On the eve of Ganesh Chaturthi, we raise a familiar question again: Should we celebrate at such great cost to the environment? Or will you make a small but significant difference this year?

An artisan walks past the idols of Hindu elephant god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, kept inside a workshop in Mumbai.

An artisan climbs on an idol of Hindu elephant god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to paint it inside a workshop in Mumbai August 3, 2011. Idols of Ganesh are made two to three months before the day of "Ganesh Chaturthi", a popular religious festival in India. The idols are taken through the streets in a procession accompanied by dancing and singing, to be immersed in a river or the sea symbolizing a ritual see-off of his journey towards his abode in Kailash", while taking away with him the misfortunes of all mankind.

Artisans make an idol of Hindu elephant god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, inside a workshop in Mumbai August 3, 2011. Idols of Ganesh are made two to three months before the day of "Ganesh Chaturthi", a popular religious festival in India. The idols are taken through the streets in a procession accompanied by dancing and singing, to be immersed in a river or the sea symbolizing a ritual see-off of his journey towards his abode in Kailash", while taking away with him the misfortunes of all mankind.

An artisan applies finishing touches to an idol of Hindu elephant god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, at a workshop in Jammu August 19, 2011. Idols of Ganesh are made two to three months before the day of "Ganesh Chaturthi", a popular religious festival in India. The idols are taken through the streets in a procession accompanied by dancing and singing, to be immersed in a river or the sea symbolizing a ritual see-off of his journey towards his abode in Mount Kailash, while taking away with him the misfortunes of mankind.

A Ganesh idol joins thousands of others being immersed in the river. A study conducted in the Ganga River in the aftermath of the similar immersion of Durga idols during the Pujo festival estimated that the total amount of paint submerged in the river was approximately 15 tons. They caused the levels of heavy metals such as mercury, chromium and copper and zinc sulphites to increase by as much as 20 times the normal between October and January. Only during the monsoon, when water levels rise in Indian rivers, does the level of pollutants diminish.

A man searches for reusable items amid immersed idols of the elephant-headed Hindu God Ganesh in the Sabarmati River. Action groups in Mumbai insist that there is a silver lining amid all of this: In 2009, 8,383 household idols were immersed in artificial ponds. In 2010, they maintain, the number grew to 13,866.