Gallege Punyawardana 

The theme of this year’s UN World Environment Day is ‘Beat Plastic Pollution.’ Plastic which is made of fossil fuel has been introduced to the society, particularly to the third world by way of development assistance and by now almost of all requirements of living are satisfied by fossil fuel-based products. That boils down to the fact that present day development could be defined as Plastic Development. Beating Plastic Pollution will therefore be nothing but Beating Plastic Development, which has ruined the entire organic planet and its environment.

As far as our country Sinhale- Sri Lanka is concerned the Process of development it had practiced through out the civilization is totally organic. It is much meaningful to define it as culture rather than development. Development is actually by product or a higher or a better state of affairs in the organic life and environment, Since water is the life blood of the organic environment, the people of this country during the course of civilization developed a method of collecting water by which the environment is sustained, enriched and enhanced, That is called Wewa, Over the time Wewa became the most important place in the village, In fact the Wewa is the Apex around which everything in social life emanates and rotates in the village. In this country every village has a Wewa. As the saying goes, there was no village without a Wewa, or Wewa without a village. Accordingly, the culture or the development as some would like to say, the country had was a Wew culture, which is totally organic.

Since this Wew culture or organic development process doesn’t promote trade and business, the International Community headed by UN, through its new world development programmes undermined the Wewa, the live wire of the organic society, and introduced fuel-based products. Through its massive advertising campaigns, and by formal and informal education programmes, plastic was introduced to satisfy all requirements of the people, resulting a plastic society and development today the UN system having understood it’s folly, in their attempt to clean up the society, has declared this year’s UN Environment Day as a day of beating plastic pollution. As far as this country is concerned, Swarna Hansa believes, the most ideal, fruitful and meaningful way of beating plastic pollution is to restore the Wew destroyed by Plastic Development.

Accordingly, Swarna Hansa under it’s Dahasak Wew programme, today on this World Environment Day helps the villagers of Wegedara in Galgamuwa to restore their village Wewa. The following photo shows the villagers, with the priest of the village temple and the Swarna Hansa officers posing for a photo to mark the historical event.

Gallege Punyawardana