How can you make the world you live in - your home, your city, your nation - a cleaner and greener place?

How can you make the world you live in -your home, your city, your nation - a cleaner and greener place?

Mother India is a and of vast cultural heritage with nonviolence and universal brotherhood. Nature provided all the magnificent gifts imaginable to our country. It has vast expanses of green plains, snow capped Himlayas in the north and blue oceans in deteriorated a lot with loads of pollutants. Once considered to be the heaven, now deteriorated a lot with loads of pollutants. We must take an immediate vow - to "make it a better place, for you and for me" by keeping it a cleaner and greener thus healthier place to live in.

Any 'mission' should start with 'me'. Cleanliness should begin at home with good hygienic practice by an individual. Adopting sanitary method for disposal of house-hold wastes is the cornerstone of healthier living. Scarcity of safe potable water has been observed, hence judicious use of water with minimizing wastage should be stressed. Controlled use of underground water and recycling of surface water by suitable purification procedure need to be adopted.

In our city Kolkata, solid wastes are disposed by open air dumping at Dhapa Dumping Ground, which is not at all a hygienic way of waste disposal option. Putrefactions of the organic wastes produce foul smell and pollute the air of our city. Solid waste disposal by a method of compositing' should be adopted immediately where wastes are buried under the soil, thus preventing air pollution. Not only that good quality organic manure is produced as the end product of composting.

Our city is worst hit by the faulty town planning and the irresponsible behaviour of our city dwellers. Sufficient street corner litter-bins with arrangement for frequent timely clearance are must for the city. This should be complemented with continuous public awarencess campaign to change the habit of the city dwellers.

Another curse of urbanization is rapidly increasing number of cars already in the insufficient city street space. Most people keep the engine idling instead of switching it off, emitting harmful gases at traffic signals. More so has been observed in government vehicles. III-maintained engines of these vehicles produce lot of noise, which is added to the cacophony of air-horns especially at busy crossings, creating lots of sound pollution. Stricter laws for switching off the ignition key and reduce honking should be enforced. It has been observed that health conscious people drive five to ten kilometers to go to Victoria Memorial, Maidan or Rabindra Sarovar to take their morning walk. Why not they start walking from their own home? Indeed they need a clean pavement. Civic authority must ensure encroacher free walkway. Soundless battery operated and solar power driven cars can be reasonable alternative in the cities. Dedicated lane for cyclists along all major roads with encouragement to use bicycle instead might be a major step to reduce air and sound pollutions. Office goers should use public transport system too reduce the number of cars on street.

A major threat to India is its population explosion. Forest is steadily decreasing owing to the increasing population. Disharmony in ecological balance is becoming evident as a result. Erratic weather, natural calamity like flood, draught and above all global warming are gripping our environment. Men would not survive without sufficient trees. Trees maintain continuous supply of life-giving oxygen and absorb poisonous carbon-dioxides; thus maintain air quality. Hence, if men keep on felling trees non-judiciously,they are endangering their own lives. For each tree they fell, they must plant at least two saplings.

The plain truth is that, men who know the secret of the hazards like pollution must behave as responsible citizens. Otherwise man himself shall become a miserable victim of this imbalance. Every citizen of our nation should seriously take part in afforestation programmes for their own survival. Earnest try should be given to adopt renewable energy source like solar energy, wind energy, water energy etc. As much as possible. I am confident that this way we would be able to make the earth a better place for not only you and me, but for the entire human race.

How can you make the world you live in -your home, your city, your nation - a cleaner and greener place?

How can you make the world you live in -your home, your city, your nation - a cleaner and greener place?