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Turning on the heat

All it takes are a few changes in our disposables-filled lifestyle to save our fragile planet

NO LONGER A MYTH We have to take the threat of global warming seriously

Did you hear the bad news? It's official; we're likely to drown — if it's any consolation — in the comfort of our own homes! Uncontrolled carbon dioxide emissions will trap heat, melt glaciers, which in turn will raise sea levels, potentially transforming coastal areas into one huge swimming pool. Global warming, we're reminded every single day, is going to kill us all before we can aim our fancy nuclear arsenal at each other. And all this is simply because we don't take our own shopping bags to buy vegetables, live highly air-conditioned lives, abhor walking, cycling and all forms of public transport, prefer flights to trains...

A real threat

Several species of animals that evolved over the millennia are threatened by our plastic rubbish, our automobile exhausts and our lifestyles. From being the stuff of myths just a decade or so ago to a looming, very real threat today, it has made its unpleasant presence felt in more ways than one. Earlier, docudrama makers had to resort to computer-generated footage of icebergs calving. Now, they just head northwards and shoot `awesome' pictures of blocks of ice crashing into frothy oceans. You've probably heard all this a million times; after the war on terror, greenhouse gases are clearly the most discussed subjects this century! Yet, the debate remains unresolved, and genuinely eco-friendly lifestyle arguably remains one of the toughest things to follow.

"Convenience is the culprit," says Gayathri, mother and homemaker. "In our fast-paced lifestyles, disposables rule the roost. Moreover, we do our shopping on the go and rely heavily on plastic-bags. Handy yes, but at what cost?"

Plastics are, of course, only one aspect of the fossil fuel nightmare (the raw material for plastics is oil and/or natural gas) There are the other great debates — loss of green cover, energy efficiency, public transportation and the eco-crusaders' current pet hate: cheap flights.

Nithya, human resource professional, points out that even as we are talking about the perils of deforestation, people are chopping trees in their own backyear. "At times, they're cut for the flimsiest of excuses — leaves littering their `clean' compounds," she laments. And as for the bit about public transportation, it's really a no-brainer when ostentatious gas guzzlers are the ultimate status symbols, how will travelling in buses or cycles ever figure in the scheme of things? Ditto with budget airlines, which easily take the shine out of grimy trains by being so convenient, fast and cheap.

All is, however, not lost. Yet. The flurry of awareness campaigns seems to be making some difference at the grassroots. Marimuthu, driver, religiously reuses plastic covers, and never burns or haphazardly dumps plastic rubbish, while Arumugam knows from television that plastics produce toxic fumes when burnt.

"But more important, we need to minimise the use of plastics," says Gayathri. "As a new mom, it really upsets me to see my daughter nibble plastic toys or eat out of plastic bowls; why can't we have ecofriendly toys and utensils (wash-and-use, instead of use-and-throw) like they had some generations back?"

"Walking to the corner store will help; as will some green cover," adds Nithya.

A few small changes are all it takes, and we might just save our planet. Only, we've got to hurry... the day is not far, when planet Earth might simply be renamed `Planet Plastic'.

APARNA KARTHIKEYAN.

Try doing these. They ought to work

Popularise cloth bags. Long associated with banana bunches and villagers, it's badly in need of an image makeover. If we always had one conveniently on hand, we will not need too many of those flimsy carry bags.

Increase the cool quotient of train travel. By this, we don't mean gorgeous train hostesses in leather skirts... just great loos! (Trains are `green' — a super-fast train from London to Paris only emits a tenth of CO2 per passenger compared to a budget flight between the same destinations!)

Car pooling could be made mandatory, reserving gas guzzlers for the museum. Besides, aren't big cars and small roads highly incompatible?

Teach kids all about the three Rs... reduce, reuse. and recycle.

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