Things are changing and people are becoming more and more aware of the topics such as global warming and climate change. This Diwali I could notice some change in people's attitudes. It could be because of the recent floods or the cut backs in spending but there were fewer people bursting crackers with a lot less air pollution and noise pollution. I was glad that the local radio stations were making an effort to educate people about how Diwali could be made less harmful to the environment and also more enjoyable with family and friends. It is a festival of lights and not fireworks was the theme. However, I have always felt there was one good side effect from all the smoke of the fire crackers - reduction in the mosquito menace. So I did buy and burst some silent and colourful fire crackers to kill the damn mosquitoes. Not sure if that helped but the kids enjoyed the fire works. The day after Diwali is a nightmare for the city authorities to clean up the trash so I guess a Diwali with lights, colourful but silent fireworks and a responsible disposal of the trash should be the way to go.
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I recently was on a train journey to Shirdi, the place where the enlightened being Sai Baba once lived, and felt really sorry for all the trash that I saw everywhere. I am suprised that people seem to be oblivious to the lurking dangers of the trash they have created around the neighbourhoods they live in. I don't think Sri Sai Baba would have liked it much either. GOD - The Creator, has meticulously designed the planet and the life on it to thrive and sustain. People seem to have forgotten about the simple ways of living and seem to be trashing the planet. Modern day technologies have brought us lots of efficiencies and automation but it also brought wastage along with it. We seem to be consuming more than what we need and have become material gatherers while our fore-fathers have always taught us how to give up on such material things. We should go back to living simple and natural lives and use technology that is sustainable and stop using technology that is harming the planet. We are all capable of making the right choices. Use reusable cloth bags instead of thin plastic bags. Use bio-degradable paper plates or reusable steel plates instead of plastic plates. If you have to use plastic, make sure it is disposed off responsibily and not just thrown anywhere to litter the environment. Don't waste water, paper and electricity. Go Green and plant more trees and nuture them to grow because they recycle the carbon dioxide we generate and also cool the air around us so we don't need to use air conditioners. I hope to see a change in peoples' ways before it is not too late.
Camping is a wonderful activity for both grown-ups and children to connect with nature. It is a great outdoor activity to get city kids away from the TV & Video games and bring them closer to nature that is surrounded by beautiful wilderness, trees, birds, insects, reptiles and even monitor lizards and wild peacocks. For those who fear insects and lizards, it is just a conditioning of the brain and it helps to do things slowly - short and gentle exposures to these animals will overcome that fear. Building knowledge about the animals also helps a lot. The camping at Greenacres involves a structured introduction to nature and the wilderness, where city kids learn about survival, the dos and don'ts in the outdoors and get hands-on experiences in nature and get interested with the environment. Since Greenacres is a farm, kids can learn how to grow things naturally without using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. They can learn how composting is done from kitchen and garden waste that helps protect the top soil. Kids will also learn various aspects on how they can reduce the carbon footprint and help alleviate climate change.
I am back in Hyderabad, the city where I was born and brought up, after living in different parts of the world for over a decade and feel that the traffic in Hyderabad is probably one of the worst in the world. The vehicular traffic has increased and the number of cars on the roads has also increased but it is a big mess. People tend to blame the roads but the roads have been sufficiently widened despite some bottlenecks. The problem is not the roads it is the people who do not have the sense of driving. People have the money to buy fancy cars and put them on the road but the people who are driving these cars have no civic sense. People just don't seem to understand traffic rules and traffic lanes. They lack the basic idea of a Queue (First in, First out). If one has started after me then they should understand they will reach after me. There is no miracle that is going to happen to put them ahead of me unless they break the rules. These breaking rules, cutting lanes, not yielding, creating virtual non-existent lanes are the root causes of the mess. How do we educate these drivers? The sad thing is most educated people also break the rules and behave like junglees. I guess it gets on everyones nerves. So get away from all this madness to the quite and peaceful camping site at GreenAcres.
With the industrial revolution, technology and automation has dramtically changed the lifestyle of humans. Despite poverty in some places around the world, my observation in the last decade has been that people's basic needs of Roti, Kapda aur Makaan (Food, Clothing and Shelter) are being met very easily and that seems to have changed the people's mindset. Nobody wants to work hard any more and everyone wants to get ahead of the others. People are looking for shortcuts - get rich quick schemes. Everybody seems to be busy chasing their wants - the greed that never seem to end. Is this mindset sustainable? I don't think so. We are consuming more than our share of the basic needs and depleting our planet's natural resources much faster than it can regenerate. Like Mahatma Gandhi said: "Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed”. We need to end this madness and change our ways. Like Albert Einstein said: "We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive".
It is just so beautiful to see the vast expanse of the clear sky and the stars. It is such a humbling experience making us realize how small we are and how insignificant we are, yet we seem to think otherwise. Sleeping in the tents and breathing fresh cool air in the open relaxes our bodies and actually allows us to wake up early. You will not need any air conditioners since the trees and the breeze provide natural air conditioning. So no wasting electricity there! It is just a wonderful experience of connecting with mother nature and yet feel safe inside the tents.
Say "No" to plastic bags and plastic bottles. Everyone can go their bit to save the planet and protect the environment from getting totally wasted. Use reusable bags and bottles. Get over the "Use and Throw" culture and move to more sustainable lifestyles. What has not happened to the planet in thousands of years, we are able to do it in a century. Growing populations and growing needs are draining our natural resources leaving very little for the future generations. We all need to be sensitive to the fact that we are all contributing to the so called Climate Change and excercise caution. Simplicity is the way to go. Nature has a way to course correct itself and at times it could mean wiping out an entire polulation or species. Let's not wait for that to happen. Let's avoid using plastic and trashing the planet. Let's plant lots and lots of trees and have a clean and green environment.
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AuthorNature loving environment enthusiast.
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March 2021
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