol for the vulgar display of ill-
gotten wealth for the rich and others are either cowed
down by their sheer money and muscle power and
blindly follow them. For them it has become fashionable
to
use fireworks in a manner that
causes maximum distress and
annoyance to people with scant
disregard to the impact it has on
environment. With pollution
levels in most of our cities
already in the danger zone little do people realize that
fireworks make way for toxic substances that enfold the
atmosphere which are deleterious to the health of all

7. When the young and strong, rich and
wealthy enjoy bursting crackers to their
heart’s content, there are so many
other living beings,
including
humans suffer
immensely.
Following are
few examples:

8. The pain and
suffering infants
undergo during the
Diwali days is
unimaginable.
These little ones
have no way to express their fear and
pain of bearing with the ear-deafening
crackers and other fireworks except the
language of cries and laments. Worst
still the flight of little babies.

9. Do we know what must be going on in the
minds of the elderly, sick and the homebound
during the Diwali days? While the young and
the strong will be enjoying every bit of
celebration like bursting of
crackers, the elderly, sick and
the homebound must be
silently praying for God’s
strength to bear with the pain
and suffering. They have no
other way but to pray,
because, no one is in a mood to
listen to their pain and agony .

10. Diwali, the festival of lights and sweets, is also
the time when asthma patients suffer from
exposure to smoke. "I see 15 to 20
Patients with spasms of
asthma on Diwali day, as
against four or five on other
days," says Dr M Manimaran,
pulmonologist and allergist.
According to him, the trigger
for the attack is heavy smoke from crackers like
chakras, sparklers and snake tablets. "Children
between the ages of six and 12 are particularly
susceptible to the attack during Diwali," he
added.

11. The act of bursting of
crackers itself if fraught
with dangers to
humans. Hundreds
of people, especially
youngsters get injured
in the process of
bursting crackers, and even deaths. Safdarjung
Hospital has one of the largest burn care facilities
in India. This facility receives the largest number
of firecracker-related injury patients throughout
the year. However, it almost takes the form of an
epidemic during Diwali. This unit runs a special
disaster management protocol around Diwali.

12. Catching fire to the firecracker shops is very common.
There are many instances of loss of life and limb due to
the fire accidents. E.g. read this news “Fajjupur village in
Dhariwal sub-division of this district in Punjab. About
0430 hrs, three women were killed when a powerful
explosion tore through a house where firecrackers were
being made illegally. The blast also injured seven
people, including a child. The blast was so powerful that
five
other houses in the vicinity
caught fire and collapsed
due to its impact. About ten
people were still trapped in
the debris of the houses. Fire
Fighters were trying to rescue
them. 8.1.2011

13. Diwali may be all about fireworks and fun
for people, but it's not the same for birds
and animals. Dogs and cats cower in fear
as birds spend a sleepless nights on their
perches, with some even falling victim to the
rockets and air-borne firecrackers.

14. A.P. Activists
campaigning against
the bursting of noisy
crackers say that each
year post Diwali
thousands of pigeons
are found dead
on the roads of Charminar, Koti, Sultan
Bazaar, Nampally railway station,
Chilkalguda, Begumpet and several other
areas, unable to bear the high-pitched
explosions.

15. What about cows, sheep, buffalos, pigs etc?
These innocent animals contribute so much
for human beings. During the
Diwali days, these animals
suffer silently without even
able to express their fear
and pain. There are even
instances of death
of cows, buffalos etc when
they run helter skelter when
they hear the sound and
noise of loud crackers.

16. Fireworks not only harm humans and animals, but
even Mother Earth including trees, soil, water, air
and so on. The fireworks get their flamboyance from
a variety of chemicals, many of which are toxic to
humans. From the gunpowder that fuels their flight to
the metallic compounds that color their explosions,
fireworks often contain carcinogenic or
hormone-disrupting
substances that can seep
into soil and water, not to
mention the
lung-clogging smoke they
release and plastic debris
they scatter.

17. Addition to the harmful
effects of bursting of
fireworks on humans,
animals and Mother Earth,
this industry also perpetuates
social evils like child labour.
For example – Sivakasi in
Tamil Nadu state, about
45,000-50,000 children are
employed in the fireworks industry. These children earn
about 15-18 rupees a day on piece-rates. When an
inspector visits a factory, child workers are bundled into
store-rooms and sheds. When asked if the long hours
deprived her of the pleasures of childhood, 12-year-old
Kavitha gave a resigned look. When asked if she would
like to go to school like other girls, she shot back: "Who

18. Besides all the above harm done due to the
bursting of firecrackers, hundreds of crores
of rupees are splurged on crackers. Are we
doing justice to our Motherland and Mother
Earth?
(see next slide a comment by a reader of a web portal)

19. NISHANT GAURAV, BANGALORE COMMENTS TO AN
ARTICLE ON DAIJIWORLD.COM:
Diwali is a festival of lights not sound. I feel pity on the
people, birds and other animals who cannot bare these
loud sounds. People enjoy bursting crackers but in their
enjoyment they totally forget the world! .The people who
like to burst crackers should burst them at an extent but
not more than that.. It spoils the life of birds and animals
but also our beloved trees. They do not speak anything
but inside deep they die.. .first of all there is lot of
pollution due to the vehicles that give out poisonous
gases and top of that if we still try to extend the level of
pollution by bursting these crackers our world will be in
danger or may be it is....... my request to all cracker
lovers is that to reduce the bursting of crackers as
MUCH AS POSSIBLE....[contd..]

20. JUST REMEMBER THOSE BIRDS ,THOSE INNOCENT PEOPLE
,THOSE TREES AND THOSE ANIMALS WHO CANT BARE THE
SOUND AND POLLUTION OF THE CRACKERS THEY BURN.....
INSTEAD OF SPENDING THOUSANDS OR MAY BE LAKHS!...
IN BUYING CRACKERS ONE CAN FEED THE NEEDY...OR CAN
USE FOR THEMESELVES FOR OTHER PURPOSES...
THE TREES, PLANTS.., BIRDS ..ETC ARE ALSO THE PART OF
OUR SOCIETY... HENCE ONE SHOULD NOT ENJOY
INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY AT COST OF ALL THESE...
BURNING CRACKERS IS NOTHING BUT BURNING OUR OWN
MONEY, BURNING OUR OWN HARD WORK WHICH DOES
NOT COME EASILY....
REGARDING ALL THESE POINTS ONE SHOULD LIMIT THE
USE OF CRACKERS …………...... THANKYOU
I WISH THE WHOLE INDIA A HAPPY AND SAFE AND OF
COURSE A CRACKER FREE DIWALI.......
(Courtesy: daijiworld: October 24, 2011)
See questions for groups discussion later

21. This educational PowerPoint Presentation (editable) is
prepared by GEM Team (courtesy: internet).
For other similar GEM PowerPoint Presentations on
various environmental issues see next slide.
These PPTs may be downloaded from our website
www.infantjesusjogeshwari.in
The GEM PPTs can be creatively used for various
groups like school/college students, NGOs,
government officials, Church groups, SCC groups,
housing society members and so on.

22. 1. Twenty Simple Tips
2. Solar Energy
3. Junk Food
4. Plastic – a boon or bane?
5. Green Passion
6. Zero Garbage
7. Soft drink – A Health Hazard
8. Waste to energy
9. Rain Water Harvesting
10. Eco-friendly Religions
11. Happy Green Diwali
12. Climate Change
13. The future of Biodiversity
14. Genetically Modified Foods
15. Waste Water Treatment
16. Body, Organ, Tissue Donation
17. Organic Farming
18. Waste to cooking gas
19. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
20. Protect Mangroves
21. Say NO to Bottled water
22. Save Lakes and Ponds
23. Forests are green lungs
24. Coal Mining and Ecology
25. Sin of Food Waste
26. Climate change and Poverty
27. Stop Water Pollution
28. Carbon Footprints
29. Parks and Open Spaces
30. Rising Sea Levels
31. Laudato Si – Pope’s Encyclical
32. Air Pollution
33. Life Style Changes
34. Laudato Si – Fr Gerard
35. Water Pollution
36. Sand Mining
37. Kids Eco Clubs
38. Water Disaster

23. For Free GEM E-Newsletters visit –
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click GEM E-NEWSLETTERS