going green

Today is October 15 – Blog Action Day, and this year’s topic is Climate Change.

Over the past couple of years, there has been increasing awareness of the state of our planet Earth and the speed at which it is changing. There are conferences held, protests made, pamphlets distributed, scientists and statisticians are busy coming up with different scenarios and what-if’s.

Our own knowledge has increased tremendously, even my 5 year old came home the other day and gave me a stern look and told me not to waste water.I’d left the water running in the kitchen sink to turn around and answer the phone. My older kids have had at least two different activities independantly where the topic of expression was Going Green, Global Warming, Climate Change and the like. From Robotics, to Odyssey of the Mind, to the MUN conferences they speak in, to the Honors Biology project, to the Optimist club speeches, the topic’s been beaten to death at home, so much so that we now have a separate folder on each of our computers that is shared by all, labeled “Go Green”

There isn’t anything new that I can say that hasn’t been said already, nor is there a new motivating voice in me that would implore the readers to take that step if they haven’t thought of it earlier. This topic’s has been exhausted in the information highway. The interesting part would be that apparently despite all the flooding and the education and outreach, there hasn’t been much of a change in our lifestyles to stop or decrease the rate of decline of our resources.

Interesting don’t you think?

Seriously, think about it, we are adults. We ought not be spoon-fed on the repercussions of our actions, we are responsible at work, home, towards our duties in the different roles we play in, within our social and family circles. Why is it okay to be indifferent to our role as a citizen of the world. I suppose the fact that we have not been anywhere else but on this Earth, should hold up more accountability towards our space around us. Yet, it does not seem to faze most of us, as we go around wasting water, using more paper than necessary and then trashing it, trashing plastic, leaving lights on, using the car to the nearby park so we could jog: I could fill this page with stuff that happens to us every day, and ones that we do not blink an eye or spare a thought to.

We don’t see the glaciers melting, the animals exhibiting behaviors outside of their natural instinct, the increase of bugs in the tropics, the effects of each extending their fingers very far and long into our future.

People giggle, snicker and look at me with mock amusement and shock when I “lecture” or “admonish” them. Yet I do, and I know I am at the receiving end of such by the more stronger green folks, and there are a few strong advocates out there who take it to the extreme.

I believe:

1. People are essentially lazy.
2. People do not care
3. People aren’t visualizing the intensity of the changes they are bringing on together.
4. People always almost ask the question: Like me recycling alone would make a difference?

As much as I hope to understand how difficult it would be to take an extra step and throw that beer can into the recycling green bin and not the blue trash can, what I cannot begin to understand is the lackadaisical nature with which the correction is eyed. So what? One beer can? Really? What footprint? I don’t see anything. It’s the same since I was a kid on this street. Okay, let’s pretend I’d do it, what’s the guarantee that the world will get better, why am I taking the trouble for the future, when the rest wouldn’t and so the world will remain status quo or worse anyway?

That train of thinking? Irks me from within. Looks cute on Garfield, not on real people.

Human nature is deeply selfish. The community, the society and the little groups we form are selfish. Sure, there is awareness, there are groups, there are movements, and we hope that all of this is hopefully contributing to ensuring a careful future, but if the movements are getting stronger, does it mean that the awareness’ is increasing or does it mean that nothing great’s happening and the few who care are panicking.

So here’s a thought. Go ahead be selfish. Think of how your darling son will grow one day and look at your pictures in the green lawn outside and tell his grandson “Those days, they had green lawns. My dad and I played ball every Sunday” and then they would look at the pictures wistfully, coz that darn green lawn isn’t green nor is it a lawn anymore!

So if not for anything else, do it for your future. Next time you stand and gaze at a spectacular African safari picture or a glowing sunset or the sheer beauty of the enormous white glaciers, hope that your future off-springs will see what you see, experience what you have experienced. ..and if you ask me, why should they? They will live a different life, then I suppose, you really don’t have a reason to go green. Live in abundance and litter away.

Do I look like am preaching? Yes, I am.

Do I practice what I preach. Yes, I do.

The real question is: Is anyone listening?

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ps: I loved the tips here on Planet Green and on Treehugger and the links are well worth a click.

Pick one change you’d like to bring into your life, do it consecutively for 21 days and it’s a habit. Just one a day till it becomes a habit, then next month, another. It isn’t all that hard.