Pollute less and save mother Earth

We saving the planet is constrained by the necessities of modern day life. Nevertheless, I will try to discuss what we can do better to save our environment.

The topic led me to think what our pollution footprint is, and I should admit that I was  startled by what I discovered. Right from the moment we wake up, everything we do has an environmental impact, the toothpaste we use to brush comes in a plastic packaging and with ingredients which are manufactured across the world. I wonder what happens to the packing when the paste gets over, it will probably end up in some landfill along with a million other plastic products which do not bio-degrade for hundreds of years. More and more products that we use casually everyday like chemical batteries end up in landfills too.

The enormous trash that we are generating is finding its way into the oceans too. Recently they discovered plastic trash many kilometers wide in the Pacific Ocean. This way, without any recycling processes in place, our planet will end up becoming a giant dump yard. It is not just our land and the water that are getting polluted, the smoke from the vehicles and once in the year Diwali Fireworks cause significant air pollution. So much so that it would need many trees to clean up the air for the pollution done in one day. It will fall short of the mark even if we were to plant a new plant every day throughout the year.

My grandparents told me about the ecological sustainability in their village. Except for very few things, most of what they needed was produced and consumed locally. They brushed with a neem stick and I believe their teeth are much stronger than most of us. If they had a party, they dined in leaf plates which were later fed to the cattle along with the leftover food. Such a system has minimum ecological impact.

Consider the case of today, the leftover food along with plastic or Styrofoam plates are packed into a plastic bag and thrown into the landfill and the earth never gets the chance to recycle the food. It's a pity some of the plastic also ends up in the gut of hungry animals. A lot of species are going to extinct on the planet because of pollution and no sorry can bring them back.

The excessive use of electrical and electronic gadgets is also increasing the pollution. It might not be where the gadget is used but do remember that when you switch on the light or check a message on the smart phone, somewhere coal is burnt to make that energy as we are not sufficient on hydro and nuclear energy.

Considering all these, here are a few ideas to save our planet:

We have to use separate bins for bio degradable organic waste and non-biodegradable waste like plastic. This way the plastic would be sent for recycling instead of going into a landfill and remaining there for hundreds of years.

We have to use the dump boxes available at malls in the city to dispose off old electronic gadgets. They don't allow to dump batteries there. Maybe the battery companies can tell us about proper disposal of their product.

We have to be frugal when we celebrate Diwali and make sure the environment is not polluted.

We should discourage food that is sold in plastic or styrofoam plates. We must opt for food served in metal, porcelain or leaf plates only.

We need to switch of the lights, fans and other equipment immediately when not needed. This will reduce both electricity consumption and pollution.

We doing all these will reduce pollution just by a bit, but I strongly believe the real need is for a sustainable system that my Grandparents told about.

We all have only one home and it is our planet earth. Mother nature can provide for our need but not for our greed. Lets do our bit for our mother and she will take care of us very well.