Kolkata – On the 26 of November, a mini marathon, a Greenathon, got underway in the heart of the city, participants from several city schools ran, starting out at 7 in the morning. This run has been an annual feature for the last 5 years and there is more than just the run - there's a very special fest also held after the event. In keeping with the growing concerns of our environment and the changing climate, The Assembly of God Church School (AGCS) Park Street, Kolkata, organised the 5th Edition of Greenathon - Our Dream Kolkata Green, the annual interschool eco-fest.

As the name implies, unlike the usual school festivals Greenathon is environment-themed. Therefore, each and every event had a particular connect with nature, environment, or ways to revive the environment. All events were named with a ‘G’ in the beginning, where the ‘G’ would stand for-green, for example : G Paint, G Muse.

For one event, Paper:Back, in partnership with Earthsmiles.net, schools must prepare months before the actual Greenathon, collecting small paper pieces which usually do not get recycled (ATM slips, receipts, tickets) and the school collecting the most is given a trophy on Greenathon day. Harrow Hall School emerged the champions for this and received their winner’s trophy for the 3rd time running - but with comparatively less amount of paper compared to their previous year’s victory. The trophy was innovatively made out of waste plastic bottles, and was presented by EarthSmiles.net Outreach Coordinator, Ishani Vasant, to the Harrow Hall representatives.

Earlier in the day, Ms. Vasant also presented a Certificate of Compliance for organising a green event approved by the EarthSmiles.net PlanetPoints programme. Mrs S. Shekhar, Vice-principal of the school accepted the Certificate, noting that this was the third time that AGCS had won it for ensuring their event, Greenathon, had minimum negative impact to the environment and promoted a green culture. Being awarded the certificate meant starting to think green in the early planning stages of Greenathon, make an environmental management plan according to the guidlines on PlanetPoints and finally implementing the green ideas; from responsible packing of food to waste management at the event. In fact, Mrs. Shekhar announced that they would now be going one step further from the school's BIG BLUE BIN (segregation of paper) effort last year - other bins would be added for food waste and plastic. In a fun moment, EarthSmiles.net's green team flew a drone on the AGCS campus, with a banner tail proclaiming Go Green!

Some moments from Greenathon '16...