21 Apr 2021
How can we leave a greener planet for future generations
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Do you tweet about the environment or watch climate change documentaries on OTTs? Do you know the internet is a major cause of carbon emissions? The current world is witness to chaotic pollution of capitalist lifestyle and anthropocentric culture. Even the most isolated or remote tribes are not untouched by the modern lifestyle. There is […]

Do you tweet about the environment or watch climate change documentaries on OTTs? Do you know the internet is a major cause of carbon emissions? The current world is witness to chaotic pollution of capitalist lifestyle and anthropocentric culture. Even the most isolated or remote tribes are not untouched by the modern lifestyle.

There is collective guilt that each person with awareness about climate change carries about the exploitation of our natural resources. In fact, people are known to suffer from eco-anxiety due to the impending doom of climate change. Most of us try to do our bit to reduce our carbon footprints.

Much like the footprints on wet sand, carbon footprint too leaves a mark on our environment. The greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, fluorinated gases constitute the carbon footprint that we produce in our day-to-day life. Our lifestyle and habits decide how we can limit our individual carbon footprints.

From simple activities like tweeting, watching OTT platforms, or netsurfing to owning a car that uses fossil fuels. The world’s population is expected to increase by two billion people in the next 30 years, from 7.7 billion currently to 9.7 billion in 2050. While carbon emissions need a broader global approach, it’s imperative for each one of us to try to reduce our footprints upon our environment.

Firstly, we can start with the three R’s reduce, reuse and recycle. Reduce our consumption, reuse old things and recycle by segregating. We should refuse the use of single-use plastics, paper, or thermocol based products.

File:Reduce Reuse Recycle.jpg
Image credits: Nadine3103

Secondly, eat seasonally eat locally, have a more symbiotic relationship with the food we eat. Buying local farm-fresh produce helps the local economy. Animal farms on the other hand take up a lot of water and are major greenhouse gas polluters. A plant-based fresh food diet is good for the health of both planet earth and us.

During the global lockdown due to the pandemic in 2020, the world saw clearer blue skies and AQI below 50 even in cities like New Delhi wherein normal circumstances AQI reaches up to 900. The traffic coming to a standstill was one of the major reasons for this. Cars running on fossil fuels are one of the major causes of carbon emissions around the world.

Switching to more environmentally compatible transport like bikes, electric vehicles, or transport systems can also contribute to the reduction of our carbon footprints. Using less water for everyday use also lessens our carbon footprint.

Sun-drying our clothes, switching to sustainable organic soaps, shampoos, and cleaners is a major step in the right direction. Controlling our internet intake, deleting old data, sending lesser emails, avoiding cryptocurrency, and plugging off devices contribute in striking off our carbon footprint.

We can also switch to green search engines like Ecosia who are involved in using 80% of their revenues for tree plantation.

These are some of the few measures we can partake in order to create a greener planet. It’s time we make a collective effort worldwide, come together as a human tribe to save our planet. As a famous proverb of the Masai, an African community goes, “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”

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