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 "Ask
not what the Environment can do for us but what we
can do for the Environment."
BEACH
CLEAN-UP EXERCISE
As a continuation
of our efforts towards environment awareness during
the festive season of Ganesh Utsav, a clean-up was
organised at Juhu beach after the last day of immersions.
We were supported by students from Rizvi Catering
College, Kamat Institute of Catering College, Dadar
Catering along with members of the Indian Navy Dockyard
ALM and Juhu ALM.
Two years back, on June 5, 2002, The Orchid ALM
Trust was set up, consisting of people who really know
and care about our environment. At the onset, the trust’s
main objective was to carry out activities that would
clean and green Mumbai, to create environmental consciousness
amongst its citizens and to motivate them to partner
with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM)
towards making the city a better place to live in.
Over the past two years, the various activities carried
out by the ALM include promoting the creation of ALMs
and assisting the existing ones, with the cooperation
and support of the MCGM and US-AEP/USAID. Among the
various activities organised by The Orchid ALM
Trust was the ALM contest that was conducted for the
first time in Mumbai. Aimed to incentivize the exisiting
ALM and create awareness amongst all on its benefits,
the contest hoped to encourage setting up more of the
kind. The contest was conducted with the support of
the BMC, where waste segregation was the most qualifying
point. Recently, the award winners were felicitated
in a ceremony. Shri Johny Joseph, Municipal Commissioner,
MCGM was the chief guest at the function and he gave
away the awards to the winners at a function held at
The Orchid.
BUS
EK MINUTE
The Orchid’s Green team organised an extempore speech
contest for our internal team members in September 2004.
Participants were to speak for a minute on an environmental
topic, which was given on the spot. Topics ranged from
the very serious, ‘Air Pollution’ to the hilarious,
‘If I were an earthworm in the composting pit’. There
were about 30 participants from which three winners
were selected.
GREENING
SRI LANKA
Post LTTE, the Sri Lankan hotels who have been expecting
to see a boost in the tourism industry, have not come
with up with a technically sound plan and like most
hotels are not inclined towards being eco-friendly.
To encourage a mass move towards eco-friendlier options,
Mr. Kannampilly from The Orchid gave a presentation
on sustaining energy efficiency programmes in hotels.
Most of the hotels were represented at the presentation.
The participants were encouaged to look at economics
from a different perspective – that saving energy and
light eventually leads to long-term monetary benefits.
A new software that allows hotels to benchmark against
set indicators, assisting in understanding their consumption
patterns against the ideal values was also explained
to them. This model is being currently modified by The
Orchid and Alliance to save energy to suit the Sri
Lankan hotel requirements.
Further to the visit, 15 engineers of various hotels
visited The Orchid for a three-day workshop.
Talks by various experts including a visit to all our
three properties to discover and see the energy efficiency
techniques in action was arranged.
Every year Mumbai celebrates Ganesh Utsav – a festival
honouring the deity Ganpati with great fervour. At the
end of the ten-day festival, the idols are usually immersed
in the lakes, creeks or the ocean. Along with the idol,
are immersed various offerings, which include flowers,
garlands and the décor. The Orchid took the initiative
of helping to minimise the damage to our water sources
by conducting a project whereby these offerings can
be converted into organic manure instead of being dumped
directly into the sea. The Orchid, in association
with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation conducted
a vermicomposting project of these floral offerings,
commonly known as Nirmalaya. This involved collection
of floral offerings made during the festive season,
composting and creating organic manure. This was then
distributed to interested ALMs. Dr. Sangole and Mrs.
Sangole of the Pestom Sagar ALM association guided us
through the initial process. All-in-all, about 200 tonnes
of Nirmalaya was collected and consequently placed
in vermiculture pits in a space at the Gorai landfill
site provided by the BMC. The Orchid also distributed
pamphlets to all the Ganesh Utsav Mandals (stalls)
and on the beaches during the immersions extolling all
to segregate waste and place the same in the Nirmalaya
Kalash.
Earth
Day
On Earth Day, The Orchid distributed Tulsi plants
to all corporates. An environment message was carried
on these pots about The Orchid’s commitment to
green the city. Through this, we aim to make corporates
more ecosensitive and reinforce our mission to garner
more support to protect the environment.
Did you know that smoking reduces the rate of lung growth
and it can hamper the level of maximum lung function?
Did you know that tobacco is the fourth most common
risk factor for disease? Tobacco not only kills people
at the height of their productivity leaving whole families
without breadwinners, the high public health cost of
treating tobacco-caused diseases is also high. Smoking
puts you and others at risk. It can lead to major health
problems such as lung cancer and heart disease. It is
highly important to create awareness about the dangers
of tobacco use and every year May 31 is celebrated as
World No Tobacco Day around the world. The member states
of the World Health Organisation created World No Tobacco
Day in 1987 to draw global attention to the tobacco
epidemic and the preventable death and disease it causes.
This year, on May 31, World No Tobacco Day, The Orchid
supported Cancer Patient’s Aid Association (CPAA)
in their cancer detection camp. This was a free check
up camp organised jointly by The Orchid and CPAA
at Hutatma chowk. All citizens of Mumbai could get a
free check up by qualified doctors. Volunteers also
enacted a skit on the ill effects of tobacco and smoking.
This was particularly relevant as there is an urgent
need to spread the message about the dangers of tobacco.
On June 5 - World Environment Day, The Orchid felicitated
five Eco-Citizens who have made a difference to the
environment. Suneel Parasnis, Regional Director, US
AEP, Prof. Dr. Shyam Asolekar, IIT, Mumbai, Shrikrishna
Bhagwat, Former ALM Officer with BMC, Debi Goenka,
Crusader and Active BEAG Member and Usha Kiran, Save
Crusader were felicitated by the former Sheriff of Mumbai
V. Shantaram. V. Ranganathan, Former Municipal Commissioner
and Mr. Param Kanampilly, Director, The Orchid also
graced the occasion. The Orchid also presented
a humorous skit on the need to save the environment.
The skit scripted and directed entirely by the Green
Team of The Orchid was based around a dialogue
between Yamraj and Chitragupt, wherein Yamraj takes
away the lives of the people who pollute the environment.
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 Spreading the Message Through Environment Days -
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 Mr. Kamat, CMD, explaining the 4Bs in the theory of waste segregation to students of Ryan International School. (pic 1)
As a run up to February 14, Valentine's Day, The Orchid Ecotel organised a programme - 'Say no
to Flowers' on February 10, 2004. On Valentine's Day, as on various occasions, several flowers are
usually distributed. The Orchid Ecotel decided to use the opportunity to tell individuals that it would be a better idea to give away saplings as gifts as opposed to flowers that wither and fade away. The Orchid Hotel invited students from Ryan International School to sensitise them about the need to conserve the environment. Mr. Vithal Kamat addressed them and imparted information on The Orchid as an ecotel. The students were also taken on a tour within The Orchid. This was followed by a presentation by Dr. Anish Andheria, naturalist, Sanctuary Magazine, who stressed on the need to 'Save the Tiger' and emphasised the importance of each living creature in the web of life.
 Street kids playing with the organic colours we created, with the Green Team. (Pic 2)
On March 5, 2004, The Orchid Hotel decided to colour Holi with different colours. The hotel wanted to produce colours that are environment friendly. This opportunity was also apt in terms of creating an awareness of safer ways of celebrating and rejoicing. Environmentally friendly colours that were non-toxic were procured. The Green Team celebrated the same with street children from Aamchi Kholi. The Orchid's green team played with the kids and also treated them to a delicious high tea. We are glad to say that we managed to achieve the aim, which was to make one day in the kids' life colourful and also create awareness on the importance of playing holi safely without polluting the environment.
 The Orchid's Green Team enacting a play on environment awareness outside Churchgate station on World Water Day. (Pic 3)
The Orchid's Green Team on the occasion of World Water Day enacted a skit 'Agar paani na ho
toh' at Churchgate station from 4.00 to 6 p.m. The hilarious but hard-hitting skit enumerated the perils
of wasting water. It enumerated three different scenes of everyday life without water. The play threw light on a scenario of a world without water. The play concluded by emphasising to the audience about the need to save water today if we are to survive tomorrow. The skit also spoke about how each one of us can contribute by saving water in little ways such as not running the tap while brushing or by recycling water. Pamphlets containing facts on water were distributed to the viewers.
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