Earth Day : Day#23/30

April 22nd is celebrated as the Earth Day.

Here are a few things _you_ can do to help :
1. Carry a cloth bag to buy veggies/groceries. Always keep one in your purse/laptop backpack, so it's easily accessible.
I really really hate it when someone next to me in the store buys a small packet of maggi, or a few eggs, or a single shampoo/oil bottle and asks for a plastic bag. Please please please do not ask for plastic bags. We already have enough of them :-|

2. When travelling, carry tickets on SMS, opt for e-statements from your bank. Avoid printing unless absolutely essential. And if you are printing, print on both sides, or reuse some old single sided printed paper.

3. Recycle newspapers, glass bottles and small metal objects. Your kabadiwalla /raddiwalla will gladly give you some money in return.  Also most Nokia care stores have drop boxes to recycle e-waste. Drop your old, broken, unusable cell phone parts, batteries, headphones, chargers there; instead of dumping them into the normal garbage bin.

4. We use smart phones, its time we get smart with our garbage as well. Segregate. Wet and dry garbage. PMC has made it mandatory, but even in other cities, seperate the wet and dry trash.
How will it help if it ultimately is going in the same collective bin, you ask? Well, compost your wet waste. And recycle the dry waste - paper, metal, glass and ewaste should never reach landfills. They can be reused if we dispose them correctly - to the kabadiwalla, raddiwalla, ewaste collectors etc. You'll end up reducing the amount you actually"throw away" and the Earth (also your children!) will thank you for it.

5. Like I said earlier, compost your wet waste. Here's an amazing site to tell you all about home composting and how you can do it quite easily.  They also sell products and provide support that makes composting much easier!

6. Please please please avoid using plastic cups and stirrers at office. Get your own mug for coffee. It's time you used that fancy mug (often you'll have more than one, am sure!) you've got as a gift!! :P  Invest in a funky water bottle and keep one @your desk rather than using a plastic cup every time you want to drink water.

7. Ever seen someone in a BMV/Audi or some such "posh" car driving ahead at full speed, only to go a few feet ahead,  and fling garbage (fruit skins/chips packets/plastic bags/even beer bottles and baby diapers!) from their "posh" windows? Quickest way to turn admiration to disgust, if you ask me.
Keep a small (yeah plastic! works just fine) bag or an old newspaper with you at all times so you could dump your trash in it, in case there's no trash can easily available.
There's no shame in carrying the empty coffee cups/chips packets you/your friends had (yeah, the chips/biscuits/chocolate your friend ate and didn't share, counts too!)
Simply carry them in a bag until you find a garbage bin, or dump them when you reach home. This applies to chips packets, biscuit wrappers you buy and eat in trains/buses as well... Please don't throw them out of the bus or train window... If you buy tea and think it's too messy to carry the cup, and you're too lazy to remember that trains have a dustbin that's located near the wash basin, then at the minimum keep the empty cup beneath the seat, but please don't throw it out the window. I really think Indian railways must come up with a "The window is not a dustbin" campaign. People unfortunate enough to sit next to me and trying to throw stuff have already gotten doses of unasked for advice :-P

8. Fix your broken/leaky taps immediately.  Read this awesome story for inspiration and remember the man the next time you get too lazy to call the plumber on Sunday mornings. :P

9. Donate your old clothes to some charity. Donate old toys to an orphanage or just give them to your neighbour's kids. Circulate books you've already read amongst your friends and relatives. Borrow books you want to read from a library. Reuse.
Remember to teach children there's no shame in using second hand stuff. Teach them to be proud of the fact that they will send less stuff to the landfills.  It's a consumerist world, and we need more people who will think twice (may be thrice or even more!) and look for reuse opportunities before actually "buying stuff" :|

10.  Use water sparingly. Skip baths ;-) (It's one excuse to give to mom the next time she pesters you to leave the Sunday morning newspaper and hurry for a bath :P)

11. Be wise with electricity. Use it _only_ when you actually need it. Look for natural cooling options this summer. वाळ्या चे पडदे (curtains made from a certain kind of grass that cools and gives out a pleasant fragrance when its wet) is a grander option than any AC you'll find in the market. Wiki knows वाळा too :P.
Think about having staircase lights with sensors in your building, so they are ON only when needed.


Happy Earth Day people!!

Image sourced from somewhere on the Internet

Remember, every small act counts in the quest towards a greener planet.
Lets give our dear darling Earth more reasons to smile :)