Eco Club by Garima Tandon

By,
Garima Tandon
B.Sc., B.Ed., M.Ed.
Banaras Hindu University
Eco-Club-
According to Yadav (2016), "Eco club or green club is a voluntary group which
promotes the participation of students in learning about, and improving their
environment". It is a means by which students and youth can organize themselves to
learn more about the issue, and also take action to improve their immediate
environment.
It is reflected from the content available on Sustainable Development Goals Partnership
Plateform (2018) that the Eco-Green Club is made up of teachers and a group of
motivated students to learn about the environment and to take action to improve their
immediate environment. They will also provide a wonderful opportunity to help
generate awareness, build attitudes and enable students to take up activities in the real
world, in a way that the constraints of the classroom and curriculum won’t allow. As
reflected from Samgra Shiksha compaign of MHRD, Eco clubs empower students to
participate and take up meaningful environmental activities and projects. It is a forum
through which students can reach out to influence, engage their parents and
neighbourhood communities to promote sound environmental behavior.
Objectives of Eco-club-
As per the MHRD guidelines (2019), major objectives to establish an eco-club are as
follows:
 Motivate the students to keep their surroundings green and clean by undertaking
plantation of trees.
 Promote ethos of conservation of water by optimizing the use of water.

 Motivate students to imbibe habits and life style for minimum waste generation,
source separation of waste and disposing the waste to the nearest storage point.
 To develop skills of observation, experimentation, survey, recording, analysis,
reasoning needed for conserving environment through activities
 Organise seminars, debates, lectures and popular talks on environmental issues in
the school to motivate the students to keep their surroundings green and clean.
 Promote ethos of conservation of water by optimizing the use of water and
cleaning of water body in the adjacent area.
 Educate students to create awareness amongst public and sanitary workers, so as
to stop the indiscriminate burning of waste which causes respiratory diseases.
 Sensitize the students to minimize the use of plastic bags, not to throw them in
public places as they choke drains and sewers, cause water logging and provide
breeding ground for mosquitoes.
 Organize tree plantation programmes, awareness programmes such as quiz, essay,
painting competitions, rallies, nukkad natak etc. regarding various environmental
issues and educate children about re-use of waste material & preparation of
products out of waste
 Campaign against use of loud speakers, motivate students not to use crackers and
fireworks, recycling of glass and metals, use of unnecessary horns.
 Field visit to environmentally important sites including polluted and degraded
sites, wildlife parks, etc.
 Organise rallies, marches, human chains and street theatre at public places with a
view to spread environmental awareness.
 Action based activities like tree plantation, cleanliness drives both within and
outside the school campus.
 Grow kitchen gardens, maintain vermin-composting pits, construct water
harvesting structures in school, practice paper recycling etc.
 Prepare inventories of polluting sources and forward it to enforcement agencies.
 Maintenance of public places like parks, gardens both within and outside the
school campus.

 Mobilise action against environmentally unsound practices like garbage disposal
in unauthorised places, unsafe disposal of hospital wastes etc.
 Beautify selected road side area with plants and flowers and put campaign boards
to generate awareness.
 Any other innovative programme on environmental issues.
Steps to establish an Eco-club-
As suggested by Climate CoLab (2016), following steps should be followed to establish
an eco-club:
1. Seek for permission to establish the club & its approval.
2. Arrange a venue, a suitable day of the week and time for meeting.
3. Advertise the meeting time, place, etc. (Organize beforehand with some students who
might be interested in forming the management committee).
4. Get a teacher to be the patron/staff advisor.
5. At the meeting, the names of all who attended will be taken down. The students will
decide on the structure of the club, and on its objectives themselves.
6. Have elections for the posts on the management committee, and post the names will
be pasted on the notice board
7. For the first meeting after the elections, we will have a presentation, or show a video
or slide show, about climate change to hold everyone’s interest.
8. Decide on the types of activities, offer members some suggestions, according to their
interests and capabilities.
9. Decide on the amount of dues and on a meeting schedule.
10. Ensure that notices are given out for the next meeting in good time.
11. Select students to be coordinators / chairpersons.

Patron
(Head and Dean)
President
(1st Teacher alloted for Environmental
Education)
Vice Precident
(2nd Teacher alloted for Environmental
Education)
General Secretary
Joint Secretory
Treasurer
General Members
Structure of Eco-club

Different positions and duties-
(1). President-
This position is the overall manager and executive position in the Eco-club. President
is responsible to perform following duties:
 Oversees the executive board
 Co-ordinate events with eco-club member’s involvement
 Guides the meeting according to the agreed agenda
 Enforces rules and procedure, e.g., only one person speaks at a time
 Rules on disputed matters
 Maintains the policy of the club and the college
 Prevents irrelevant discussions
 Encourages participation of all members
 Deals firmly and tactfully and with humour when faced with disruption or
aggression
 Summarizes the discussions before a decision is to be taken.
(2). Vice President-
The main duty of Vice President is to assists the President. If the President cannot attend
an event, the Vice President becomes the person-in-charge of that event.
(3). General Secretary-
The General Secretary is to take very explicit and detailed minutes at each, meeting.
Major duties of general secretory are as follows:
 Drafts notices to convene meetings, and posts them
 Takes notes on what the meeting decides
 Takes care of certain logistical tasks, e.g., books the meeting room
 Follows up with members, others to ensure actions that were agreed on have been
done.
 Takes care of any correspondence
 Draws up first draft of agenda for the President’s approval

 Keeps the chair informed
(4). Joint Secretary-
The Joint Secretary should keep and maintain the records and contact details of the
members. She/he should work closely with the General Secretary.
(5). Treasurer-
Following are the major duties of treasurer of eco-club:
 Collects dues
 Keeps financial records accurately
 Prepares budgets
 Provides meetings with financial information in a timely manner
Eco-club Activities-
Following things should be kept under consideration while selecting/planning for
activies in eco-club:
1. What you want to achieve
2. The number of people in your club
3. The time of year most appropriate for the activity
4. The rules and regulations at your college
5. The time needed to complete it
6. The amount of money needed.
Some activities extracted from Climate CoLab (2016) and Eco club Handbook by
Environmental Information System, India are summerized below. These activities are
only suggestive. The college eco-club may take up any activity depending on their local
conditions and course of action.

(A). ACTIVITIES: EDUCATING OTHERS-
 Prepare an environmental literacy campaign: get posters put up on bulletin
boards, have photos on exhibition.
 Prepare and carry out assemblies for the college community on the different
environmental days in year: World Food Day, National Peace Day, Labour Day,
Earth Day, World Water Day, World Forestry Day, World Environment Day,
Paryavaran Mahotsav, Swachh Baharat Abhiyan, etc
 Prepare dramatic presentations on issues, e.g., have a play about the importance
of environmental protection and Agriculture etc.
 Prepare and run a school or college environmental quiz, with prizes for winners.
 Have a poster, essay, poetry competition “Celebrate the Earth”, “Use Water
Wisely”, “Let there be Peace on Earth” etc.
 Prepare some environmental games for students to play and learn with.
 Maintain an Environmental Notice Board with interesting news on the
environment and set up Environmental Corners in the library.
 Organize a mini-conference or rally on an environmental issue in your
community.
 Arrange for interesting people to speak on a topic or issue.
 Prepare and show an environmental video of your campus focusing on any aspect
of the environment, e.g., the nature, the buildings, etc.
 Do research on interesting local issues and topics, and make presentations, or
have debates.
(B). ACTIVITIES: WORKING OUTDOORS-
 Students are advised to identify a local environmental problem, propose
solutions and act where possible to solve the problem.
 Go on field trips to interesting areas, e.g., heritage sites, national parks.

 Prepare an “eco walk” on the school or college compound, with notes on any old
school buildings or ruins, notes on the pond, on the butterfly garden, on the
vegetable garden, on the compost heap, pointing out the energy saving aspects
of the college’s operation. Then make copies of the “walk” available to all
teachers for their classes.
 Have a “clean-up” day of an area in your community.
 Do an environmental audit of the college with respect to use of water, electricity,
and paper; give your recommendations to the principal; assist with fund-raising
to remedy the situation.
 Establish and maintain a college garden; beautify the college grounds with
ornamental plants that do not require much watering.
 Prepare a compost heap, bag compost, and use it in the college garden, or at
home.
 Sort garbage (remove paper, plastic, glass and composting materials) and recycle
(i) recycle paper to make new paper for cards or notes (ii) sell bottles and cans
to recyclers.
 Set up a Litter Control campaign on campus (put up signs, beg for garbage
containers, speak with staff who empty containers).
 Organize a walkathon to raise money, for example, for planting trees around the
fence line of the college or for repairing leaking water pipes, toilets, faucets.
 Enhance the habitat: “adopt” an animal, e.g., set up bird feeders, or “adopt” a
tree, e.g., beautify the area around it, take care of the tree.

Steps to be followed for planning a meeting of Eco-club
Purpose identification
Planning Activities
Meeting of Club
Granting permission from higher
authority
Development of Preliminary
Agenda
Analysis of schedule of faculty to check availability
of club members and space for meeting
Feedback
Assigning Roles
Displaying Notice to inform club
members about meeting (Date, Time,
Venue, and Agenda)

References
 CBSE. (2019). ECO-CLUBS and Water Conservation : A Handbook for
Schools. Retrieved on 03.02.2020. Retrieved
from cbseacademic.nic.in
 Climate CoLab. (2016). Establishment of Environmental clubs in Schools
and colleges in Boulder by David African green movement.
Retrieved on 05.02.2020. Retrieved from
https://www.climatecolab.org/contests/2015/climate-collaboration-
in-boulder-co/c/proposal/1327001
 Environmental Information System, India. (2014). Eco Club Handbook:
Nation Green Corps. p.6. Retrieved on 02.02.2020. Retrieved
from https://sikinvis.nic.in
 MHRD, GOI. (2019). Constitution of Youth Club and Eco Club. Retrieved
on 03.02.2020. Retrieved from
http://samagra.mhrd.gov.in/youth.html
 Sustainable Development Goals Partnership Platform. (2018). Eco-Green
Clubs in Schools. Retrieved on 02.02.2020. Retrieved
from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/partnership/?p=10737
 Yadav, A. (2016).WHAT IS ECO-CLUB AND ITS MAIN OBJECTIVE.
Retrieved on 03.02.2020. Retrieved
from http://ncsecoclub.blogspot.com/2016/09/what-is-eco-club-and-
its-main-objective_20.html?m=1

Eco Club by Garima Tandon

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