I wasn’t quite in a mood of going to class today. I dragged ma feet out of the bed, into the shower, and to the class, with a lazy cup of tea on the way. A lot of thoughts crowded my head as I walked. I felt like crying. NO it was not something personal, I was crying at the status quo.
I woke up today at around 6.30 in the morning when I heard the ‘corporation ka nal ’ (tap) spewing water. That’s rare and happens at all odd hours, as if trying to evade those it is meant for. I got up and mechanically filled bottle after bottle. The tap coughed and spitted, but I remained persistent besides it.
Through the minutes that passed like hours, I wondered how many such waits were there in my life ahead, or in fact for all of us who plan to live beyond the next 10-15 years or more. Had our predecessors foreseen this when they raised us as children of abundance? I doubt! Has there been a blind overconsumption in the name of affordability and comfort; a trend that continues to this day (and not surprisingly at an exponential rate)? As we see things vanishing, we are possessed by this desire to seize as much as we can lay our hands on.
Do we act blind, or can’t we really see through?
Through the 70 billion year old march on earth, we have created imbalances well beyond the recovering capacities of nature, strained the nature to juice out from it all that can be gained from, endangered many a habitat and today we endanger our own. Have we lost foresight?
Why is environmental sustainability always given a backseat in any development program? While evaluating projects are environmental costs taken into account and offset suitably? The impact of development on the people, the land, air, water , and the natural biodiversity that lives around it, is it given a fair trial?
As the battle continue between those who can afford and those who cannot, we further the divide between the two as the cost of living rises, where even water and food go beyond the affordability of a large populace as they become scarce.
We waste energy and resources as a price for the status one must maintain. ” Economising” is nothing to be ashamed of. When shall we look at it in the light of being a more sensible choice? How difficult is it to rethink and change?
The consumer is the greatest instrument of change, why still does the majority yield to the fulfillment of desires of a richer minority? How distant are the solutions? How difficult is a comprehensive green living program?
Germany follows a policy of phased transformation from non renewable to renewable sources of energy, can India do the same? Switching over between renewable and non-renewable sources of energy may well cut down consumption of the same from conventional sources. An aware consumer may well ask for obtaining supplies from sustainable resources. Carbon credits (or carbon offsets) is a nice concept, individual carbon credits an even better one. Industries, manufacturing units, firms, in fact any and every organisation can also be asked to make green investments equivalent to the amount of carbon they release. Individual households can economise on the use of resources, use more energy efficient appliances, consume more indigenous fruits and vegetables, as well as seasonal ones, plant trees and grow them. Paper could be shredded and sent back to manufacturing units for reuse as raw material along with pulp. Other initiatives would include carrying reusable shopping bags, separation of waste as dry and wet, composting. There is a lot of scope for innovative ideas in this sector. Hybrid cars would be a welcome change on the polluted roads of the metropolis, yet the infrastructure necessary for the development of these industries is not yet available in India. Government initiatives in this sector would be vital, at an early stage, while private sector has yet to realize the market and worth of such investments.
The adoption of any green living program by the populace would only come after the realization of our responsibility towards the earth. To realize that as inhabitants of this green planet, it is our duty to ensure that it remains habitable, so that there be an opportunity for life to persist and evolve. Our legacy should be the bounties that we enjoy in our lifetime and not remnants of a civilization that once thrived.
I woke up today at around 6.30 in the morning when I heard the ‘corporation ka nal ’ (tap) spewing water. That’s rare and happens at all odd hours, as if trying to evade those it is meant for. I got up and mechanically filled bottle after bottle. The tap coughed and spitted, but I remained persistent besides it.
Through the minutes that passed like hours, I wondered how many such waits were there in my life ahead, or in fact for all of us who plan to live beyond the next 10-15 years or more. Had our predecessors foreseen this when they raised us as children of abundance? I doubt! Has there been a blind overconsumption in the name of affordability and comfort; a trend that continues to this day (and not surprisingly at an exponential rate)? As we see things vanishing, we are possessed by this desire to seize as much as we can lay our hands on.
Do we act blind, or can’t we really see through?
Through the 70 billion year old march on earth, we have created imbalances well beyond the recovering capacities of nature, strained the nature to juice out from it all that can be gained from, endangered many a habitat and today we endanger our own. Have we lost foresight?
Why is environmental sustainability always given a backseat in any development program? While evaluating projects are environmental costs taken into account and offset suitably? The impact of development on the people, the land, air, water , and the natural biodiversity that lives around it, is it given a fair trial?
As the battle continue between those who can afford and those who cannot, we further the divide between the two as the cost of living rises, where even water and food go beyond the affordability of a large populace as they become scarce.
We waste energy and resources as a price for the status one must maintain. ” Economising” is nothing to be ashamed of. When shall we look at it in the light of being a more sensible choice? How difficult is it to rethink and change?
The consumer is the greatest instrument of change, why still does the majority yield to the fulfillment of desires of a richer minority? How distant are the solutions? How difficult is a comprehensive green living program?
Germany follows a policy of phased transformation from non renewable to renewable sources of energy, can India do the same? Switching over between renewable and non-renewable sources of energy may well cut down consumption of the same from conventional sources. An aware consumer may well ask for obtaining supplies from sustainable resources. Carbon credits (or carbon offsets) is a nice concept, individual carbon credits an even better one. Industries, manufacturing units, firms, in fact any and every organisation can also be asked to make green investments equivalent to the amount of carbon they release. Individual households can economise on the use of resources, use more energy efficient appliances, consume more indigenous fruits and vegetables, as well as seasonal ones, plant trees and grow them. Paper could be shredded and sent back to manufacturing units for reuse as raw material along with pulp. Other initiatives would include carrying reusable shopping bags, separation of waste as dry and wet, composting. There is a lot of scope for innovative ideas in this sector. Hybrid cars would be a welcome change on the polluted roads of the metropolis, yet the infrastructure necessary for the development of these industries is not yet available in India. Government initiatives in this sector would be vital, at an early stage, while private sector has yet to realize the market and worth of such investments.
The adoption of any green living program by the populace would only come after the realization of our responsibility towards the earth. To realize that as inhabitants of this green planet, it is our duty to ensure that it remains habitable, so that there be an opportunity for life to persist and evolve. Our legacy should be the bounties that we enjoy in our lifetime and not remnants of a civilization that once thrived.
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