Going Green: Some hard questions

Going green is an in-thing. People do it for different reasons and at different levels. Its a feel good factor for few and others take it as a part of their responsibility. For some it’s a passion and others see a great business opportunity in it. For whatever reasons, over the last decade -it’s the most heard, used, abused, underestimated and far less understood term..

Being environment friendly is a life style and not an activity. It’s about EVERYDAY and not just on Earth day or on Environment day thing. But without being too cynical, and also accepting the fact that dedicated days are the invention of activity obsessed generation, we should not forget that activities on one particular day or one off events, or a superficial approach can not undo the harms . Tribulations by- our reckless life style, lack of long term policies at the state level, and the significance of dollar sign in the present commercial world. Our present day environmental crises need more consistent and honest approach as a solution. There are also questions investigated by environmental ethics. Some of them are specific questions faced by individuals in particular circumstances, while others are more global questions regarding certain practices by larger groups and communities and also its accountability by the developing nations verses developed nations.

If we look at it from a broader horizon, do we need to be environment friendly because we have no other way out? We all know that a sustainable environment is essential to human well-being and its future, but is that the solitary reason for us to take care of it? Or do as a superior and intelligent creatures of the planet we own it to our planet more than other spices? On the contrary, spices with less intelligence or even no intelligence (as per our parameters) have harmed planet earth far less than we the intelligent ones. Interestingly, Dr Jean-Christophe Vié, who works at IUCN headquarters in Switzerland and has his PhD in ecology, writes – “There is no doubt that nature can survive without humans - and has done so, for the most part, since time began. But humans need nature”. We indeed do need nature but sadly going by what we are doing to mother earth, nature does not need us. Is it what intelligence got us –a not so welcomed status on this very earth? So what do we do?

One can always make a start. Small little steps at individual level can not be undermined. We need to understand term GREEN more than it is understood by most of us. Popular green tips, green habits, suggestions to feel good about green, need to be understood and adopted in totality.

Minding ones own ecological footprint is not as easy as it sounds. Even those who may consider themselves to be concerned about the environment would be gobsmacked if they look at the ecological footprints they leave. Just to add few examples : If using energy saving bulbs make you an environmental friendly person, how you dispose it can make you otherwise. Post usage, if one does not dispose off energy saving bulb properly it can harm environment more than it actually helped. Similarly, one cannot donate money to the organisations working for ecology, animals, bio- diversity and yet turn every inch of his or her house to a concrete, or contribute in any which way in the practices that harm bio diversity. It could be usage of leather, watching circus, buying products with palm oil, which contributes in the destruction of rainforests and hence disturbs ecology. Dr Christophe explains it simply yet clearly- “Everything you buy, I mean if you buy tropical wood, if you have a big car and you want to use bio-fuels, this is produced in a place where you have monkeys, where you have apes. The same will cell-phones. I mean a special mineral comes from a place where gorillas live so you have an impact directly by, what you buy you have a direct impact on primate population”.

Learning green is about adopting a philosophy .First you understand it, then you get convinced and then follow. Environment is for us to keep. We need oceans, forests and other spices more than they need us. Setting policies for realistic goals, building public opinion on environmental issues, and adopting a lifestyle where Reduce is better than Reuse, Reuse is better than Recycle and Recycle is better than sending things to landfills can help us take regular little steps towards bigger goals.