Eliminating water pollution has always been at the forefront of HH Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji’s environmental efforts, and never have those efforts been more important than they are right now as more and more reports surface about the vast quantities of plastic waste that are polluting and clogging our global waterways each year – plastic waste that takes 500 – 1000 years to degrade!

So, it was with appreciation that Pujya Swamiji welcomed Dr Rajesh Sarwadnyaji, founder of the Vivekananda Youth Connect Foundation, and his team to Parmarth Niketan yesterday to discuss Dr Sarwadnyaji’s campaign to clean the waters of Mayanagari Mumbai through his Project Blue initiative. Launched on Vivekananda Jayanti last January, Project Blue aims to both control waste of all kind, including plastic, from entering our waterways, and to clean-up the waste that does infiltrate our oceans and rivers.

Pujya Swamiji shared His concerns about the tide of plastic waste choking our seas with Dr Sarwadnyaii, saying that the indiscriminate and unscientific use of plastic is becoming one of the major threats to the environment and a hindrance to the process of environmental and life development. He shared that millions of tons of plastic are produced every year worldwide, with only 9 percent being recycled while 12 percent is burnt and poisons our air and the remaining 79 percent being scattered and contaminating our environment.

“Plastic damages our soil, our sea and our bodies,” Pujya Swamiji stated. “It’s killing our sea creatures. Every year more than one lakh animals and birds die by eating plastic bags. And this toxic plastic also destroys the fertility of the soil. If something isn’t done, by 2050 over 1 billion 200 million tons of plastic waste will accumulate around us. Truly, if we want to be prosperous and to keep our land healthy and pollution free then plastic has to be prevented from going into the sea.”

Data suggests that per capita plastic annually in India is approximately 13 Kgs. “The public,” Pujya Swamiji concluded, “has to be made aware to stop using single-use plastic. We have to make judicious use of plastic – like using biodegradable polymers – by thinking consciously for the greenery and prosperity of the earth. Also, we have to better manage the waste of plastics. Only then we can keep our oceans and earth pollution free.”

At the close of their very productive meeting, Pujya Swamiji offered Dr Sarwadnyaji and his team a sacred Rudraksha sapling and thanked them for their efforts to help offset the consequences of plastic waste. Pujya Swamiji led the Project Blue team in a water-blessing ceremony, amplifying their commitment to ensuring clean, safe and accessible water for all.