Monday, June 04, 2007

Do your bit, please!

June 5th is World Environment Day. Please wake up, look around you, see how friendly (or unfriendly) you are to the environment, and please do your bit to protect the environment. Every tiny effort counts.

This year's main topic of discussion is Global Warming - "Melting Ice, a Hot Topic?"

I wish I had more time to write in detail, but I don't, so I will leave you with a couple of interesting links. [Not connected to Global Warming]

An inspiring story -
A small town in Devon has become the first place in Europe to turn its back on plastic shopping bags. But how did it do it? Rebecca Hosking, the local activist who galvanised traders and shoppers, explains.

And the world asks this town, how can we do it too?

Find out your ecological footprint [Link courtesy Sangsta]

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Shruthi! First off, congratulations, and I wish great happiness to all three of you.

I do agree with the larger principle of this post - environmentally friendly policies must be implemented by the state and responsible people must strive to create awareness about eco-friendly commercial norms.

However, there is another side to the story. A blanket ban on plastic (or a plastic product thereof) assumes that the said plastic use is inherently eco-unfriendly. Here is an interesting point of view on degradable plastics (a look at the ban on plastic bags in San Francisco).

A feasible alternative to a ban would perhaps be to stipulate standards of material use - they should stand multiple reuse cycles/they must be bio-degradable/they should carry an "environment tax" etc. It seems fair to say that the state could set the standard by directing factories to eco-friendly products and manufacturing.

Thanks for the post!

Shruthi said...

Thethirdman, Thanks for the link and the comment! Yes, I understand that a blanket ban on plastics is meaningless - I mean, I couldn't do without plastics in my daily life at all. But minimising it is definitely in our hands.

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