Chennai-19th June 2016 ( Sunday ) : Chennai Trekking Club hand together with MNC’s and IT People started Plastic Free Chennai Coastal Service. totally 10 thousand members were registered for this nobel service, 8 thousand people were cleaned on 14 coastal venues. Chennai Coastal Clean Up – 7 members , Marks & Spensers 40 members co ordinated by Mr. Rajesh, Mr.Kamalesh, Mr.K.Paul, Ms.Jessy, Tech Mahindra 150 members co ordinated by Mr.Vaidyanathanand more were assembled at 5.30am, warmed up 3o mins and started clean up work and made the event very successfully.
Find below unique moments captured on Sunday showing the spirit of our green army while clean sweeping our troubled Chennai coastline. Most of the garbage found on the beaches is YOURS and MINE dumped near lakes and water bodies which eventually – through storm drains and rivers – flows to the ocean and anything that floats (plastic, thermocoil, cheppels, closed glass bottles) ends up back on our beaches. This is just the tip of the iceberg – what lies beyond the seas is beyond our imagination… Definitely a WAKE UP CALL for all of us to start REDUCING our garbage footprint by starting to SEGREGATE wet (kitchen waste, food) to be composted and dry (plastic, glass, paper, metal) to be recycled through your neighborhood kadibawala.
A small step for each of us, a huge impact together – every day Chennai generates 6000 tonnes of mixed toxic garbage which gets dumped on our beautiful Palikarnai marsh land, a (supposedly) protected wet-land and sensitive ecosystem. Let us all make a pledge to SAY NO to single-use plastics (polythene covers, glass bottles, paper/plastic cups, straws) which are used for a mere few seconds/minutes as matter of convenience and then get dumped and lie around for hundreds of years causing severe damage to our beautiful green planet (and our own health). CHANGE has to start from within US!CTC organizes a wide diversity of outdoor and sports activities to promote an active and healthy lifestyle. Activities include trekking, cycling, running, open water swimming, biking, photography, educational workshops, ladies & family treks. Major annual events include the Chennai Trail Marathon,Javadhu Hill Ultra and Chennai Iron Triathlon. CTC organizes easy, moderate and difficult treks as well as periodic fitness tests for new members. Check the major highlights in our history.
CTC also engages in many social activities including our Chennai Red Knights (blood donations), social treks for the less privileged and our CESAW group who creates awareness on environment and social topics through flash mobs and street plays. CTC was very involved in rescue, relief and rehabilitation during the Dec 2015 Chennai / Cuddalore floods.
CTC organizes regular free workshops on various topics including map reading and navigation, photography, snakes, first aid and various aspects of sustainable living. Each year CTC organizes a major symposium “Trek Polamaa?” where renowed guest speakers come to give inspirational talks on various topics related to outdoors, sports, nature and environment.
