Clear The Garbage From The Mountains or Clean Our Brains

So, when I got transferred to the hills in Himachal Pradesh due to work obligations last year in February, I contacted Dhauladhar Cleaners (DC) within a couple of weeks of my arrival telling them that I wanted to volunteer. I had been following them on social media while I was stationed in Delhi and I admired their work and passion for mother nature.

But then lockdown was imposed in March and I could only join the DC group in July. I vividly remember that I went on a tree plantation drive with them. That's me in red in the back.

And then regular cleanup drives were conducted on Sunday at Indrunag Hills. So, each Sunday we went to Indrunag Hills, pick up the trash that accumulated during the week. When I curiously asked the co-founder of DC group why same spot every week? He genuinely replied that we want to set Indrunag as a model example that other areas in Dharamshala or H.P can replicate.

We even collaborated with a graffiti artist to paint the tin shed of the makeshift shops at Indrunag Hills. I loved it!

But then over a period of time as I started to notice how each Sunday we are cleaning the same spot, I raised my concern that we should go deeper than just cleaning and picking up garbage from the roadsides.

Because all these cleanup drives are fine but somehow I felt like that by picking up the waste, we are just doing (plastic) surgery on the surface, so that it looks pleasing to the eyes.

So what NGOs like DC are doing is collecting all the waste lying on the roadsides and sending it to the Municipal Corporation (MC) which then throws all the trash in the pristine valleys, away from the eyes of the local people and travelers.

What an ingenious solution!

So in simple words, we have just made a difference on the periphery. The mind, the mindset, and the attitude of people, both of the common man and those in power, have remained the same.

Just picking up trash is useless

"Just picking up trash is pretty useless," says the director of the Plastic Soup Foundation, Maria Westerbos. Even psychologists are unsure how — or if — these cleanups really change the way people see and interact with the environment.

"We know that people often feel helpless in the face of environmental problems, so having [this] experience [and feeling like] you can make a difference is probably a good thing and may lead to further change," Sabine Pahl, an associate professor in psychology at Plymouth University, told DW.

It's easier to clean a place but a lot more difficult to keep the place clean.

And to make it remain clean, in addition to cleaning the mountains, we have to clean our brains too!  Because if our mindset and attitude changes then us volunteers and NGOs won't be needed as much. Because then we, the people, will not only make it clean but keep it clean too.

Just like the most safe society is the one in which there is no need for the police.

When I shared my 'Mann ki baat' (musings of the heart) to some DC members that what MCD is doing breaks my heart and I don't feel like we are doing enough by just picking up the trash from the same spot every week.

Jordan, a US-based activist echoes my musings, saying that the problem of plastic pollution has grown so large that no individual person can make a real difference.

"It's a systemic problem with a thousand different causes and they all need to be addressed as a system," he says. "Telling individual people that they can make a difference is a lie. And we all sort of induce each other to live in that lie so that we don't have to make the deeper changes that we're afraid of."

But to my dismay, the DC members took it to heart and started defending what the authorities are doing and saying that instead of 'blaming the authorities and making idle comments', we should 'actually do something on the ground'.

Well, we have been doing something on the ground for 2 years - picking up garbage from the same spot every Sunday - but that place still gets littered, people still consider the picnic spots and open areas as dumping ground. We have not been able to change people's mentality.

Well, we have been doing something on the ground for 2 years - picking up garbage from the same spot every Sunday - but that place still gets littered, people still consider the picnic spots and open areas as dumping ground. We have not been able to change people's mentality.

Conclusion

See, DC members volunteering selflessly for such a noble cause is admirable and when we share it on social media other people also get inspired and chip in in their own way. But I am reiterating that it's not enough. We will have to go deeper.

So, it is my humble request to the founders of DC group to take a different approach. In addition to doing something on the ground, let's question the authorities and try to change people's mindset as well.