Let’s be honest. You talk about your activities in plantations, spreading awareness about conservation of environment in social media platforms, signing up for the latest course on conservation of climate, write articles on statistics and climate! (Hey, I was in that category too until….) But, what if i tell you that you are still one of main reasons for climate change! “No”, you say?  “What is wrong with you?” You say. Prove with evidence, my lord, you say? Okay, then let me give you the evidence. ( I know that I a messing up with active and passive voice, but grammar Nazis, give it a rest for 5 minutes of your day and continue reading)

“How me?” You ask

The counsel for conservation for climate change, seeks your permission for some cross examination, Your Honor (pardon me for over enthusiasm in court language. can't help it. spent 5 years of my life just memorising this statement. yes, i am law grad.)

1. Do you recollect the times when you were listening to that DJ song and dancing in the shower? “Self care”, you say! Well, you waste 5 buckets of water in shower. And the self care argument does not work here when ‘your self’ is at stake from the impact of scarcity caused due to water wastage.

2. Do you notice that your insurance cover does not cover ‘damage caused from food wastage” when you rush to the office everyday early in the morning (for most people, early morning breakfast means 8am), and have some overflowing bowl of oats or catch up some ‘ on the go food’ only to dump in the nearby bin in the rush.

3. Do you take cab in the rush to your office, college, school (I got ya, kid. I see how you pester your parents when you miss that bus!). Welcome to the club of naysayers, but my friend, you are causing some copious amount of air pollution!

Shift from “Not I” to “How can I” approach

 To blame the governments, to blame the companies, to blame the supernatural entities (kidding!) is definitely not an answer. Liabilities & action plans at  the central level to ensure responsibility is necessary in as much as stringently complying with our responsibilities in our daily lives to combat climate change. It is pertinent to note that this is the time to shift from “Not I” approach to ‘How can I’ approach. Its time to ask yourself:  “How can I reduce my carbon footprint? How can I reduce my Water Footprint? How can I reduce my plastic footprint? .”

Green Living: The need of the hour

Opting for Green living not merely leads to sustainable development and a more sustainable future, but also creates a more unified world & peace. Peace resulting  from ceasing wars due to lack of resources, Peace resulting from connecting networks for communication in collective action, Peace for you, your city, your country, and the world.

 

Now, for some guidelines on how to implement Green living. Wait! Isn’t it tiring to read copious information on the internet and books as it is. Data! Methods of study! Reports! Statistics! ( yes, I can provide you with reading list if you want the mainstream information on statistics and action plans at international level per se, but that will be in the next post.)

 

So, let me instead, tell you a story. (grab some popcorn). I promise this is going to exciting and what more? Every time, you are in that shower, you will be prompted to switch to 1 bucket of water. Every time, you almost fill that bowl of breakfast to brim, you will stop and remember, this story and the tips for Green Living.

(P.S I know this post sounds very informal. But every time I write those articles, I am not astonished to know that most readers won’t reach the last sentence. So, I want to make it interesting and therefore, opted for informal and personal form of writing. ) 

Green Living: The story of war against the rival ‘Climate Change’

 So, here begins the story. As any typical story goes, once upon a time, there was king known as ‘Living’ and his Kingdom called ‘The Earth.’ He ruled far and wide and his people respected their land. There was prosperity everywhere and people lived a long time until there was a rival called’ climate change’ which intercepted the minds of people and people started to want more, more of everything, the land they lived, the water they drank, the food they ate. But, there is only so much land under the Kingdom of “Mother Earth” in as much as the people lived in before. It is not long before that people started uprooting trees, clearing space to make for more land that the power of the rival ‘climate change’ grew. The king ‘ Living’ who saw this, lamented the chaos in his kingdom “The Earth” and pardoned his people for their actions by making a sacred agreement called ‘Sustainable Development’. This, he ordained, shall be complied by his people. But, over time this sacred document ‘ called sustainable development’ was tainted. So, ‘ Green Living’, the  Prince (son of the King ‘ living’) was appointed to address this problem. ‘ Green living’ travelled far and wide and made friends with ‘ Individual’ and ‘Community Living.’

 

Green Living’, ‘Individual’ & ‘Community’: The Trialogue

Scene 1

Enter Individual & Community (geez, you guessed it right, I am trying to be the mini Shakespeare here to shake this sphere of world) 

Lame joke, is it? Geez, show some appreciation and please continue reading...

 Individual : I do not think that I can help my friend and prince ‘ green living’ to assist the king 'living' in restoring the sacred document’ sustainable 'development’. I have no power in this kingdom of “ The Earth”. How can I be help to my friend?

Community: I Concur with you ‘ individual’. We are but small part of this kingdom “Earth” what can we do?

Scene 2

Enter ‘Green Living’

Green Living : Dear Friends, I overheard your conversation. Though you are but a small part, your help is valuable to me in assisting the kingdom “Earth”. I already have a plan in mind to restore the sacred document “ Sustainable Development”

 

“Individual & Community: this is what you can do for for me” : says Green Living 

(Blueprint for Green Living)

1. Conserve water. Use not more than 1 bucket for bathing. Recycle water: Use the water you use to wash your vegetables to water your garden. Fix any broken tap or pipes.

2. Be mindful of what you eat. The food that you consume comes with a lot of plastic waste, from packaging to disposal. Resist your hand from taking in more than necessary food and stop wasting food.

3. Opt for public transportation or car pooling instead. Vehicular pollution is one of the main contributors to air contamination.

4. Switch to power saving appliances and turn off your laptop when not using it. Switch the lights and fan when you go to another room ( we know that your only 1 minute excuse to come back to the room will shift to 1 hour when chit chatting with your neighbors)

5. Carry a cloth bag with you all times. Yes, even when you are going for a walk or visiting a friend or going to office. (you never know when you want to binge eat! or when you would suddenly go to shopping to relieve that stress your boss gave, only to come back with plastic ‘shopping’ ‘grocery’ bags.!)

6 . Recycle: your friend’s birthday approaching! No, don’t shop that showpiece that he never looks at. Make it from your plastic trash. And surely, your friend will appreciate you for your effort and your idea. (But, please do Google how to make a nice art and don’t just give a used water bottle blaming me that I suggested this as your friend’s gift! )

And the story of  the war against ‘climate change’ is continued…..

(P.S You say that it is unfair to stop the story in between. But, my Friend this is series 1. And the upcoming series will soon be out. In the meantime, Do you love the story? Then, what are you waiting for? start a fanclub ( a community) and Don that character of ‘individual ’and ‘community’, remember what ‘Green Living’ said to ‘Individual’ and ‘ Community’. Your participation matters. And every step against the rival ‘climate change’ is a glory deed to restore your kingdom ‘The Earth”.)

Until then, Sayonara

( you might argue that i could have just shared to steps to conserve, instead of the long post. but, hey, did you not have fun reading this?)

If you liked this post, please leave your valuable comments below and share this story among our friends and family. (especially those kids in building a sustainable living for them )

signing off

source code for story: Usha Amulya Narem

IP address: you don't have to know ;)