Dubai
Recycling 1,000kg of paper can save up to 19 trees, as stated by Conservatree, a non-profit organisation based in the US. My 10-year-old son, Soumil Jain, who is a pupil in Dubai, has been worried about the degradation of the environment, depletion of resources, global warming and climate change and so was determined to do his part to save the environment and those 19 trees.
Curious about the Emirates Environment Group’s (EEG) ‘One Root One Communi-Tree’ initiative, he decided to collect recyclable materials. He managed to collect over 1,000kg of newspapers within a month and with an endeavour to support the green movement, he also participated in the tree planting initiative, which gave him the energy and motivation to contribute to environmental conservation.
Realising that a month was very little time to collect so much discarded paper, he relied on flyers, which were prepared and distributed to his friends and to our neighbours. People were encouraged to collect recyclable materials and they in turn spread the word. He then went from door to door to collect the saved newspapers and educate people about recycling.
The newspapers were deposited at EEG and now he is entitled to plant a tree under his name in one of the public areas of the UAE.
Denita Monica Barboza, a student based in Dubai, was amongst the people who helped him with his campaign. She said: “After seeing the flyer, I was impressed by the work Jain was doing for the environment and I decided not to throw our daily newspaper. I wanted to help.”
Jyothi Ravishankar, a special educator based in Dubai, was also very helpful. She said: “I was amazed when I saw Jain showing concern for the environment and was happy to see his ideas to collect newspaper to save trees. Seeing his energy, I decided to support his campaign.”
— The reader is based in Dubai.
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