Wendell Berry, the famous American novelist once said “The earth is what we all have in common”. So, it is the foremost responsibility of every soul to preserve our Mother Earth. It is high time that we take a pledge to make the world a better place for us and our future generations to avoid worse consequences in the future. An initiative now is for a better tomorrow. Let us all believe in this, abide by the rules of nature and put our hands together to build a clean and green India.
Here are 15 easy ways that can take care of the overall well-being of not only us but also our planet.
1. Make Use of Use Me
The first step to making a cleaner and better world by is picking up the small pieces of trash that we generally scatter in places. For instance, even the small piece of a packet that wrapped the chocolate we had on the road last night makes a lot of difference. We must get into the habit of disposing of things in the dustbin rather than littering on the roads. It is true that there are not as many dustbins as they are supposed to be, but ask yourself, is it very difficult to hold on to that wrapper till you find yourself a dustbin to throw it in?
2. Better reuse than use and throw
Our country is running out of resources because of the growing population. So it is time that we start thinking of others more than we think of ourselves. Let us start reusing things and leave a little resource for others to use. Nearly 80% of the regular products we use in our daily lives can be reused in some form or the other. We should remember what is not important to us might come useful to others. Hence, consider donating things rather than throwing them away and build a clean and green India.
3. Say no to Plastic
You’ll be surprised to know that the major cause of water pollution is plastic. A survey report says that 95% of the plastic that pollutes the oceans comes from just 10 rivers. Astonishingly, most of the rivers are from Asia. Unbelievably, the river Ganga is considered to be the largest career of plastic to the ocean! To make a clean and green India all we need to do is carry a bag made of cloth or paper every time we are out for shopping and say no to the use of plastic.
4. Use Home Made Compost for your Garden
Wet garbage that includes scraps of cooking materials and food items can be used as wonderful compost for your kitchen garden. All we need to do is segregate the dry garbage from the wet and reuse the wet garbage to make compost at home. This solves 50% of the garbage disposal problem.
5. Turn concrete jungles into green patches
It is true that civilisation has left very little space for trees. Our necessities have given birth to the high rise buildings turning the world into a concrete jungle. The least we can do to improve the situation and build a clean and green India is to plant trees and make miniature gardens surrounding concrete homes and workplaces.
6. Toilet-train your pets
It is not as crazy as it sounds; nor difficult. We should bear in mind is that we don’t leave our dog’s poo behind for others to step on it. All you need is a glove, plastic, and a dog poo collector and train your dog to use it right from day one. It not only makes the world cleaner and greener but also saves you from a lot of embarrassment.
7. Plan a car-free weekend
There were times we all used to go cycling and on long walks. We can still choose to do so, by spending a day without our cars. It not only just revives our old memories but also makes us feel fresh and saves our planet from pollution and conserves our resources. Great way to stay healthy too!
8. Maintain the vehicle you drive
We can add towards building a clean and green India by maintaining the vehicles we drive. All it takes is checking the air filter regularly and ensuring that it is clean. This reduces emissions and helps to keep the environment clean. Most cars come with a cruise control button that helps improve the mileage of the car and also reduces air pollution. Remember to leave the button on when you are driving down to work.
9. Clean the house using a microfiber cloth instead of chemical agents
Microfibers are clothes made of synthetic fibers that attract dust like a magnet. It works better than a regular cloth or a chemical agent in terms of cleaning the house or workplace. It can hold up to seven times the weight of its liquid. Common uses of microfiber are cleaning appliances, wiping the kitchen to keep it clean, scrubbing the bathroom floor, and dusting. It is high time we consider replacing chemical agents with a microfiber cloth. It is not just good for the environment but also a much safer option for mothers who have their kids at home.
10. Use local transport
Public transports are faster, cheaper, safer, and also helps save the world from excess air pollution. If we all start preferring public transport over personal transport, can you imagine how many lesser cars will there be on the roads? It aids in saving our time and money and also spares us from the heavy traffic on the roads that we go through every day, thus giving our planet a little breathing space.
11. Carry a reusable Tiffin Box
Most of us spend our afternoons eating out. Carrying a reusable Tiffin Box to the workplace can take care of your health and our planet as well.
12. Use disposable cloth in place of nappies
As per statistics, 3 children are born every minute all over the world. Can you imagine how many babies are delivered every year? And, have you ever thought of what happens to the waste produced by these babies? To make a clean and green India, all we need to do is use a disposable cloth to discard the waste, rather than the nappies as the plastics in them could take hundreds of years to decompose! Hard to believe, isn’t it? Well, that’s true. So, think smart and choose wisely to safeguard our planet.
13. Get your technical gadgets recycled
Apparently, globalisation has added to pollution as there are millions of people using phones, laptops, and other types of equipment and these materials are difficult to get rid of. However, there are IT companies that get this equipment recycled or decomposed to lessen pollution. All we need to do is contact them when we think of replacing a technical gadget. Build a clean and green India!
14. Give your child a wooden car instead of an airplane made of plastic
Toys made of wood are more eco-friendly than the toys made of plastic. The best part is wooden toys are long-lasting and can be recycled into something else after it has been fully utilised. Get your children used to wooden toys and teach them the importance of having a clean and green India. The future of the planet lies in the hands of children; therefore it is important that we guide them pt take part in making the world cleaner and greener.
15. Go Digital
Online technology has turned out to be a blessing for us. It not only saves our time but also spares us from standing in long queues to pay our bills. This also enables minimum use of paper which in-turn saves trees. All that is required is to get down to online bill payments and request offices to stop sending you paper bills. Digital documentation such as filling out forms digitally can also be encouraged. We can also curtail the use of excessive paper by using both sides of the paper for print copies instead of single-side printing. This reduces the usage of paper by 50%
Cleanliness begins at home. There is a lot to do on our parts that can save the world from varied environmental hazards. A small difference in attitude can bring a big change over in the environment around us.
So, why hesitate? It’s not enough that we emphasise the importance of being clean just on the 30th of January, being the National Cleanliness Day, but every day should be a step towards awareness!
