The second day of the Nepali Times EcoFair saw many enthusiastic visitors ranging from students, farmers, architects, engineers and ordinary people interested in ways to save money by having a greener lifestyle.
Himalmedia, the publisher of Nepali Times, holds the EcoFair every year to showcase renewable energy options, ways to collect and conserve water, chemical-free agriculture, biogas, solar, microhydro and other rural energy alternatives.
"I found the exhibition very educational, I learnt a lot," said Kabita Khadka (first picture, below), a college student.
Kabita KhadkaRaju Shrestha is a teacher of environment and public health, and said he was very interested to see the stalls on rainwater harvesting and vermiculture. "I will bring my students here on Saturday," he said. The EcoFair was inaugurated on 5 June World Environment Day and will be open from 10 Am- 6 PM on Saturday. It is a partnership between Himalmedia, the Minsitry of Environment and Laxmi Bank.
Sangam Rai, a 7th grader said he was glad he came to the fair. "it is really inspiring to see how we can make our ecological footprint smaller, I really liked the biogas exhibition the most."
Radio reporter Mallika Thapa was happy there were so many story ideas on the environment and people to interview all in one place. "I found the exhibitions of terrace farming, and rain water harvesting the most realistic and practical and best of all. This eco-fair is literally eco-friendly, I found the cycle city exhibit really useful."
Cycle City Network is campagining to make Kathmandu bicycle friendly city by 2020 and says cycling isn't only environment friendly but saves lot of space, ten bicycles can be parked in the space taken up by one car. Cycle City has set up bicycles parking in Darbar Marg and is spreading it to other areas.
Bhaktapur based handicrafts and pottery are also on exhibit, and selling pottery items and photo frames, idols of god and goddess, and wood carved souvenirs. Beltronix is now manufacturing Nepal rechargable lamps, bulbs and torch lights with 6-8 hour backup with 4 hour charge. Visitors were curious about the products because of load shedding.
The ICIMOD stall concentrted on appropriate technology solutions like solar cookers and fuel-efficient firewood and smokeless stoves and space heaters with the focus on farming communities in the mountains.
The solar parabolic cooker is portable and can fold into a backpack and is especially useful in the trans-Himalayan region where ther eis plenty of sunshine in winter. The 2-3 hole stove, waste material briquette, foldable briquette press, briquette stoves are also on display. ICIMOD shows how waste materials like paper, pine needles and saw dust can also be a source of energy.
It may be surprising to some why Yeti Airlines has a stall in an ecological fair, but the reason is that Nepal's largest domestic airline has taken green initiative of planting a tree by setting aside Rs 20 from each passenger ticket it sells round trip on the Kathmandu to Dhangadi and Nepalganj sectors. Since it started in 2010, yeti has planted 250,000 saplings in the far-western Tarai. Yeti says this also helps offset the carbon emissions from its flights.
Much more directly carbon neutral is Agni Energy which is showcasing the Mahindra e2o, the fully-electric four seater hatchback that has a range of 100 km. The cost of running the car is only Rs 1 per km and is powered by a 48v maintenance free lithiun-ion battery which takes four hours to charge fully. The zero emission car doesn't is priced at Rs 2.3 million even though the government has cut its excise tax by half, and the vehicle is exempt from road tax.
Panchatatwa in Gatthaghar is showcasing its organic honey, green tea and coffee along with massage oil and Sativa, a sugar free, calorie free sweetener suitable for diabetics.
K and D Innovative Solution has a stall that exhibits its one stop solution for agriculture with wide range of agricultural services with most popular being terrace farming (Kausi Kheti). the specialists in roof-top gardening helps Kathmandu residents with advice and material.
Sonia Awale
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