Earth> How to Save Our Planet

Image: A humble lantern

Image by: Tanya Munshi

Text by: Tanya Munshi

Saving the environment and caring for nature are not as difficult as it seems to be. It’s not only the government’s responsibility to enforce laws and create policies to save our natural resources. It’s our responsibility too.

We can achieve greater results in terms of protecting our natural resources and caring for our environment if each one of us takes a stand. Saving natural resources can start from a simple act of closing the taps when not in use and switching off extra fans and lights when we don’t require them. Just imagine, in a billion plus population of ours, if each one of us practices some easy and simple processes, we can make a drastic and a positive change to save our natural resources like water, flora and fauna. Saving electricity too in turn can offer us great relief in the future.

By following these simple acts of conserving our resources, we can make the world a better place for ourselves and for our children. Just imagine, if we indiscriminately waste water, electricity and don’t bother about planting more trees, we’ll only be creating more problems for ourselves and for our children. Is it fair to leave them a world so messy that our future generations are left to suffer?

Here are some easy tips to start saving for our future. If we can save money for a rainy day, then why can’t we save water, electricity and our forests?

1. Involve everyone around you
The best way to bring about any positive change is to start creating awareness in your neighbourhood. If you live in a building society or a colony, then the society members can hold a workshop or a seminar with the help of a power point presentation that will educate young and old about the need to save water, electricity etc. Involve your maids as well. Ask them to attend one of these workshops in your neighbourhood so that they too can practice these methods both at work and home.

2. Create laws/ Do's and Don'ts
Just like most building societies have specific laws, you can create some laws that will ensure that no one wastes water. For example, some building societies have a law that fines Rs. 500/- to those residents who leave their taps on or forget it to shut it for hours. Such laws ensure that each one of us is responsible and never waste water.

3. Waste management
The biggest problem that we are facing today in our world is garbage dumping and waste disposal. Consult a waste management specialist or vermiculture specialist who will show you how to create manure for your plants and gardens from kitchen wastes. Whether you have a garden or you live in an apartment block, you can dispose off waste that will in turn prove beneficial to you. You can separate dry and wet waste in two separate dustbins in your home. Send the plastic and glass items to the regular garbage collector, while use the wet waste such as – dried leaves, flowers, vegetable waste, tea leaves, non-vegetarian waste and waste paper to the gardener. This solves a huge problem of waste disposal.

4. Vermiculture
Vermiculture is the process where earthworms feed on organic waste or disposal of organic waste and breed in it. This further creates vermicompost a form of organic manure that comes in handy for plants and trees. By organic or biodegradable waste we mean - kitchen wastes such as vegetable peels, fruits, egg shells, tea leaves, cooked/ uncooked food, leftovers, non-vegetarian wastes like chicken or meat bones, dried leaves, grass, cardboard, paper and carton waste. Remember, whatever goes into forming a vermicompost has to be 100% recyclable, with more than 60% solid waste from a residential/ hotel building.

You can contact Vermigold on-site waste management system that is approved by the Govt. of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF), that gives permission for disposal of solid waste that is environmentally safe.

Vermigold Ecotech Pvt Ltd
11, Garden Homes, c.d. Marg, Khar - West
Mumbai - 400052
India
E-mail: info@vermigold.com

5. Say no to Plastic Bags
Do you know that plastic bags take more than 10 years to decompose? So why take up something that will pollute our surroundings for years? The next time you go shopping carry your own cloth bag. Newspapers are available in plenty around us; get your kids to make some nice paper bags, where they can add their creative touch to them. Take out your jute, cloth or paper bags when you go shopping. Yes, shopping for veggies can be painful if there is not plastic bags available. But if you carry those large ‘big shopper’ bags with you, you can ask the vegetable vendor to drop the veggies in them. You can make your building a 'No Plastic Zone', where the residents of the building will be encouraged to use cloth/ paper bags. This is also a good option for commercial establishments too.

6. Trees and more trees
There’ll always be a paucity of space, but it should not deter us from planting more trees. Take an initiative with your building/ office members where you plant more trees along the lanes of your locality if there aren’t any. Use the vermicompost as manure to keep these plants healthy.

7. Switch off extra lights and fans
This is quite a difficult habit to break – switching off extra fans and lights when not required. Think of several places within our country that go without electricity for hours or even days. Just because something is readily available to us, doesn’t mean we waste it.
Your company/ residential area/ building apartment can install solar lamps to light up the drive way, the building campus, gardens and lanes of your locality. The initial investments may seem high, but it’s all worth it to prevent severe power crunch in the future. Install solar water heaters where ever possible that will reduce considerable amount of load on the power supply.

8. Rain water harvesting
As the years go by, the rains are becoming scarce and inadequate. Poor rains lead to poor crops, shortage of food and there will not be enough water to create hydro-electricity that will lead to more power cuts. It is all a ripple effect and we are affected by it.
That’s why it is a wise thing to get your society members to pool in and install rain water harvesting units in your buildings or in your own house/ office. By saving rain water, we can reduce the demand and pressure on the ground water that is fast depleting or becoming saline. In fact, some states and cities in India have compulsory rain water harvesting units, that helps the people to survive through the summers.

You can contact agencies like: http://www.rainwaterharvesting.org/
The Urban Rainwater Harvesting is conducting advanced course for working professionals from January 19-23, 2009. Here you can learn the science, techniques and policies on urban rainwater harvesting. Practical exercises and field visits to prepare you to find solutions to the urban water crisis

For more information on rain water harvesting visit:
http://akash-ganga-rwh.com/RWH/WaterHarvesting.html

9. Car Pooling
But obviously, if all of you go in different directions to work, study or recreation, this option may not work for all. But if you’re living in a neighbourhood where your kids go to the same school but in individual cars or if you and your friends decide to go out shopping or for lunch, you can easily opt for a car pooling system. If you, your kids or your husband take the school/ office bus or vehicle to commute, then it’s a wonderful thing to do. This not only reduces traffic jams, but also saves fuel, creates lesser carbon emissions and pollution.

10. Work from Home
Working from home is one of the best options in today's scenario. It cuts down on your fuel cost, you spend less time in traffic, it reduces fuel emissions (pollution) and most importantly it saves time.

11. Cycle for health and for the environment
Make cycling a popular sport in your neighbourhood. You can opt to walk or cycle short distances, instead of taking the scooty or your car. Cycling will give you the much needed exercise and at the same time it is very eco-friendly.

12. Fix leaking taps immediately
A lot of homes go without fixing leaking taps without realising what a fatal crime it is to waste precious potable water. If drop by drop makes an ocean, then every leaking tap can in turn lead to severe water shortage for all of us. It is estimated that water that is lost from a single leaking tap every second is more than 3,000 litres.

13. Recycle water, paper
Water:
~ If you use water to wash vegetables, then don’t just dunk the water into the sink. Use this water to water your plants or clean the kitchen sink at the end of cooking. The water that is left after making paneer or cottage cheese at home, use that to knead dough for chapattis or preserve it in the refrigerator to re-use to make paneer again.
~ Water your gardens or plants in the morning, so that the plants get enough water and do not loose it to evaporation.
~ A lot of people are in the habit of washing their drive way or front porch with water every day or evening. You can substitute by cleaning the area with a broom and wash the area with water twice or thrice week.
~ Wash your bathrooms on alternate day or once in two days.
~ Use your washing machine on alternate days or once in two days in full load.
We have to get wiser in terms of usage of water.

Paper
~ The envelopes, pamphlets, loose print out sheet that you don’t need anymore, clip them together to form a rough notepad or a rough book for your kids.
~ These notepads come handy in the kitchen to jot down shopping list, or phone numbers if kept next to the phone.
~ Newspaper can be converted into shopping bags and garbage bags.

Whatever it is, the key point here is to not waste, but to reduce waste by recycling all that is readily available around us.