Every generation witnesses changes that mark their whole lifetime; what starts as a small initiative becomes a monumental achievement that not only affects mankind, but the whole earth. It is accompanied by a change in attitude that lasts till the next change comes. There were the baby boomers, who decided to challenge tradition and leadership. There was Generation X, that decided to ignore leadership altogether. And then there was Generation Y, who decided it was high time they took things in their own hands.
Perhaps things got sped up because there were so many changes in the external environment which were noticeable in a very short span of time. Every year the newspapers would scream a rise in temperature compared to the previous year. Headlines like the same amount of temperature increase in the last 10 years as was noticed in the previous 100 years and so on, became a common feature which this generation was exposed to. The school text books would only mention how the ozone layer was getting rapidly depleted, how the radiation would harm our health, how we were generating so much pollution that life as we knew it would no longer exist. Millions of internet forwards on how there would be no water for the next generations, ageing process would become faster. How we were exhausting all our known sources of fuel, and how they were not good for the climate anyway.
This generation grew up with the concept that things need to change, and they decided to take that initiative early in life. How you may ask?
As kids, we decided that unnecessary use of plastic/ polythene bags should be avoided. We stopped using them in schools; students, teachers and other staff members would be penalized for using them. Nobody denies the importance of plastic as a cheap, light raw material, but we decided that excessive use of even a good thing is bad.
Garbage disposal was separated for the biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste, so at least some of it can be recycled, and the rest can be disposed off in the right manner.
India is known for its Diwali celebrations. Each year so many fire crackers are burst, the pollution levels skyrocket and stay high for days at a stretch. Students in the generation started the anti-cracker campaign, and while the pollution levels may still reach alarming levels, they have at least been curbed from the mammoth proportions they could have attained.
Wood is a very precious commodity and the human race has used it since eternity. But we also realized that the green cover was gradually disappearing, which has been a major cause of the global warming we so often keep hearing about. Agreed 100% that wood still needs to be used, we cannot do without it. But can’t we take steps to stop its wastage? We decided that we could, simply by economizing and sensibly using it as a raw material. There was a time when printouts used to be taken on only one side of the paper, with excessive margining of the paper as well. This generation decided that had to stop; paper should be used on both sides and as much as possible. When you no longer can use that piece of paper, do you have to throw it away? No, it needs to be recycled and reused. Our schools started having vermiculture pits where we could recycle the paper ourselves. It started as a small initiative, and grew into such a large movement that today newspapers are printed on recycled paper, offices and schools use recycled paper, and in the meantime, did it also not create work for those who were engaged in this activity?
With the Industrial Revolution, there was almost no looking back on the innumerable comforts which technology could give us. Refrigerators, washing machines, TVs, air conditioners, etc have made life so much easier. But as time went by, it was also realized how huge the extent of damage to the environment was. Too late a realization? May be not. Now we have these commodities getting manufactured in such a manner that energy can be saved. You have big names advertising this in a manner that it becomes too hard to resist. Recently an advertisement has been doing the rounds where little kids are singing to their parents to use their ACs on the sleep mode, at a temperature that is comfortable. After all, what is the point of having temperatures so low, that you end up needing a sweater inside when it is boiling outside?
As an initiative, the Earth Hour is an event that is increasingly gaining prominence and popularity. World over it is celebrated with the hope that the one hour of darkness per year will lead to a brighter future for the generations to come.
All due credit for all this initiative to the media, be it print or electronic. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter contribute immensely to ensure that information reaches every nook and cranny of the world. But eventually, every choice is personal. We all choose our own rights and wrongs, and so has this generation. This generation is not saying that we need to go back on all the progress that we have achieved, all it wants to point out is that surely wastage of resources can be avoided? Perhaps the initiatives are not originating where they are needed the most, but like Neil Armstrong had once said, “that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”.
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