Magic Co-existence

Many a chores link up one after another
With the majestic star traveling East to West;
Living things small and big doing their part
Each significant in its own way
Each ignorant of few others;
Neither the significance nor the ignorance
Does matter to Mother Nature
From time to time the cycle rolls on
No matter the significance or the ignorance;
But why the significance to one's significance
And ignorance to others' significance
Asking this the majestic star goes and comes
Waiting for a magical day of equal co-existence!

Packing Green Lunch

I am Editor/Writer of the Eco Newsletter in my son's school. The theme for this month is packing green lunch. This is an excerpt from the newsletter removing school specific initiatives, programs and rewards. Hope this is useful for everyone.

Introduction:

Are you intrigued by the title saying ‘green’ lunch? Well, that doesn’t mean that we should eat everything green!  As we all know, the term ‘green’ is often heard in relation to the environment – to protect it, to nurture it, save it! Environmental pollution, global warming and the hazardous effects are well known.  Humans have developed an easy-to-go, throw-away, make-life-simple attitude. It sounds good but when we look at it deeply the drastic effects are inconceivable.  

The food choices we make not only have impact on us but also on the Earth. All the pre-packed food we find easy to use is not as healthy as we think those to be. And they add lots and lots of non-biodegradable plastic waste to the Earth. We definitely do not want the far future generations to excavate and discover about the ‘plastic age’ as we try to research the ‘Ice age’!  If they happen to do so they will certainly hate us for having jeopardized the future of the Earth and the life of the future generations. Earth was able to bounce back with life after ‘Ice Age’ but it’s not that easy to bounce back from the ‘plastic age’.  For the plastics fill every part of the Earth, both land and water spoiling the nature’s resources for life.  Having done enough damage already, it’s our responsibility to stop, think and act. One such area to be considered is the simple thing – packing our lunch box!

Objectives of packing a green lunch:

·         Leaving a healthy environment for our future generations, after all we all need our kids and grandkids to be healthy and happy.

·         Reduce the non-biodegradable waste to be thrown.  It’s just too much waste in the forms of wraps, forks, spoons, soda cans, juice boxes and pouches, aluminum foils and Ziplocs.

·         Pack the desired portion rather than wasting the excess from pre-packed food.

·         Be assured of quality and safety of the food.

·         Reduce, Recycle and Reuse.

·         To let deer, rhinos, albatross, turtles – all the animals and bird to live by avoiding the various plastic materials ending up in their stomach or lungs!

·         Make kids healthy and also environmentally aware.

·         Last but not the least – when the waste is just biodegradable food material, it’s easy to compost and make Mother Earth flourish!

Packing a green lunch:

·         The foremost thing to pack a green lunch is to make and pack at home!

·         Try to choose fresh foods over processed food as the processing, packaging, freezing and cooking frozen food all increase the energy usage. According to a study a frozen bag of carrots has nearly triple the associated global warming pollution compared to purchasing a fresh bunch of carrots.

·         Buy fresh produce rather than pre-packed salads and spend a few minutes washing and chopping and be assured of health and safety.  An E.Coli outbreak in the US in 2006 was linked to pre-packed baby spinach, so think before trusting labels saying food is prewashed. Studies also have reported the presence of salmonella and listeria bacteria in pre-packed salads, especially those containing meat.

·         Apples, bananas, berries, carrots, broccoli, all fruits and vegetables for that matter are better than Cheetos and chips.

·         Pack food in reusable containers – metal, BPA free plastic or glass. There are plenty of containers available in the market if you want to buy. Or you can use the containers we have at home already. And remember also to stay away from vinyl lunch boxes as they are reported to contain lead!

·         Use a reusable water bottle for the drink and of course, water is the best drink option.  Pre-packed individual juice is not a healthy and good option. You can juice in big bottles and pour the required portion into a reusable container.

·         Use silverware rather than using disposable plastic forks and spoons.

·         Use cloth napkins instead of paper napkins. You can also make your own cloth napkins from old and favorite T-shirts.

Well, gear up and get started!

Going Green -Good health – Great Earth!

Harmony with nature

Lately "Give Wild Life a Chance" is becoming a famous slogan. I understand the slogan is employed in a good sense and in a motive to save the wild animals from extinction. Many a species have become part of our history and many species are on their way to it, supposing we do not act to save them. All these said, what makes me furious is my contemplation that who are we to GIVE a chance to the wild life?  Is not this beautiful planet Earth, home to all the species? Every species whether big or small has its right to live on this planet. Earth is the home for all life, be it animals, plants or human. We, humans, having one sense more than the other species, used that 'one special sense' in a more self-seeking manner. In our process of exploration, expansion, development - whatever we name it, all we did was to intrude into the very nature! We hunted animals, felled trees and did what all we can do to destroy the nature without ever thinking of balance. I wonder if those animals are wild at all, if they had been wild, they would have had their space to themselves. Are we wilder than the wild animals that we barbarously led many species to extinction? A Lion known to be wild doesn't bother to hurt another animal when its full and not hungry. We humans never feel full, never feel satisfied. In our thirst for more and more, we stopped thinking of balance in nature! We move into every corner of the Earth and then say animals are intruding into our space, and then we act to destroy them, in the name of self-protection! And out of the blue, today we talk about 'giving' animals a chance! Let us stop intruding into the nature too much! Let us learn to live a life which imparts balance in the nature! Let us stop cutting trees to expand our space and on the other hand displaying slogans like, "give wild animals a chance"! Instead let us plant trees, be more sensible to our environment not taking natural resources for granted. I feel it will be more prompt to say, "Live in harmony with the nature!". Be comfortable, appreciate nature and live in harmony! Its never too late!

Save water for YOUR future

With global warming and melting glaciers, a basic resource is on the danger of depletion. Its the life of every life on earth-Water. As scientists do research and leaders of the Nations talk about saving resources, reducing global warming, saving the planet earth, what do we need to do as inhabitant of this planet. We as an individual have the moral responsibility of saving the resources we enjoy today, for the future generations. This could be achieved in easy day-to-day activities. I just give a small list of steps we can take for our own advantage as well as for the future.

• Keep the tap closed while brushing and gargling, using a small cup of water for the same.
  
• Keep the shower closed while shampooing and also fit water efficient shower-heads available today. More better is to use a bucket to take bath.
• Collect the water used to rinse vegetables, fruits, rice and lentils and use it for watering plants, cleaning the sink, soaking etc.
• Use a tub or bucket to rinse vessels while washing by hand. Run the dish washer with full load.
• Run the laundry only with full load. This saves power and cuts your bill too.
• Mopping the floor cleans well without wasting water.
• Check for leaking pipes and taps and fix without delay, if any.
• Use a small cup of water to wash hands after meals rather than washing under running water.
• Use water wisely not only in your own house or land, but also when you stay in hotels or others' houses. Water wasted anywhere contributes to water loss from the earth thereby affecting us.
• Use the water poured at the bottom of pressure cookers after cooking for cleaning vegetables, soaking etc.
• Ice from ice trays could be used for cleaning, watering plants instead of just dropping into drain or defrosting.
  
• Flush the toilet only when necessary. Don't flush just to clear a tissue paper, instead use the trash. Also half-flush when appropriate.
• Wipe cars or bikes with wet cloth or use a commercial car wash which recycles water.
• Think thrice before pouring water just like that into the drain. It will certainly help us have sufficient water for our basic need-drinking, in the future. After all we do not want to suffer from thirst anytime of our life.
• Instruct children to close the faucets properly and enlighten them about water conservation. Watch small kids while they brush and take bath.
• Above all, save the rain water given by nature itself without letting it go waste. Do rain water harvesting in the buildings.
  

Following these small tips can save liters of water without any loss for us. Above is just a negligible list of things we can do to save water. Please think and you will discover many more ideas.

Each drop of water saved today is for our own future, our own kids and grand kids.
Think and act wisely.