Earth Day: B-Town's Green Initiatives!

Comments [ 4 ] By Gurprit K. | 22 April 2013 | 8:50pm

Earth and nature - it is our prime duty to save and respect them. However, man is a social animal and due to our disrespect and increasing modernization, we have been neglecting our precious environment to the extent that its repair seems a tiresome and daunting task. So in a bid to save the world, 22^nd April has internationally been named as Earth Day.

A few years ago, channel NDTV in association with Toyota launched Greenathon, an event aimed to raise money towards saving the environment. This entailed Bollywood artists to perform live, entertain and generously donate to the sincere cause. Since then our favorite celebs have been partaking in various activities in restoring nature to its former glory. So here is a quick look at what exactly they have been doing for a greener tomorrow.

In 2012, the 'Baadshah' of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan adopted five villages with his commitment being reaffirmed when he adopted eight more villages this year, thus making him one of the highest donors. This was followed by Aamir Khan and Hrithik Roshan adopting five villages each and Ranbir Kapoor adopting two. Also stepping forward were Abhishek Bachchan, Shekhar Kapoor and Riteish Deshmukh who adopted a village each.

Kareena Kapoor adopted Pranpur and Chanderi in Madhya Pradesh, with the actress stating that the villages are close to her heart. Comic actor Arshad Warsi took up the village of Khadimal in Maharashtra which was in total darkness till date. Dia Mirza, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, has adopted the village of Kokkirai Lanka in her state and Deepika Padukone went on to adopt the village of Ambegaon in Maharashtra. Priyanka Chopra, who is also the campaign ambassador, announced her decision to adopt two villages as the Greenathon concluded.

'Marathon Man' Milind Soman ran for 100 km and helped raise 50 lakhs to light up villages. The magnanimous Rahul Bose not only ran along with Milind but also adopted a village. Other Bollywood stars such as Vivek Oberoi, Neha Dhupia, Waheeda Rehman, Abhay Deol, Mugdha Godse, Sajid Khan, Imran Khan, Boman Irani, Minissha Lamba, Kailash Kher, Pritam Chakraborty and Shilpa Rao also lent their support to the campaign and through their initiative, TERI's Lighting a Billion Lives, lighted several villages.

And it's not only singular actors doing their bit.

The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) in its nine years of existence has traveled to three continents and nine locations across the globe, helping it to reach out to a worldwide audience. This in turn has helped IIFA to launch it's green agenda at the IIFA Weekend Yorkshire '07 in the UK. Yorkshire was witness to a carbon-neutral IIFA Awards ceremony and the world's first-ever Green Carpet event. During the IIFA Awards ceremony, a special film on climate change titled Global Cool was also premiered. In an effort to further the initiative, IIFA 2008 launched the Green Globe award.

Through its powerful platform, IIFA is also going to be conducting a campaign across India, Thailand and other key territories around the world. Both IIFA and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will utilize their own stages to promote the fight against global warming with the hope that sharing knowledge will be the first step.

And with that, BollyCurry takes a wrap on this topic. But before we leave, remember it's not only celebrities who should work together for a greener tomorrow, but we, the common citizen, should do our bit too. A simple switching off the lights, not running unnecessary water, putting in recycling procedures or even spreading the word is the little we can do to help conserve the beauty of this one and only earth for the future generations!

Author: Mayu P.
Editors: Siona M., Jenifer Y. & Gunia M.
Graphics: Areena A.

Copyright BollyCurry

User Rating (6 Votes)