A very close friend of mine doesn’t usually switches off her room lights whenever she goes put because she believes that switching off her lights results in increased movements of lizard in her room (this is her personal observation). I tried telling her that lizards move in broad daylight also, but in vain.
Another friend of mine never switches off her room lights, toilet lights, kitchen lights and even her laptop charger which is always powered on using the AC voltage. When asked why, she says she just forgets.
Do I need to give more examples to drive the issue home?
Well, we all are very much aware of the environmental concerns that are being touted as the current hot topic of discussion among the biggest politicos in the conference rooms around the world and even at your neighborhood chaiwallah. The depleting natural resources, the drying up of river beds (even the ones that are considered perennial), the ozone layer cracking up, numerous cases of skin cancer and sun burns, the recent volcano eruption that left half of Europe stranded and of course, the BP oil spill.
So what can I do? I, as an individual, cannot really stop this. Right?
WRONG!!
Firstly, I tried inducting a few habits in my friends, like switching off lights when not in room, putting your computer to hibernate mode rather than stand by, turning off the taps when not using them, get a leaky tap immediately repaired, discontinue the use of plastics or at least reduce its usage, etc. through coercion techniques but to no avail. They do it when I insist, but once I am gone, they revert back to their normal behavior.
So it got me thinking exactly why we blame government for not doing anything? Why we trust and wait that the organizations around the world will champion the cause of the ENVIRONMENT?
The people I live with are from well educated families and themselves are doing their MBA’s. They are supposed to run organizations but what about mother Earth? What about the Ecosystem which is an organization in itself of whose we are all shareholders? If this earth goes down like Enron or Satyam did, everybody will go down with it. And God forbid that day comes, it would be worse than the Great Depression of 1930s or the Recession of 2008.
A recent report suggested the Ganges will dry up in by 2050 if preventive and corrective measures are not taken now. So what are we waiting for? Forty years is not a very long time frame. Most of us would be in our early 60’s then. So we are not exactly going to die and we still will have to worry about our milk and water consumption which would be costlier than ever. So are we listening to our conscience? We must take our cue from the cosmetic giant Garnier – TAKE CARE!!
