Unhappy Environment Day!

 

Unhappy Environment Day!

In the universe, are billions of galaxies,

In our galaxy are billions of planets,

But there is only one earth!

‘Only One earth’ is the theme of World Environment Day Tomorrow.

Since the Stockholm Conference in 1972 on the Human Environment when the United Nations (UN) decided that June 5 be observed as international World Environment Day every year, for a ‘coordinated global focus’ on conservation of environment, the day is increasingly getting more and more attention.

The schools are closed for summer vacation, but private and government organisations all over would organize (even on a Sunday) seminars, lectures and several events to show off with pride their focus on conservation of environment.

They would use thousands of flyers and banners to announce the event, hire big halls, and decorate them with tons of flowers (the more expensive and large the volume, the better proof it is of your commitment). Hundreds of light bulbs and tubelights would remain switched on for hours and air-conditioners would run full blast to cool down the atmosphere inside so that they can deliberate on environmental catastrophes.

Arctic 100 years ago vs today. Photo: Christian Aslund and The Norwegian Polar Institute

Gallons of fossil fuel emitting clouds of smoke around our heads and in the skies would be used by thousands of dignitaries and attendees to reach (and leave) the venues by cars (with entourage) or flights.

There has to be some khana-peena (food and drinks) to maintain the energy levels of the people discussing this important issue. It could be something as simple as emptying chips packed in aluminium and cellophane pouches onto plates or elaborate menus. Several thousands of plates, items of cutlery or paper napkins, as also plastic water bottles or pre-ordered food arriving packed in single-use plastic trays would be used to partake of these sources of energy. Hundreds of gallons of water as also chemical cleaners would be used for keeping everything clean.

It would be ill-mannered of me to talk of the amount of food left on the plates because the people took too much or did not like what they took.

The attendees would leave for home, happily carrying goodies like polypropylene bags, writing pads, besides pens and mementoes made of paper/plastic/wood/metal/glass. What are they going to with them is anybody’s guess!

Then there would be detailed reports, besides hundreds of photographs of how successfully everyone managed to chalk out strategies for environmental conservation for the year.

So much for the protection and conservation of our environment!

And here I am, an ordinary individual struggling with bombastic terms like biological degradation, air quality, carbon footprint, environmental  hazards  and several more mouthfuls of words to understand how much damage I am doing to the environment merely by trying to live an eco-friendly life and how much worse I am going to leave it for the coming generations.

I am no Greta Thunberg, so it is not easy for me to share with others how an enormous amount of time and effort is taken up in working on ways to save water, electricity, petrol, paper, or in following the refuse, reuse, recycle formula. 

I do not scream for banning of any industries because of colossal/sky-high level of environmental pollution caused by industrial processes. I suppose creation of jobs and progress of humankind far outweighs that at the macro levels.

What I am concerned about is if I am doing things the right way because going by the reaction of the people around me, my emphasis is too much on conserving the paryavaran (environment) and not necessarily on saving anybody’s time or effort.

At the level of an individual, I have questions in my mind which I am looking for answers to:

Which is better- paper napkins (pronouncing the death of a tree) or cloth napkins (soap and water used to wash them add chemicals to the groundwater or rivers wherever that water goes)?

Similarly, which is better - disposable plates/cups made of paper or cutlery of wood-scraps (which might use resins to bind them) or plastic/metal/glass/ceramic which last longer but need washing?

Everyone advises addition of greenery to where we live, what about pots made of cement/ceramic/plastic and the water used to keep them alive?

If we human beings turn vegetarian/vegan, will there be anything left for the increasing population of animals and birds to eat?  (As it is, the growing urbanisation is spelling the end of forests and green cover.)

In view of the criminal waste of flowers and foliage used to decorate pandals during weddings, poojas, and other events including government functions, do you stop using fresh flowers, giving the plants a chance to propagate and use cloth/plastic ones which can be recycled, or maybe use no flowers at all?

Is it below dignity to carry a bag or basket when going shopping or to refuse a bag?  How did we bring things home before polythene bags came on the scene?

How do you dispose of the used alkaline and acid batteries, gel packs used for conserving cold chain, non-biodegradable packaging material and hundreds of other things used daily?

Doesn’t everyone around get high when the policing agencies burn off confiscated narcotics?

Why do we celebrate happiness with tons of paint/polish, paper/ribbons/tinsel, plastic/rubber/resin/ for decorations, which are generally discarded after single use? Don’t they add to the piles of garbage after a week?

Is it sinful to advocate population control for the sake of the environment?

And if someone has a wireless connection with Mother Mary, can you please check with her if she also chopped down a live fir tree, stuck it up in a stand to say ‘welcome to this world’ to her son, and then threw it away when it went limp after a few days? Do you think my concern over saving thousands of these beautiful trees annually brands me as a Grinch?

Perhaps small efforts by each of the seven billion people on the Earth would bring in some positive change!

We all have to do our part for the environment. And there are many different ways one can save energy. I normally use the couch.

Some more borrowed wisecracks:

I’m tired of people telling me to turn off my lights to save the environment.

I tried it once, and nearly killed some bloke on a bike.

My wife left me because of my views on the environment.

I tried saving water by showering with the neighbor’s wife.

Why is smoking good for the environment?

Because it kills humans.

Clean coal is a bit like wearing a porous condom – at least the intention was there.

If coal is so bad for the environment...why don't we just burn it all?

If Mac users care more about the environment than Windows users, then why do Macs have a ‘trash can’ and Windows has a ‘recycling bin’?

And for those in the US- stop buying plastic skeletons for Halloween. They are bad for the environment. Use the locally sourced, all natural ones, they are eco- friendly.

                                                                                            -Anupama S Mani

 

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