TOWARDS A GREENER ,CLEANER PLANET

As yet another Environment day is done by , one could ask the question what is different now than in the years past? The answer would be actually a number of steps on paper but so little which has happened in reality.Every year we see a number of environment friendly reforms and programs launched, but only a very few of them succeed.We end up facing Environment days every year with probably an unhealthier environment from the year before.Let us see what we as well as the Governing authorities can do to move towards a greener and cleaner environment.

1.Planted trees,but what next?

Every single year we find trees being gifted and planted by celebrities and children alike on the environment day but what happens next?This is where the problem lies, the trees do not get cared for end up dieing the very next summer.There is going to be no benefit in planting trees if one is not going to take care of it.(Think of buying a car and not driving it,thats what is being done here.) How can we solve it?It is not  possible to ensure care of the care of the trees being planted.But it can be encouraged,may be through social media challenges,(the ice bucket initiative went viral among celebs) or it can be done by incorporating a project on your tree into school curriculum,were in the students could be made to report on a tree that they planted at the age of 10 and report its growth at the end of his schooling with provision of grace marks as an added bonus. On a larger scale, it may not be possible to convert the occupied land back to forests, so the best we can do is to preserve the diminishing forest cover as it stands. The forest that is required to be cut down(for laying rail and so on) should and must be compensated for by the Government itself.(The land that is taken up from people is compensated but what off the acres we occupy from nature?) The Government must ensure that every tree that is being cut is accounted for and replinished.

2.Cleanliness

There is no point in complaining about of how bad your city smells if you are not going help clean it . Every one of us is reluctant to dispose wastes in a scientific way. Most people fail to see the importance of sorting out ones  waste into biodegradable and others. One must realise that if one sorts out the waste in such a way it results in much easier disposal . If the waste from different households can be organised,the recyclable ones can be recycled , biodegradable ones can be disposed(the Govt can set up large scale vermi compost or bio gas plant in each locality to help in waste management.) and non biodegradable waste can be managed much more conviniently . From an individuals point of view, one can ensure no littering occurs under any circumstances(schools can introduce small fines to instill such habbits into kids),avoid plastic and replace them using paper or cloth bags(after all plastics are non biodegradable) and organise cleaning drives in one's neighborhood.(again social media contest can be organisedfor bragging rights;a clean neighborhood is something we all can be proud of) The government to can come up with schemes like 'The swachh bharat' initiative.The government can try and incorporate beggars in cleaning initiatives.(ie. rather than having a designated cleaner who do nothing in railways the government can make use of the needy beggars to clean them up.It would also give an added bonus since they will also be given a sense of entitlement by such a recognition and be compelled to clean and in return they can be entitled  a small tip from every passenger or so.)

3.Minimize carbondioxide emission.

CO2 has been a major part of any environment discussion in the past and its emission needs to controlled on a much larger scale on the wake of the dwindling forest cover. A large portion of it is from vehicles. Vehicles are definitely an essential part of life nowadays.But then no one can argue about how utilization of public transport can not only be beneficial to the environment but also the people itself since it would help reduce the traffic conjestion. One's reluctancy to use public transport can be understood be due to the lack of cleanliness ,safety etc. This is were the govenment comes in.The govt can take initiative to improve the quality of public transport (who wouldn't want to travel in public transport facilities if they were to be like 'the london underground' or 'metro rail system'.) What of emissions for such vehicles this is were all the advancements like hybrid and electrical engines come in. The government can and should subsidise vehicles like the 'Renault Reva' and the 'Mahindra e2o' to rikshawalas to replace their existing polluting rikshas with eco friendly options.

4.Minimize E waste

E waste is arguably the largest growing part among the waste from industries and households alike.The e ffect of e waste may be minimal at present but in a world were every one is replacing their gadgets every single year, it is bound to create problems.

How can we minimize e waste when it becomes necessary to upgrade our gadget every year or two ? This is were the innovation of modular gadget including smartphones come in handy.It would help if one can have the best hardware without replacing the whole device . One would be able to replace his smartphone camera or processor without replacing the whole device. Google's project ara is one such idea for modular devices(smart phone to be precise) but ironically they are also behind one of the least flexible devices in the chromebook which despite essentially being a laptop has little to no modular components, so effectively the user will have to replace the entire device to upgrade. The existing companies should also try to come up with ideas to either to recycle the existing devices or to may be enable people to upgrade parts in their existing gadget.(This would also have an added economical appeal.)
All theese ideas would remain stuck on paper if we aren't to implement any such reforms. We all need to understand the importance of taking care of our environment.There is no point in recycling if one is going neglect them over as being recycled products(Most don't prefer recycled notebooks.Next time ask yourself wether you need such good quality for making rough notes and practicing),there is no point in arguing about how others are not doing it,(we need to realise that we are doing something for our own good as well) and most importantly we should realise it all starts with small steps like cleaning up your household,planting as well as taking care of trees in your own plot and the neighborhood.
The social media can come in handy in such iniatives as well.One could use it to publicaly shame someone who is dirtying the environment, it would then compell the person in question to act as well.(something like a 'defame the defacer' initiative) This would create vigilantes for the Environment without any actual employed ones.Most importantly all should realise the importance of a greener,cleaner environment and act accordingly.

Let us think each & every day as "WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY" and try to bring the Beauty of the Nature Back!

lol :)

-GT