“7 Billion Dreams. 1 Planet. Consume with Care”

 

Today is June 5 - World Environment Day (WED). Every year thisday is celebrated to raise global awareness to take positive action for environment. It was established by United Nations General Assembly in 1972 on the day when UN conference on Human Environment began. Every year UN unveils theme for the WED. This year’s theme is "7 Billion Dreams. 1 Planet. Consume with care."

 

You might have heard saying One Women 100 Suitor or in Hindi  एक अनार सौ बीमार, that fits well with present condition of our planet earth. 7 billion people (dreams) and just one Mother Earth issupposed to fulfill the dreams of all by providing resources to each and every one.

 

If we spiritually look in to the situation, one will find that Mother Earth is least bothered about the weirdness of human dreams. Mother Earth has given 5 elements - Air, Water, Matter, Fire and Space and the overall quantity is fixed. Human can just change the composition, shape and color but in reality the total resources remains same. Mother Earth does not have worry about the rise or drop of temperatures, earthquakes or volcanoes, storms or tsunami. It is the human being who is getting affected by abusing the nature.Survival of human being is at stake and billions of other animals suffer without any fault. In the context of nature protection, animalsare more intelligent species than human because they probablyunderstand the balance needed on earth and hence they live in complete harmony with nature. But human being, who is continuously evolving and striving for the best resources, does not live or act according to nature’s will. In this process humans are destroying their own dwellings by acting against nature.

 

Message of this year’s theme is "Consume with Care." The intention of UN is to reinforce the awareness amongst global human race to adapt 3R (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle). I go 55 years back and recall my life as a child in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. We used to follow all these 3 principles without any formal education or understanding their impact on environment. First R is Reduce our electric and water consumption to a bare minimum. We were not allowed to waste food and used to get new set of clothes only once in a year on diwali. Thus, Consumption was less even though people had enough money. 

 

Reuse was the way of life. Like, using leftover food for breakfast on the next day morning by re-cooking it or using discarded cloth bags for buying vegetables and other shopping, making paper bags from used note books and old newspapers etc. I have gone through excellent example of water recycling. In Rajasthan there was an acute shortage of water. My mother use to give me bath in tub, reuse that water for washing the clothes in tub, again reuse the same water for mopping the floor and finally use the same water for flushing in the toilet. Now-a-days, this 3R concept is heard in corporate/environment conclaves but very little is known and practiced in modern urban homes. 

 

5 tips for making WED meaningful:

 

1. Apply 3R (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) in a day to day life in true sense. 

2. Do not miss an opportunity to plant a tree and taking care of the same. 

3. As far as possible, use renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, organic food and fertilizers etc. 

4. Implement rain water harvesting in your premises. 

5. Educate your children, friends and family about "Consume with Care" and forward this message in your groups.