New Delhi: The World Environment Day (June 5) is marked to create awareness with regards to the protection of the environment. It was first held in 1974 and is used as a platform for raising awareness on an environmental issue. As the world celebrates World Environment Day, let us acknowledge a few celebrities who are working towards making this planet greener and healthier.
Alia Bhatt:
Be it speaking up for the well-being and adoption of stray animals, amplifying COVID-19 related information on her social media platforms or speaking up against plastic waste, Alia is evolving as a messenger of change. She also famously took the pledge to go plastic-free, supports mass drives to keep beaches garbage free.
Deepshikha Deshmukh:
She initiated her beauty brand, ‘Love Organically’ in 2016 and makes sure that every creation in her cruelty-free products is devoid of parabens, silicons and harsh chemicals. She also uses biodegradable and sustainable packaging as much as possible. At Pooja Entertainment, she makes sure that the use of plastics is minimum and her production house was the first to distribute metal bottles on the film sets of her production 'Coolie No.1’.
Dia Mirza:
She is a Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Advocate and Environment Goodwill Ambassador for the UN, and for her sustainability is not just a buzzword but a calling. She has been speaking about the preservation of rivers, forests, and wildlife habitats for years and tirelessly uses her multiple platforms to amplify the importance of sustainable choices, be it at the individual, corporate or political level. She walks her talk by living according to the tenets she endorses. That includes using bio-degradable hygiene products, going chemical and plastic-free, conserving water and energy, repurposing old furniture and clothes, segregating garbage, composting, and planting over 8000 trees and counting. Even her wedding was based on a zero-waste design concept.
Aamir Khan
Aamir has been quietly leading a movement for a drought-free Maharashtra for years with 'Paani Foundation,' his non-profit organization which is active in the area of drought prevention and watershed management. He founded the organisation with his wife Kiran Rao to address the environmental causes behind drought and the subsequent devastation of thirst, hunger, debt, forced migration and ruined crops. The foundation has researched hundreds of villages and discovered how mismanagement of water and natural resources, along with climate change, causes drought-like conditions. Despite great odds and little publicity, his foundation continues to bring people together so that they can own and solve these issues as one.
Rahul Bose:
Much before social media became an instrument of activism, Bose was knee-deep in relief efforts in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands post the horrific 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. So moved was he by the experience that he launched the Andaman and Nicobar Scholarship Initiative to support the education of underprivileged children who can be exemplary earth citizens if given a chance. Passionate about the environment and parity in all walks of life, Bose believes all issues are interconnected and is the founder and chairman of The Group of Groups, an umbrella organisation for 51 Mumbai charitable organisations and NGOs. He also supports various organisations that work for a more inclusive social and environmental ecosystem. He also. became the first Indian Oxfam global ambassador in 2007. In 2009, he toured Canada to speak on global climate change under the auspices of the Climate Action Network.
