With a keen commitment to better one’s environment and generate greater awareness among the people, especially those in Pondicherry, ITPI celebrated the World Ozone Day on 16th September 2005, an annual tradition which it began in 2004.

On this occasion ITPI conducted a collage competition for children in the age group of 15 to 17 years on the theme “Act Ozone Friendly & Stay Sun Safe” which was UNEP’s theme for this year’s Ozone Day. Members from ITPI visited various schools in Pondicherry prior to the competition and gave presentations on the major factors contributing to ozone depletion and how one can lessen this depletion to prevent the ozone hole from expanding further. Additionally, the cartoon film “Ozzy Ozone”, (produced by UNEP) in which Ozzy is the defender of planet Earth was shown to a receptive audience of students and teachers.

Later, students from these schools got an opportunity to participate in a collage competition. The ideas portrayed were very creative and interesting. What came through was that children can be very imaginative and can show great concern for their environment. Almost all the participants were positively motivated by their collage projects which proved that children are indeed very responsive on matters relating to their environment and concerned to protect the earth. When asked to explain the project, they did so enthusiastically. They enjoyed the occasion greatly and also got the chance to win prizes which were in tune with ITPI’s commitment to promote Renewable Energy technologies. Following the competition, all the collage entries were exhibited at the Aurodhan Art Gallery in Pondicherry for a week.

As part of these events, the documentary “The World in Our Hands” produced by ITPI under the National CFC-Consumption Phase-out Plan project for UNEP, was also released by the Agriculture Minister of Pondicherry, Mr. A. Namassivayam, and was aired on the local channels on Ozone Day. The large media coverage of the Ozone Day events gave a good mileage to ITPI’s efforts in generating local awareness about environmental issues and highlighted ITPI’s commitment towards a “greener future”.