ByIANSlife

October 28, 2021 (IANSlife) The conversation around Diwali is up and roaring with the festive season just around the corner. However, with the season approaching, there is already talk of air pollution and dipping AQI’s across urban centres. The firecracker show and stubble burning, like each year, are likely to make it worse. In line with that effort, Delhi has already banned firecrackers.  Many people in the recent past have also volunteered to drop out on purchasing firecrackers, which is a bold and much-applauded step towards a sustainable Diwali.

There are multiple facets of the festival, we can be more sustainable with. 

• LED lights: Most people traditionally buy one time Diwali lights or ‘fairy lights’ to decorate their homes and do away with it by the time Diwali and the new year is over, only to repeat the same cycle next year. The traditionally uncalibrated lights that are typically sold around this time not only use a lot more power but also cost more as part of energy consumption and hence your power bill. Instead of this use and throw pattern, there is a smarter way, with smart lights. We recommend investing in smart lights to decorate your house.  Not only will the power saving nature of LED lights be pocket friendly in the long run, but you can do much more than just the temporary festive flair of Diwali. The same can be used within the house to pre-set timers, change colour across millions of shades, set the mood lighting, adjust brightness and colour temperature, and even react to music! There are many such variants in the market, check out the trusted Philips Hue Strip Lights LED strip Light you can use this Diwali.
• Plants: Gifting plays a big role in the Diwali season. However, most people end up gifting and let’s face it, re-gifting, the same mithai box over and over again. Here is an alternate to break that cycle -Plants.  Plants, and more so indoor home-friendly plants are an interesting way to break the cycle. A recent study by NASA revealed that houseplants can absorb harmful toxins from the air, especially in enclosed spaces with little airflow. In such a case, especially with the year-end air quality time, indoor plants pots make for a great gift. After all, there is no such thing known as too much green! Ugaao.com is a great place to check out some plants.
• Mithai: Despite many alternate recommendations, the evergreen aspect of mithai gifting during Diwali season will probably never die. Diwali brings with it tons of kaju katli, barfis, ladoos and other traditional Indian sweets. Instead of gifting new store-bought packs this year, consider making and sending across home done sweets, or buy consciously from brands that support the environment. This sweet box from EcoHoy come consciously packed in EcoFriendly packaging, so you can eat, recycle and ultimately dispose of it consciously.
• Travel: With Diwali, NYE and Christmas also inch closer, and the year-end is a typical time to travel. Especially in light of COVID over the past 2 years, revenge travel has become a full-throttled trend. If you intend to travel, travel sustainably. Bare necessities have a collection of bamboo toothbrushes, steel tumblers, cloth bags, and biodegradable and toiletries for your use.

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