Dr Satyawan Saurabh
Mahatma Gandhi had once said, ‘The earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.’ Humans have destroyed one-tenth of Earth’s forests in the past 25 years and if trends continue there could be nothing left within a century.
According to a study published a few months ago in the journal Current Biology, a vast area the size of two Alaskans – about 3.3 million square kilometers – has been tarnished by human activity since 1993.
Humans consume only 0.01 per cent of all biomass on Earth, but despite being such a small part of the planet, they have exterminated 83 per cent of all wild mammals and half of all plants.
There is a growing need to remind ourselves that we must protect and preserve our environment for future generations. Earth Day is observed on April 22 every year.
With climate change representing the greatest challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that make our world habitable, Earth Day was a unified response to an environment in crisis – oil spills, haze, and rivers so polluted they caught fire.
On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans-10 per cent of the US population at the time-took to the streets, college campuses, and hundreds of cities to protest environmental ignorance and demand a new way to care for our planet.
On the first Earth Day Credited with starting the modern environmental movement, and now recognized as the planet’s largest civic event, Earth Day holds major international significance. In 2016, the United Nations chose Earth Day as the day when the historic Paris Agreement on Climate Change was implemented.
It is celebrated to remind each one of us that the Earth and its ecosystems provide us with life and sustenance. The day also recognizes a collective responsibility, as stated in the 1992 Rio Declaration, to promote harmony with nature and the Earth, an appropriate balance between the economic, social, and environmental needs of present and future generations of humanity. to achieve.
The day provides an opportunity to raise public awareness around the world of challenges to the well-being of the planet and all life it supports. India is one of the few countries in the world that has a carbon tax in the form of a cess on coal. India has not only imposed such a cess but is also increasing it progressively.
The National Clean Energy Fund, which is supported by a cess on coal, was created to finance and promote clean energy initiatives, finance research in the area of clean energy, and any other related activities.
The Union Government launched the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME)-India scheme in April 2015 to promote the sale of environment-friendly vehicles in the country. It is a part of the National Mission for Electric Mobility. Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana provides LPG connections to five crore beneficiaries below the poverty line.
The connections are given in the name of women beneficiaries to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels and traditional fuels like cow dung for cooking and thus reduce air pollution. The Ujala Yojana scheme was launched in January 2015 with a target of replacing 77 crore incandescent lamps with LED bulbs.
The use of LED bulbs will not only reduce the electricity bill but will also help in environmental protection. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Movement) is a campaign that was launched by the Prime Minister on 2 October 2014. The campaign seeks to clean the streets, roads, and infrastructure of 4041 statutory cities and towns in the country.
Investigate other ways to protect the environment at home, on rooftops, or in your own home using the concepts of ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.”
Take one weekend a week for a personal cleaning project. Take a morning to scavenge for discarded plastics, cans, and bottles around your neighborhood to help the whole community.
If you live in a coastal area, it’s especially important to help protect marine wildlife. Do a home energy audit.
Focus on electronic devices like laptops that are left on 24/7 (which accounts for 5-10 per cent of residential energy use per year).
Switch these devices off when not in use and you can save an average of $100 on your electricity bill annually can save. Around the home, replace old bulbs with longer-lasting, more energy-saving ones.
Haven’t gotten into solar yet? Start with solar-powered porch or entryway lights you can easily install yourself. For even more energy savings, look for solar-powered motion-sensor lights that activate only when the entrance is reached.
Choose a good location (away from the growing area) for the compost pile. Start recycling coffee grounds, eggshells, and food scraps to decompose and ultimately enrich your garden for the upcoming growing season. Enlist the kids to help you build a bird feeder for the patio — using a plastic bottle and filling it with bird feed. You can also make a Nature Made feed bowl out of half an orange peel. Fill it with seeds and place it on an outdoor table or windowsill.
