1,200 Voices for One Cause

Growing up in Butwal, I have heard people complain about the hiking trails of Nuwakot countless of times. Remnants of plastic thrown by fellow hikers, scattered bottles of alcohol, and waste piling up in the hiking trails throughout the jungle of Nuwakot. On the occasion of World Environment Day, I expected yet another awareness event filled with few speeches, few photographs and everything back to usual the next day. However, this year more than 1,200 residents of Butwal volunteered for a community cleanup in the trails of Nuwakot. This event organized by the Environment Protection Society Nepal in collaboration with Butwal Sub-Metropolitan City, and local environmental advocates was more than just a movement.

For me, environmental issues often felt too large for a single person to solve. Standing among hundreds of volunteers, however, that feeling started to change.

I found myself looking at hundreds of people carrying bags of waste, cleaning spaces they had no obligation to clean.

And, for the first time in a while, environmental responsibility did not feel like a slogan. This environment day was indeed a different story for Butwal.

The story was not about pollution, waste, or environmental decline.

It was about hundreds of students, local residents, and activists cleaning their neighbourhoods, proving that protecting the air we breathe is a shared responsibility.