World Environment
Day - What can each of us do to save Mother Earth
This Year the Theme is Time for
Nature
An academician friend of mine posed the question to one of our industry
groups what an individual could do to save the environment.
My first reservation is to Man's arrogance in thinking how he should
save the environment or the earth. Quite simply, man will do whatever he does
to save his own race. Earth is not threatened. It is not going anywhere for a
long time, and it will take considerable cooling down and weight loss for the Sun
to finish it. Environment isn't going anywhere either. It just keeps changing
according to what happens on earth. For example, a meteor changed it in a way
that the dinosaurs perished. Environment is still around. So, come on people,
wake up. Let us be honest and admit we need to just save ourselves.
The question is that with all the lip service that is paid to
environment, we should ask first and foremost what we, as individuals are doing
to change the things for the better. Here are some thoughts;
Let us first understand WHAT pollutes the planet most.
What exactly is endangering the most lives and species. If you ask a lay person
this question, the reply will come before you finished the question and it will
be; Plastics. Most advocates of banning plastics talk about
bio-degradability, not about the load on environment, which comprises energy or
carbon footprint, water and chemicals. These people will typically suggest you
to use paper. The problem is that on all the three counts paper creates a huge
environmental load compared to plastics. Paper is also not infinitely recyclable
like some commonly used plastics as the fibre length is lost on each recycle. I
am not against paper. It should be reserved for the highest of human pursuits,
which to my mind is knowledge and education.
Plastics pollution largely happens by littering,
mainly because of man’s bad habits, indiscipline and poor civic sense. Stock
pictures show a fish entangled in carelessly disposed fishnets, and a few other
things. How many animals die annually from plastics? No one really knows. Contrast
this with the fact that each degree rise in ocean temperatures destroys several
species representing millions of creatures. Those are big numbers. And, that is
eroding our bio-diversity much faster.
But plastics in not my subject in this blog. It is
environment. The example became necessary because there is a need to have the
proper perspective and to have the right understanding of the underlying
issues.
The biggest pollutant without doubt is energy,
followed by Green House Gases. We spew energy into earth’s atmosphere at
unprecedented rates and then even trap the little that could escape by a shroud
if GHG over the earth. Sometimes I wonder why a human should have to use an
engine of say 350 bhp to carry a person weighing say 50-70 kg. But that’s what
happens with motor vehicles. Sometimes I also wonder whether mankind signed its
own death warrant when it adopted IC engines for individual transportation.
That a question demanding an answer, but there is none. In the meantime, the world
economy has become heavily dependent on automotive industry and on consumption.
We can talk about the much lower emissions with Euro
6. We consume electricity also in a big way. We can then talk about LED
lighting. Even so, each of consumes much more than we need to live comfortably.
Most energy is produced through heat in some form. Even if we talk about the
clean energy, say nuclear power with no emissions to talk of. Even brushing
aside the concomitant disposal and safety issues, the heat locked up in the
fuels, whether fossil or nuclear gets dissipated within the environment and has
little chance to escape. How can then we reduce global warming?
GHG’s two major sources are fossil fuels and cattle/ dairy
farming for meat. Together they contribute over 35%, perhaps more like 40% GHG
to the atmosphere. Let us not cut the figures too fine, but get the general
sense of it.
The ONLY safe way is to have no source of electricity
other than sun and moon, which means water, wind, photovoltaics, ocean/ tidal
etc. Because those are the ONLY energy sources that can keep earth GHG and
thermal neutral.
Okay, all those are big things, so what can we do as
individuals to make our contribution to reducing the damage, if not really
eliminate it? Here are some very simple solutions, which probable all of us know;
Here are some little steps we as individuals can take for reducing our environmental load. You can go on adding all the small steps you can recognise, Remember every small step becomes big when seven billion people adopt it.
Reducing energy consumption;
1. Setting the Air conditioners to the highest
acceptable temperatures, or rather adaptable temperatures. How does 25 - 26
degrees Celsius sound? If 27 is good at night, keep that. Each degree reduces
the electricity consumption by up to 7%
2. If necessary, use smaller cars for regular
commuting. Let the big machines wait for other occasions
3. Use Metro when you can
4. Carpool as far as possible
5. Walk or use bicycles for small errands
6. Reduce energy consumption in cooking
7. Stop central air conditioning. Make it sectional.
Stop it when you don’t need it. The room will cool down in a few minutes when
you return
8. Reduce overall consumption of energy by avoiding
any unnecessary consumption including and all the little things that consume
even the tiniest amounts of energy. That little LED on your power switch also
consumes power continuously
To reduce the GHGs;
1. Reduce cattle and animal farming by reducing or
eliminating meat consumption.
2. Use less paper
3. Reduce wastage of electricity
Reduce wastage and consumption of water;
1. Conserve every drop
2. Use waste water for secondary uses wherever
possible
3. Don’t run small laundry and dishwasher loads at
home. Full loads save water
4. Install toilets that consume the least water
5. Install water saving devices and drip irrigation in your lawns and gardens as far as possible
Reduce Chemicals that leach into the ground
Cut down as far as possible the waste laundry water,
surfactants and any other chemicals you may need to use.
Add your own environment friendly ideas. Follow them.
The BIG question is how many of us will agree to these
positive actions, including those who pay lip service to the cause of
environment?
It is Time for Nature.
Give it to her! Let nature heal itself. That is what will ensure our own survival,
