Pay our dues

For the last couple of years the disintegration of our environment has been bothering me.I feel scared when i think about how we have been misusing our natural resources , and though they have the ability to replenish themselves, the indiscriminate use of natural resources and no active partcipation in our parts have left us facing a very dark future cause we have not given nature enough time or resources to work on her wonders.She is like a marathon runner on the last leg of her journey running uphill without enough nutrition in her and riddled with diseases.She will collapse and the signs are everywhere, its just a matter of time.We are facing a future where floods and then drought is imminent.A future where everybody will suffer from allergies or will be prone to asthma, cause the air we breathe will take its toll once inside our bodies.We will wonder at beaches as they shrink in size as the icebergs melt and the sea levels rise.Newer and tougher breeds of germs will leave us baffled as we face diseases we had never known before.
And mind you we will see this in our life time.There is no hiding behind the fact any more that I will not be there when all of this happens nor is it a good enough excuse.We have savoured all of Nature's bounties and squandered them as well.Now it is time to pay for it.We don't leave without paying for the food and service we had at a restaurant ,do we? Then why so in this particular case?
There are some very simple things that we can do to stretch our beautiful time on this wonderful planet.
Lets make a note to
1. Switch off electrical apliances when not in use.We can go a step further and pull the wire out of the socket and see a remarkable change in the bill.The philosophy here is " a penny saved is a penny earned". We save units of electricity now to use later and minimize the pressure to generate more.
2.Turn off the tap when we do not need it.Running water looks and sounds good when there is a river or stream in question.Water running down the tap shows how heartless and callous we are when we know there are people who have to buy packaged water cause they do not have palatable water or people have to drink the unpalatable water cause they do not have the means to get proper drinking waterr.Worse still ,people do not have access to drinking water at all.Women in Rajasthan have to walk for miles to fill a meagre pitcher of water, not palatable not clean , a meagre pitcher of water.
3.Say no to Plastic carry bags.Do we really need all those plastic carry bags? Can we realy not do without them? And are the fruits and vegetables that come in direct contact with them not getting contaminated with chemicals and dyes? I belive spending a little amount of money and investing in a jute or clothes bag which is beautiful, hardy and eco-friendly can serve the purpose as well.All we need to do is say no to the nice lady at the counter when she ofers to put our things into the bag.
4.Remember that the same goes for paper bags.Yes they are biodegradable and are not treated with harsh chemicals but what about the numerous trees that will have to be cut to be made into paper cause you dont want to carry plastics anymore.Lets get ourselves a pretty basket or jute bag , we can help save the environment and boost a cottage industry as well.
Lets us help ourselves keep this planet as beautiful as is intended by Nature.