Long gone are days when children used to bathe in clear water streams, walk barefoot on wet sand and run free into open fields without plastic bottles, soft drink cans or any other waste material left behind by people getting in their way. The natural thing to do is to adapt with time but with mankind, it seems like we become only more irresponsible about the environment as time goes by. We litter on streets, don’t clean up after ourselves in public places and keep demanding a never-ending supply of plastic bags.
Do we ever stop for a moment to think about what happens to the products we used once they have served their purpose? Out of sight does not necessarily mean out of our way. Unclean surroundings are often neglected and sometimes not even considered a problem but they must be dealt with before wild forests and clean rivers become only a tale of the past. By showing that we care for the cleanliness of our environment we can show that we care for nature as a whole.
Contents
- Earth: the only one of its kind
- Changes in the environment over the past few years
- Animals rendered homeless
- Oceans layered with plastic
- Processing different types of waste
- Air pollution hits alarming rates
- Large scale spread of deadly diseases
- A clean environment is a sustainable environment
- Clean working environment means improved productivity
- Underprivileged people face the worst of an unclean environment
- We have the ability to clean the environment now more than ever
- The future we imagine starts now
Earth: the only one of its kind
From a cosmic point of view, it’s only the size of a pencil dot in the sky, but for us, the Earth has been our home for as long as we have lived. It is home to almost 8 billion people. Neither too hot nor too cold for our survival. The planet is full of diverse lands such as the rainforests in Brazil, glaciers in the North Pole and the deserts in Arab. Even a planet so great could head towards its destruction when its people start treating it as a dumpster with no physical limitations.
In an ecosystem where all things are connected one problem inevitably leads to another. Waste incineration caused global warming that leads to droughts and wildfires which in turn leads to more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and that gives us more global warming yet again. Cleaning up the environment is also cleaning up the endless cycle of pollutants that we have created.
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Changes in the environment over the past few years
Taking a close look at the history and impact of environmental changes is nothing less than looking at Earth’s vital signs. Arctic ice blankets have reduced two/thirds in volume. The world has produced more than 9 billion tons of plastic and the production is said to increase by 40% in the next ten years. 2018 was the warmest year recorded and also this was the year when we came very close to the endangerment of bees.
And if that wasn’t enough, CO2 emissions rose to an all-time high. There’s no denying that our Earth is rapidly changing and for the worst. Thus, it’s vital to carry out steps for the proper conservation of our environment so that these adverse effects can be brought down to some extent.
Animals rendered homeless
For people who grew up amidst all the noise and smoke in a city, camping is a great way to appreciate the refreshing sight of the woods from up close. But in doing so, they forget to take their disposed waste back with them. Finding rubbish on the mountains left by travellers still remains a problem. Excrement from base camps ends up polluting water bodies.
Wildlife has always suffered the consequences of human activities. Animals are being forced out of their natural habitats and living in human territories is definitely not a safe option for them. Extinction of 190 bird species since 1500 largely because of deforestation and severely malnourished polar bears are quite evident of human complicity in animal suffering.
Oceans layered with plastic
We all have seen cases of sea turtles entangled in fishnets and not being able to breathe because of polythene bags wrapped around their necks. Pieces of plastic and other junk being found in the guts of fishes and ducks is not an uncommon thing anymore. But if you’re still wondering how big of a problem it really is, then look no further than the island completely made of trash floating on the waters of the north central Pacific Ocean.
But why do we need to keep making plastic? Taking a walk to the supermarket market makes you realise that plastic has left nothing untouched. Everything either comes in plastic packaging or its plastic itself. Even naturally covered fruits are displayed within plastic cases to be sold at a higher price. Even with plastic so deeply ingrained in our daily lives, there is still a possibility to reduce plastic usage by using alternatives. Glass, liquid, wood, PCL polyester and even dried leaves serve as good replacements.
Processing different types of waste
When you go to a park or any public destination in India, you see trash cans that are coded by three different colours which are green, blue and red. Green trash cans are for any kind of wet biodegradable or compostable trash such as vegetable scraps, shredded paper, meat, bones, waxed paper cartons, etc. Blue stands for recyclable waste material. Paper, glass bottles, cardboard boxes and aluminium are some dry wastes that are acceptable to throw into the blue bin. Not all kinds of waste material are recyclable. Biowaste like used syringes and diapers are rejected from the above two categories and thrown into a red waste basket. Even recyclable trash is too much in amount to be able to recycle it all which is why we end up with too much garbage in our landfills. Landfills cause all the surroundings to become polluted and non-livable. Landfills are also a significant cause of greenhouse gas emissions.
Air pollution hits alarming rates
Even with the largest landfill being 700 acres wide, we don’t have enough space to wait thousands of years for waste to decompose. 29 million tons of waste is burned annually by incineration companies but it is not the biggest contributor to air pollution. Burning of fossils fuels done by our cars and industries brings massive amounts of gas emissions into our environment. As a result, in 2018, Delhi was announced to be the most polluted capital in the world. If we fear for the quality of the air we breathe in, we should start regulating gas emissions from on-road cars and factories which go unchecked in most cases.
Large scale spread of deadly diseases
With pollution rates running high our lungs, livers and other vital organs are paying the price. You no longer need to smoke a pack of cigarettes to have blackened lungs if you live in the most polluted areas of the world. Respiratory diseases like asthma, obstructive pulmonary disease and even lung cancer are found in young children these days. Due to not all areas having clean water systems people have no choice but to drink water from contaminated water bodies that reek of human waste. Cholera, Amoebiasis and Gardis are some common water-borne diseases. Cleanliness of the environment is the only way to prevent such cases from occurring more often.
A clean environment is a sustainable environment
Sustainability and cleanliness of the environment are connected in many ways. If we could find a way to keep our surroundings free of unwanted wastes, we’d function better as a society. A lot of time, management, money and resources are spent on making sure that the ecosystem remains balanced. A sustainable environment meets all its required demands without harming the quality of life of its people. If we focus on reducing and reusing more than recycling, we would have a significantly less amount of waste to worry about and we could achieve sustainability.
Clean working environment means improved productivity
Nobody likes to carry out work in a dirty office room with cluttered papers and dusty tables. It takes the focus off your work and makes you conscious about your background. It is proved that cleanliness is directly linked to good mental health which is why most office spaces have green plants and calming scenery inside their buildings. Being in an environment that provides you with peace of mind makes you more productive and more eager to work. In other words, declutter your life to declutter your mind.
Underprivileged people face the worst of an unclean environment
Not having the privilege of being in a protected environment of a home, not having proper means to disinfect consumable items and having to clean up after our messes are just some of the problems that people from poor backgrounds face. Cleaning the gutters and collecting recyclable items from landfills are dangerous jobs that expose people to a high risk of diseases and injury.
We don’t think twice before throwing our trash in public places or about the person who is going to pick it up. Cleaning the environment is the responsibility of all members of our society and shouldn’t lie on the shoulders of the poor alone. Standing together as a community is how we can achieve the dream of having a clean planet Earth.
We have the ability to clean the environment now more than ever
Man has set foot on the moon, sent rovers to Mars, obtained nuclear and went deep underwater. It shouldn’t be a difficult task to replace plastic and fossil fuels but it does take strong resolve to change the way we live and step outside of our comfort zones. We have the upper hand because of modern technology being the best it has ever been. Inventors and scientists are constantly battling environmental difficulties.
A few such examples are huge air purifiers, seabins, edible packing, machines that turn beer bottles into usable sand, and aquaponics. If we invest money and resources in the right places, it should take us only a couple of decades to undo all the harm that’s been done to the environment by the human race.
The future we imagine starts now
The waiting period has ended long ago. Now it is time to take action. Scientists have predicted that our planet might only have about 25 years left before it becomes unlivable. Our mothers and fathers might not have had the awareness or proper means of cleaning the environment but our generation has no excuse. We have been warned enough times. Let’s strive towards a future with no children with lung diseases, no islands of trash and no turtles stuck fishnets. It is the least we could do for the environment that has given us everything since the beginning of life.
It’s easy to points fingers in the opposite direction but difficult to find it within ourselves to take the first step towards global change. Start by cleaning up your own backyards, start using different garbage cans for dry and wet waste, use reusable biodegradable bags, clean up parks and beaches that no one else wants to clean up, encourage carpooling, divide the steps cleaning processes within small communities and watch your environment become greener and cleaner every day.
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