 |
Global warming is such an oft-repeated term that
somewhere along the line, people have stopped relating
to it.
“How do melting ice caps affect my life anyway?” a
friend of mine scoffed.
“The warming of the Earth is part of a natural cycle
of heating and cooling and we humans are just too
insignificant to have any kind of effect – positive or
negative – on the planet,” argued another.
Whether you subscribe to the global warming theory or
not, the fact remains that there are too many of us on
this planet, each of us making unreasonable demands on
its resources. We are consuming far too much, far too
soon. Rapid industrialization, large-scale
deforestation and excessive dependence on fossil fuel
have only compounded the problem. |
|
After years of debate, scientists now agree that we
are indeed heating up the planet.
When we burn fossil fuels to run our cars and light up
our homes, we pump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
This thickens the heat-trapping blanket that surrounds
our planet, causing global warming.
The effects are devastating – melting glaciers, rising
sea level, changing ocean currents, shift in weather
patterns, irreversible alteration of the eco-system
and the extinction of plant and animal life, to list
but a few.
Unless we take corrective steps now to curb global
warming, our way of life, our children and our planet
are all in grave danger.
Each of us can play a positive role by making simple
changes to our lifestyle. For instance, changing one
60 WATT light bulb to a CFC can drastically reduce
your electricity consumption. By opting to dine in
rather than take away, you can avoid the use of
disposable plastics. Renting out movies instead of
buying DVDs can help reduce the number of DVDs that
would need to be produced and disposed of.
We need to go beyond recycling paper and plastics. We
need to closely examine our lifestyle and identify
areas where we can economize and optimize.
Today, being eco-friendly is seen as being 'in.'
Everyone is talking about recycling – from large
multinationals to your local grocery store. Millions
of dollars are being spent on 'Go Green' campaigns.
Companies feel good, having done their bit for the
environment. The media wants to be seen as being very
responsible. But how effective are these campaigns?
Has it resulted in a paradigm shift in our attitude
towards the problem? Are we doing enough to rectify
it?
Quite a few of my friends switched off lights for an
hour during the Earth Hour this year and felt good
about it. But we need to do a whole lot more than that
to undo what we have unleashed over the past 100
years.
The good news is that we have finally acknowledged the
problem. It is time we started doing something about
it.
To find out how you can make a difference, visit
www.thelittlegreenpage.blogspot.com to download a PDF
version of The Little Green Guide, which has been
created to drive home the fact that each one of us can
make a positive difference to the environment by
taking small, simple steps.
MEL’S
DIARY
Highway Highlights
By Mel Ramaswamy
Keeping an eye on the road has its fringe benefits. It
yields sights not to be found elsewhere. I have often
been bewildered by a semi without the trailer. It is a
perfect picture of incompleteness. It reminds one of a
locomotive without its cars or a conductor without an
orchestra.
Then there is the cement mixer with its rotating drum.
It’s not just that it is a disturbing sight. You get
the feeling that it is getting ready to swirl
something at you and that you better stay away.
I have often wondered how a truck is able to move at
all with some of its tires folded. It’s like a plane
flying with one of its engines turned off.
It is quite a sight to see half a dozen Mercedes Benz
automobiles being hauled by a single carrier. What
intrigues me is how such an expensive cargo will
survive the chuckholes, speed bumps and the
low-clearance underpasses. I can imagine how hard it
must be for the driver to find a parking spot.
Another common phenomenon is horses being carried in a
U-Haul-type trailer with the horses standing up. I
sometimes wonder what would happen to the load if the
horses all decided to sit down.
Why is it that only pick-up trucks display their makes
so boldly? I have seen TOYOTA in huge letters, but not
TERCEL on cars. Some cars occasionally flaunt they are
TURBO. The power of the turbo becomes obvious in the
passing lane. It’s my policy never to pass a turbo
car.
While a monstrous semi in front of you is unnerving,
it is hard not to get a kick out of what they display
on their backs: This Vehicle has paid $12,000 in road
taxes last year. If you find me driving unsafely, call
1-800-XXXX. I have often been tempted to call that
number. I am never ready with a pen and paper, though.
Bumper stickers provide a nice diversion. Once in a
while, we see cars with bumper stickers such as HARI
OM, SHANTI, NAMASTE, NAMASHIVAYA, to name just a few.
What’s catching on are window stickers. One that
caught my eye said: I stop only if my brakes work. For
a strange reason, the sign on an ambulance is
backward.
A common occurrence that can be annoying and
misleading is a stuck left-turn signal. If this
happens in the left lane, does it mean the driver
wants to cross the median? What I have yet to see is a
highway robbery. I hope I will never see one.
|
