About Environment Education Bus

‘Prakriti’ Environment Education Bus (EE Bus) is a mobile resource centre to be used by youth volunteers in Surat, Bharuch, Ankleshwar and Ahmedabad to create awareness among school / youth and general community on environmental issues affecting them and a broad understanding of the environment resources of Gujarat.

The environment bus will reach out to a broad section of the community in urban and rural areas. It uses a multi media approach including panel displays, activities, interactive models, films, slide shows, puppet shows, role-plays and take away communication material like pamphlets, brochures, labels and postcards.

The exhibition broadly focuses on following:

1. Our Gujarat and Our District

2. Our Biodiversity

3. Our Land

4. Our Energy

5. Air Pollution, Industrial Gujarat and Natural Gas

Design Structure

The bus uses a ‘Swaraj Mazda’ chasis. It runs on Compressed Natural Gas, which will help to create awareness and motivation to use CNG, a clean fuel. The two sides of the bus are converted into the six sections with three panels in each. While the bus is moving, these sections are closed and covered by glass shutters. A visual collage featuring people and places (cultural heritage) of Gujarat appears on one side of the bus and natural heritage highlighting the richness in terms of biodiversity is placed on the other side. The back side of the bus is used for viewing 3-dimensional models and screening of short films and documentaries.

Resource Centre Content

The mobile resource centre uses a multimedia approach.

Key media included are:

1. Exhibition: The exhibition includes eighteen panels including three panels dedicated to each of the major themes - biodiversity, land, energy and water; two introductory panels on the State and one panel each on general information about the District, air pollution, industries and natural gas.
                                                                                                                                                                Panel Exhibition

The exhibition panels are designed to include:

General information

The first panel under each major theme is dedicated to the basic information related to the theme. The biodiversity panel provides information on the type of ecosystems in Gujarat, key species, national parks and sanctuaries. It also discusses concepts such as the food chain and food pyramid. The land panel provides information on soil types, crops grown, land use, agriculture, dairy and Gujarat’s economy. Panel on water discusses concepts such as water cycle, provides information on rivers and various other sources of water, and water consumption patterns. The energy panel provides information on sources of energy in Gujarat and energy consumption patterns in different sectors. The natural gas panel provides a comparison between the natural gas and other sources of energy to emphasize natural gas as “Clean Fuel”. Thus, the first panel sets the tone for each theme.

Food Cycle                    

Concerns and Best Practices

The second panel under each major theme highlights concerns and best practices related to the theme. For example, a panel on Biodiversity highlights concerns such as setting up of the salt pans in areas which provide vegetation for the survival of Black buck, roads and highways through sanctuaries, unplanned development along coastal areas and shrinkage of wetlands due to urbanization. Some of the efforts discussed in the panel for the minimization of threats to biodiversity are joint forest management related programmes, eco development, education and awareness about nature. The land panel mentions disasters, land degradation, congestion and high population density as key concerns.
            Salt Pan                               Highway through
                                                         National Park

Some of the efforts are integrated land management, development of parks and gardens in urban areas for greenery and recreation facilities. Under the theme water, key concerns highlighted include continuous depletion of water table, improper water quality, insufficient quantity, improper water storage and handling methods and water related diseases. Some of the efforts are use of efficient irrigation practices including drip and sprinkler methods, awareness about WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) and rain water harvesting at various levels.
                                                                                                                                             Joint Forest
                                                                                                                                            Management               Eco-development

Some of the concerns related to energy are inefficient public transport in terms of fuel and coverage, inefficient energy use for irrigation, use of inefficient cooking fuel mainly fire wood. The efforts to conserve energy include improved "Chulha" for cooking, promoting use of bicycle as an eco friendly means of transport, use of solar energy, wind energy and biogas. Thus, these panels provide information about key concerns which need immediate attention and some efforts by institutions, NGO’s and Government organizations towards finding appropriate solutions.

 Interactive Elements

The last panel in each theme is an interactive one focusing on ‘learning-by-doing’ and also helps to recapitulate information provided in the first two panels. For example, in

the biodiversity panel, one can press buttons to hear bird calls and identify animals through their foot tracks. The land panel helps to distinguish between organic and inorganic waste and time required for different wastes to decompose, rainfall and water requirement of some of the major crops in the State. The panel on theme water helps to understand water conservation practices and help to calculate water wastage in a day from a dripping tap. The panel on energy helps to understand renewable sources of energy, their use and the method of energy audit.

2. Interactive Models: Interactive three dimensional models emphasized the concepts focused though the exhibition panels. These include models on rain water harvesting, efficient use of energy in our day to day life, solid waste management and management of grey water discharged from our kitchens. These are very popular particularly among school children.
                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                           

                                                                                                                                                        Press the Button to heard Bird call

3. Puppet shows, street plays, role plays and performances: These media are used depending upon the availability of time, target group and place of performance. The focus of these media are to reemphasize actions expected from an individual.

4. Film shows: Screening of short films and documentaries on various environmental issues are used very effectively to create audience interest in environmental topics. In schools, these are screened at the school auditoriums or big halls and in villages or public places at open spaces.

5. Games : CEE has been using games as an effective approach for environmental education. Some of CEE’s most popular games such as the Web of Life help students understand inter linkages within various factors in an eco-system. The game Who am I?, helps to understand classification of plants and animals. A number of similar games are part of the mobile resource centre.

Snake & Ladder             

6. Other Resources: A variety of other resources such as wall papers, posters, pamphlets, brochures, bookmarks, school labels on popular birds, animals and plants, manual, games and activity kits are also part of the mobile resource centre. These are very widely referred to by the volunteers, school and college teachers and are in great demand. We are looking for ways to help them keep copies of such material at school and college libraries.