Written by Raghav Mathur, a grade 10 student and
Arhaan Mathur a grade 5 student.

There has been a lot of talk about eco-friendly products. As children you hear many things and don’t always know what those are. But, we were curious to know about them, so we asked our nani  Sunita Khanna and mother Vinnie Mathur (both are educationists and Environmentalists) about them.

They made us take a pledge on Children’s Day last year to use eco-friendly products as much as possible. We also decided to talk and spread the good word about them among our friends, cousins and classmates.

Some examples of eco-friendly products:

All the above products are eco friendly and are biodegradable. Our parents tell us to use the above products as much as possible if we love our Mother Earth and not be carried away by the shiny plastic items.
One by one we shall tell you about the above products.

Plantable Seed Pencils
Plantable Seed Pens
Plantable Seed Copies
Seed Bombs
Bamboo Tooth Brushes
Bamboo Combs
Bamboo Straws
Canvas /Jute Pouches
Cloth Bags
Clay Water Bottles
Copper Bottles

All the above products are eco friendly and are biodegradable. Our parents tell us to use the above products as much as possible if we love our Mother Earth and not be carried away by the shiny plastic items.
One by one we shall tell you about the above products.

Seed Pencils
From time immemorial the whole world has been using pencils made out of wood by cutting and chopping trees. Now that we are aware of the importance of trees lets take a pledge to stop using the wooden pencils and use plantable seed pencils, which have seeds of different vegetables and flowers at one end of them. Interestingly, they are made up of old newspapers and magazines and they are very reasonably priced.

Here’s how you can plant them.

After buying them plant, them in a pot at 45 degrees angle (not at 90 degrees). After about 5-6 days in summer and 8-9 days in winter they will sprout and little saplings will come out. Very carefully remove the pencil, wash them and use them like a normal pencil. We’ve been using them for the past many months and they have given us a wonderful feeling that as children we are contributing towards the betterment of the environment.

When Arhaan (my brother) returns from school he rushes to the balcony to see the growth of his seed plants of tomatoes, green chilies and bell peppers.

Seed Pens
For years we’ve been using pens made out of plastic without not realizing how much damage they have done and are continuously doing. Earlier our grandparents used to use pens in which ink was put. They were still better because they were being reused. Now with the invention of a ball pen and gel pen they are damaging nature and filling the landfills because plastic is not biodegradable.

Let’s take a pledge to use only plantable seed pens and say a big no to plastic pens.

These are also made up of the old newspapers and magazines and are very reasonably priced. They too can be planted in the same way as the pencil and organic vegetables and flowers can be obtained from them.

We are happy to share with you that on teachers day both of us gifted our teachers a set of a seed pencil and a seed pen. They were cheaper than roses and very useful, when we see our teachers use them we feel very happy, wheres the roses found themselves in the dust bin next day.

On Children’s day we got a very different gift from our parents, it was an eco friendly kit. It was a very smart jute bag and inside were 5 coloured seed pencils of red green yellow blue and pink colours, 4 normal black seed pencils, 3 seed pens of blue, black and red colors. There was also a bamboo tooth brush, bamboo comb and bamboo straw.

Bamboo Tooth Brush

Our Nani told us the story of the toothbrush – how the plastic one is like a devil on earth, and is causing environmental crisis. She told us that every piece of plastic ever made still exists because plastic is not a part of nature’s food chain. All of the plastic toothbrushes created since the invention of plastic toothbrushes in 1930 still exist, so nani requested us to switch to bamboo brushes to make a small change that will have a big impact. She also told us that her grandfather used Neem stems to brush his teeth which was very very healthy because he used to take in the juice of the Neem while brushing.

We have the bamboo straws which we keep along with the cutlery pouch of a spoon and a fork. We are made to carry this pouch every time we go out along with a water bottle of steel or copper.

We are also inculcating a habit of carrying a steel mug for having coffee/tea in a Cafe (but so far, we haven’t been able to) but it is a big step for saying no to plastic /styrofoam /paper cups. Our nani and mom have taught us to make seed bombs which are made of soil and seeds sprinkled in them.

Whenever we go on a long drive, we throw them out from the windows of the car and sometimes we make our father stop the car and both of us try to throw them as far as we can. We make cloth bags out of mom and dads shirts and kurts and decorate them with old laces braids, buttons etc.

So, friends lets make our country green – a better and healthy place to live because its now or never. You will be sad to know that, according to a UN report trees per head is the lowest in India.

In every 5 years our environment becomes hotter.
So, friends lets make a beginning of planting at least 5 trees in the coming monsoon and take care of them.

Let’s also do this that on our birthdays!