Bangalore goes eco-friendly, for Christmas

Heralding the way for an eco-friendly Christmas in Bangalore is Mar Thoma Church on Primrose Road here. This festival season, the church has attracted lot of attention from Bangaloreans for its eco-friendly Christmas tree adorning the church premises.

The tree christened "Peace Tree" stands 30 ft tall. All the decorations on the tree have been made of material eked out from waste and discarded things.

The designers of the tree have recycled waste material like video tapes, plastic bottles, newspapers and plastic bags.
The idea of the eco-friendly tree has been mooted by the Mar Thoma Church Choir. Moreover, special children from Marthoma Opportunity School with mental disabilities have helped the church choir group in designing and decorating the beautiful tree.
"The idea behind the tree is to encourage people to recycle waste material instead of throwing them as garbage and save the environment from further pollution. Along with spreading the message of peace and love, the tree stands for conservation of the environment," choir's secretary Daniel Thomas said.

The choir group members and special children took around 20 days to complete the tree.
"We're serious about conservation of mother earth. By using discarded material, we want to tell people that even waste has its own value and recycling them can once again make them useable," said Shilpa, a member of the choir.
Moreover, Bangaloreans keen to save the environment have also shown a preference for artificial X-mas trees imported from China over the local ones made by cutting down pine trees.

Christmas shoppers said they were worried that cutting down pine trees would severely damage the ecology.
Concern to save the environment is evident from the Bangaloreans who are ready to spend between Rs.500 and Rs.7,000 to buy imported Christmas trees, while natural pine trees cost between Rs.100 and Rs.500.

"I have bought an imported Christmas tree. I am against cutting of trees and branches of pine to make Christmas trees. It's high time to save the environment and forest from further destruction and we can do so by taking small steps, like saying no to Christmas trees made out of pine," said Mary Fernandes, a Christmas shopper.

"There is a good demand for imported Christmas trees. I have 15 varieties of Christmas trees ranging from 2 ft to 10 ft. I am making good profit," smiled a shopkeeper selling Christmas goodies at Commercial Street, one of the busiest shopping destinations in Bangalore.