We all have had our share of fights whenever we see injustice happening in the country. We all get worked up when we see goons teasing a girl, or a stranger pelting stones at a stray dog, or a child being harassed by his/her master. We all have taken to the streets to curb the injustice in the country, we all have voiced our opinions on various platforms to bring in change. But how often do we think about the greatest threat that each one of us is posing to the mankind? How many of us think about the consequences of our everyday actions?
Most of the youth owns vehicles, we all love the air conditioner, we all live in a modern world where we love the technology helping us in whichever way it can and we are so dependent on it that we can barely imagine our lives without it. The problem is that this life of luxury is costing us our planet. The earth will very soon become nothing but a barren land and we will all be responsible for it. We will have to struggle to survive and the conditions which we might have to live in won’t be very pleasant either.
Check yourself – Before blaming the rest of the world for injustice, we need to keep a check on our own actions. Why should a family of 4 have 4 cars? Why can’t we turn off the lights when we get out of a room? Why can’t we live without ACs in perfectly normal weather? Where are all these habits taking us and the world? Towards extinction. Start using your brains and saving energy and the environment before it gets too late.
Protest for the right things – The feminists are too busy fighting for their rights, the population of the country is fighting with the government and the political parties are fighting for power. But who will fight for the environment? When was the last time you left home and didn’t complain about the weather? We need to take matters pertaining to climate change more seriously and fight for it until we see measurable progress.
Alternatives – We could start using alternatives to keep the energy usage and exploitation of the environment under control. Start pooling in for conveyance or start using the public transport. Instead of using 4 air conditioners in the night, use 2. Do things which are sensible more than convenient. You can’t afford to lose the only planet you have to convenience.
Know where to draw a line – It is not only about too many vehicles being on the road or too many trees being cut, it is also about the wrapper that you flick out of the car after eating chips, it is about those 10 extra minutes that you wasted water for when it overflowed from the tub, and it is also about the fan which could have been switched off an hour ago but you forgot. Energy saved is energy created, we are losing a lot to create this energy, please start valuing it.
When a person talks about mitigating climate change, there are so many aspects that one doesn’t even consider thinking that small things are not all that important. We, the modern generation, think that music festivals are great, but they harm the environment too with all those firecrackers, we think going out with friends to a hill station is amazing and that is why hill stations have become overcrowded and increasingly polluted. There is only one thing that we all need to realize, if you love the Earth, save it, or soon we might lose it because of our carelessness.
Youngsters are in a crucial stage. They are not responsible for the environment deterioration and yet have to bear it. At the same time, they have the responsibility to maintain a sustainable development program in order to avoid the same condition for their children. For this, you need to start from self. Turn to public transport, cut down the emission and then encourage others to do so as well.