SAVAE celebrates Earth Day with a run from Sopore to Srinagar

One of Kashmir’s emerging athletes, Manan Hassan Wani, who is also famous a solo cyclist, chose to run from Sopore to Srinagar to mark the celebration of Earth Day, an annual international event organized in the entire world for creating awareness about environmental sustainability and the green future of planet earth. The event was organized by the South Asian Voluntary Association of Environmentalists (SAVAE), an organization which focuses on environmental policy in South Asia.

Wani started the run at 7:00 am from the apple Town of Sopore in North Kashmir and completed the 50km distance between Sopore and Srinagar in four and a half hours. He was received at Srinagar outside the Hajj House in Bemina by the founder of SAVAE, Bilal Ahmad Pandow and his colleagues at SAVAE. Later, a Memento and certificate of appreciation was presented to Wani by senior environmental journalist, Athar Parvaiz, who was the guest of honour for the event.

Parvaiz appreciated the athletic capabilities of Wani and his passion for contributing to the cause of environmental protection through his athleticism. He said that special talents like Wani could be of great help in creating environmental awareness. “Such events should be frequently organized for making people aware about their responsibilities towards planet earth and their immediate surroundings,” said Athar Parvaiz.

He lauded the efforts being made for creating environmental awareness by SAVAE and expressed his hope that the organization will organize more events of such nature in future for environmental sustainability especially when the entire world and south Asian region is facing the threat of climate change.
The founder of SAVAE said that the focus of his organization has always been environmental protection and SAVAE is keen to involve the youth of the region for the cause of environment. Project Lead Eco Mountaineering, Shafkat Masoodi said that they would organize such events with more frequency for environmental awareness in the Kashmir region and other parts of South Asia.