Cleaning up the Roof of the World

In pictures of Nepal, as well as snowy peaks you’ll often see lines of brightly coloured cloth, flying from temples or up in the mountains. They’re not washing lines! These are called prayer flags. They are covered in writing that contains hopes and good wishes.

In the local religion, Buddhism, the local people – who are Buddhists – believe that hoisting a prayer flag can carry their good wishes far across the world on the wind.  

Smelling a problem

But a few years ago, Ang Dolma, a lady who lives in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, smelled a problem with the prayer flags.

During certain religious services, or when the flags are old and tatty, people burn the prayer flags. They say that the smoke carries their good wishes far away on the wind.

But what Ang Dolma smelled during a ceremony was not good wishes, but bad rubbish. It smelled like plastic burning, she told WoW! News.

She realised that prayer flags today are made of polyester. That’s a kind of plastic.And when you burn it, it gives off nasty gases and smells. It’s really bad for the environment.

Good deed turns bad

It made Ang Dolma feel really bad, too. Buddhists believe very strongly that we should care for all of nature. Prayer flags can carry good wishes for a healthy world. But here they were polluting it, thought Ang Dolma.

“Thinking that we were doing something good by hanging prayer flags but in return we were polluting the environment was very saddening for me.”

She quickly thought of a way to fix the problem. What if we made prayer flags out of cotton and other natural fibres, like people used to? Then there would be no problem.

But Ang Dolma was just an ordinary person. She didn’t have a flag factory. She didn’t know about business. She didn’t see how she could fix the problem alone.

No more waiting!

Then, a couple of years ago, when everyone was stuck indoors because of Covid, she got to thinking again. There was lots of smoke and air pollution in Kathmandu. And she thought: “If I don’t try to do something now, I never will.”

She spoke to a lady she knew who had a sewing machine. And this lady spoke to other ladies who were stuck at home and couldn’t go to work. And Ang Dolma got all these ladies together and said: “We’re going to make prayer flags that are good for the planet!”

They now make hundreds of prayer flags every month in natural cloth. They also don’t use chemical colours and so their prayer flags are white, with black writing.

In the past few months, during important celebrations for Buddhists, some of the biggest temples in Nepal have started using Ang Dolma’s planet-friendly prayer flags and top priests have said everyone should do the same.

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 Lessons learned

Ang Dolma is really happy to have found a solution that works. And she says she’s learned some really important things.

First, she says, if you have a good idea, you can feel alone and may not believe you can change things. But if you start talking to people about it, you’ll soon find you’re not alone – and together, you can do great things.

And second, every good action counts to help the planet. We can all do something to help, right at home. And if we do, and if we’re patient, we can stop climate change.

Check out the WoW! News app this week, for ideas on what you can do – and to let us know your ideas!

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