So World Water Day is approaching on the 22nd of March, and suddenly there’s this enlightenment and hype about what activities should be conducted in school to portray how we should conserve water. Being an IB student, World Water Day is of greater significance to me than most other people. Now the question that arises is, “How is one’s academic board related to World Water Day?”. But it is! You see World Water Day is one of our school’s most important CAS Projects. Hence, automatically this day becomes way more important for us IBDP kids as now it is not so much about spreading awareness and doing productive work, but about doing something even as irrelevant as conducting a poster- making competition just to get the required grades. We’re fine with wasting paper to depict how to save water just to show the IBO that we’re taking this day so seriously and that we’re adept at finding ways to apply CAS in such socially and environmentally important issues. To emphasise on how ridiculous this cycle of hypocrisy and irony is, wasting water the other 364 days is absolutely fine but on 22nd March leaving the tap on for an extra second is equivalent to writing outside the given box in a Physics paper 1. To put it in simpler words, you’re doomed.
I’d be one of those cynical and pessimistic writers if I only spoke about the issue and not the solution. So here it goes, since its actually pretty simple. Painting t-shirts, making charts, conducting competitions ranging from movie-making to poster-making is not the answer. Wastage of other resources to spread the idea of saving another one is bizarre. What we must focus on is how a section of the society is oblivious to the fact that Water is a scarce resource and how its conservation is a top priority. Spreading awareness in such areas of the city, through a simple march is more likely to do some good. Going to the younger classes of one’s school and explaining them the need to save water could prove to be beneficial since the ones who are generally unaware of their actions tend to be the most pernicious. Using online tools and exploiting the boon of the 21st century can prove to be the most fruitful way to achieve the aim of creating awareness. Blogs, Forums, Pages, Articles, the list can go on and on. Something as ludicrous as Memes can create an unimaginable impact. Creative mediums such as songs and anthems could be created to catch the attention of uninterested people to get them more involved or at least be aware.
The IBDP can be quite intriguing if you sit to think about it. And its learner profile and learning outcomes can be defined differently based on one’s interpretation.
