Each one of us can help save our earth

Till a decade or so ago, topics such as global warming, greenhouse effect, ozone layer depletion, sustainable development and so on were usually the preserve of academics and researchers or the very passionate members of organizations such as Green Peace, Ecowatch and so on. By and large, businesses did not care much- unless there was an Exxon Valdez kind of mess or a disaster like the Bhopal gas tragedy.

But in the last 10 years or so, there has been a marked increase in people’s awareness. Even ordinary citizens have begun to realize that their lives are getting impacted. The environment is no longer “somebody else’s problem”. In Indian cities for instance, reliable potable water supply is proving to be a bigger problem with each passing day. Bore wells are drying up and new bores need to be sunk to several hundred feet to reach water- adding to the cost. The same citizens are also business leaders and investors- and are worried at the alarming rate of depletion of resources and spiralling energy costs- for this hurts profits and stock market performance. Automobile companies like Honda and Toyota are in fact actively positioning themselves as companies that care for the environment (eco-friendly hybrid cars, hydrogen fuel cell based vehicles). Petroleum majors such as BP and Shell are talking more and more about alternative energy sources. Enormous amounts of money are being spent on developing cars that run on alternative energy sources.  “Green” manufacturing and “green IT” is now “in”.

I also think that environmental protection is one area where judicial activism is called for. The Supreme Court of India should direct state governments to bring in legislation that bans buses, trucks and cars that are older than say, 15 years. I am told that fuel efficiency norms will become law in the next 18-24 months. In other words, car manufacturers have to guarantee a certain mileage in their models- and can be sued for non-compliance! As a consumer, I am delighted….. if this does indeed become law, automobile makers can no longer boldly claim “unrivalled mileage” of 15 Km/l (or whatever other figure) and get way with a litle “*” as the superscript that says “under test conditions”. I’d really like to know how many of us drive daily in “test conditions”?!

I was quite proud of the little kids in our apartment complex in Bangalore, who went door to door last summer, asking the residents to conserve water, make sure their taps don’t leak and not keep their faucets running when they brushed their teeth or shaved. It is this kind of a mass movement that our earth needs. Not just in Bangalore, but across India. Not just in India, but around the world.
At home, we as a family are very conscious about power and water consumption and always look for ways to reduce wasteful consumption. For relatively short distances, we walk instead of driving.  We recycle paper- paper blank on one side is quite handy for writing lists or messages for each other. My 10 year old daughter understands enough about the hole in the ozone layer, melting polar ice caps and the impact of such phenomena on the rain-fed Himalayan rivers and eventually, on each of us. My wife and I use every posible opportunity to teach our daughter about the imperative for environmental protection and to get her to be more sensitive towards our environment.

We strongly believe that each one of us can play an important part in preserving our earth. I urge all of you to become more environmentaly conscious in your everyday living. Start today- remember, better late than never. And don’t delay lest it becomes a case of too little too late.