An opinion piece about why you think people are not as sustainable as they

should be, and how you believe you can make them so.

Everywhere you look around, you will find people caring less about the environment
and nature and more about themselves and their personal greed. They want bigger
income, bigger houses and cars or bigger status in society, but only a few want a life
of bigger meaning.
Right from polluting air, water and soil, to over-depletion of the natural resources, we
have left nothing that will not cause damage to the environment. Over decades we
have we have been wasting water, thinking it is available infinitely. The result is in
front our eyes, the ground water has dried up so much so, that the major Indian cities
will be left with no drinking water till 2020.
This is not just the case with life supporting water, but everything else too. Soil is no
longer rich in any nutrient or fit for farming. The plastic has already reached the
oceans and killing the sea life and damaging the ecological balance. The air is so
polluted that green house gases are at its peak and its effect quite evident in the
form of climate change, droughts, floods, the melting of Antarctic icecaps and rising
of ocean level. So, we cause more damage to the environment than we contribute.
If we were living a sustainable and eco-friendly life, these much-needed resources
would have sustained instead of drying up. As the wise have said, “the Earth has
enough for everybody’s need; Not for everyone’s greed”. Our produce or products
are nowhere near useful compared to the amount of damage created on the
environmental front. The purpose of damage is also not even good enough, that will
be of any use to the future generation. They are just left to face the brunt of it all.
It is our chance to put an end to this disaster before it ends us. Change for the better.
Not just for yourself but for your children, because sooner or later they will ask, why
haven’t we left any resources for them. You might leave them a hefty bank balance
but what they will need then will be oxygen producing trees. We should start caring
about our resources right away. Ban the use of plastics personally. Don’t wait for the
government to do it, do it for yourself and your family.
Stop wasting water and find out ways to reuse it. Rainwater harvesting is one such
way to reduce the usage of ground water and use rain water for your household
purpose. Care for ecological footprint. What exactly it means? It means we should
buy from those companies that cause minimal damage to produce a maximum of
products and not the opposite where a lot of damage is done to produce something
so small and less meaningful. Don’t buy products from companies with a larger
ecological footprint.
Another way that was started by the United Nations, to control the climate change
was introducing carbon credits. It means a company is only allowed to produce a
certain level of CO2 for its production. If they cross the level, they are liable to pay
hefty fines that will cut their profits to half. This way a lot of damage has been saved
and those who use even lesser than the given limit are also awarded for
encouragement. We can try doing the same in daily life by making sure we cause no
damage to the environment while doing our daily business and keep planting more
tress always. “Be the change you want to see in the world.” If you want a better
future for your kids and not leave them high and dry when it comes to natural
resources, start at your own home today.