A take on pollution not the oil spill thousand miles away but the polythene bag u get from the shop.

1. YOU, ME & POLLUTION
Every time I see people talking about pollution or saving the planet they talk from a third person’s point
of view, as though they are not the culprits in any way and that they are some kind of demigods. The
truth, being that everyone is having a share on every single molecule of co2, polythene, heat and e-
wastes produced. We don’t do anything towards it and just resort to a blame game, usually the
government and big companies being our excuse. (Which is anyway justified especially in the case of our
government as India is one of the biggest dump yard for global wastes and allows high level of toxicity in
our day to day life.)
Let’s not go in to a macro level about policies, CSR, global warming, incompetent governments but are
we doing anything on an individual level? Say for example how many ‘mineral’ water bottles we would
have bought, even though we had an option of using water from our home (1.5 million tons of plastic
is used for making water bottles globally). If we start to be eco friendly, it means a lot to a greener
earth. The change should start from us first, but we want only others to be perfect, not us. When we
start to have an inclination towards eco friendly products definitely the market too would listen. My
heart gets heavy whenever I see either sides of the roads flooded with plastic and polyethylene.
Polyethylene and plastics have penetrated up to 6 layers of the soil in India. I don’t want to go into the
boring details of how carcinogenic and anti natural these substances are, as we all can write essays on it.
There is a saying, “what goes around comes around”, we started polluting earth and we are the victim of
our own poison. There are a few very simple things we can do to make earth a better place to live,
Never litter plastic, even better never litter!
Take a reusable bag to the store. Offer to take your merchandise in your own bag and refuse the plastic
bag provided by the shopkeeper (even if u are a shopaholic).
Go green with fashion - our old jolna bag(sling bags), saaku bag (jute bags), manja pai (cloth tote bags),
the ladies wire koodai(wired totes) have all entered the fashion industry in a trendy styles . Add style to
your life and throw the plastic away!
Use eco friendly products, a simple thing would be to buy eco-friendly notebooks, if not, Reuse and
recycle.
Don’t go for bottled water unless it’s unavoidable.
Most importantly, spread the awareness.
If people like us who are professionals in the making can’t follow these simple things then who will? So
people please take a vow to save the nature. Earth is not a gift from our ancestors, it’s a debt we owe
to our future generation. We act as if the world will be cleaned, become a bliss and we will be saved by a
super hero as in the climax of a Hollywood film but that’s not going to happen in the real world. We are
the heroes, if we can contribute towards a greener earth. Remember, you don’t need to be a superman
to save the world, just human.
S.Arul Vignesh

2. YOU, ME & POLLUTION