NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF THE PANDEMIC- AN ENVIRONMENTALIST VIEWPOINT.

 

After a month or two of the pandemic induced lockdown there were many reports about how the lockdown had positively impacted the environment. The reports claimed air was now cleaner, rivers were less polluted etc. There were videos all over the internet that showed how nature had reclaimed concrete jungles. All of them boost our morale and make us believe that all was not bad about the lockdown at least through an environment point of view. But it is far from the truth. Strictly talking about India let's go through how the pandemic has negatively impacted our environment.

1- RETURN OF SINGLE USE PLASTIC BAGS - They also go by the name Polythene bag. Before the pandemic we had seen a tremendous progress in controlling the production and distribution of single use plastic bags. Cloth bags became a huge hit and many retailers shifted to them. The future seemed promising. But then COVID happened. From free meals to emergency supplies, everything got wrapped up in polythene bags. Even the government used it mainly due to lack of other alternatives. As the law enforcement agencies were busy elsewhere, plastic slowly creeped back in everywhere. All the progress that we had made has PUFF!! vanished into thin air.

2- INCREASED USE OF DISPOSABLES - Earlier only the street vendors and petty shop owners used disposable plates and cutleries. But with COVID SOP's in place, big restaurants too have started serving on disposable plates. This was a golden opportunity to increase the sale of saal leaf plates and wooden cutleries which would have helped the poor tribal communities. But instead of this the market got flooded with polystyrene and paper plates along with plastic cutleries. All of them are non-biodegradable and go straight into landfills and our oceans.

3- INCREASED MEDICAL WASTE - From PPE kits to disposable face masks and face shields, this pandemic has made them items of daily use. Their demand is so high that to avoid supply disruption, government pulled in the self help groups (SHG) and even army to manufacture them. Their use is important and unavoidable. There is also a lack of green alternatives. But still we can reduce the impact by ensuring their proper disposal so that they do not impact the environment and spread the infection further.

4- INCREASED USE OF PRIVATE VEHICLES- The modes of public transport are yet to return to normal capacity. Apart from this the people too want to avoid crowded places and hence they avoid using public transport system. This has increased the number of private vehicles on the road. This change is apparent from worsening traffic situations in major Indian cities. Traffic is not the only problem, more private vehicles on road means more air and noise pollution. Increased air pollution has also lead to thick smog in the cities.

5- REDUCED RECYCLING- In India we have a chain of rag pickers who play an important role in recycling our waste. The lockdown was a challenge for them. Most of them relocated. Thus, the entire system has collapsed. People also do not allow traders who collect old newspapers into their houses due to fear of transmission. This has affected local paper bag manufacturing as they now lack raw materials. This problem has also lead to increased clutter on roads and increased amount of recyclable wastes reaching the landfills.

All of our lives have been impacted by lockdown. Some people have suffered more than others. This has also affected our environment. It revealed that the positive changes we had witnessed before all this began was not able to bring a change of mindset for the citizens. If it had, those green habits would have stuck. For now we can only hope things get back to normal soon and plastic ban is re-imposed strictly. But this time it should not only be limited to fear of fine. It should induce a change of mindset so that the habits become a lifestyle. This is important not just for us but also our planet to survive. 

Inspired about minimalism? Check out my other blogs too. I hope I can convince you to live more minimally and mindfully..

  

CHOOSING SUSTAINABILITY..

There is no doubt in the fact that we are responsible for the sorry state of environment around us. As Indians we are very proud of our heritage and culture. But we never kept those heritage and customs which favoured a environment friendly life style. We moved on. Swept by the lights and ghare of consumerism. In all this, environment received a set back like our rich Indian customs and traditions.

We have come a long way. Today our very own sustenance is harming the environment. People consciously make choices that damage the Earth and then brag about problems of pollution and government inaction. A fast life has indeed brought economic process but at a devastating cost. Hills of garbage in land fills, fishes dying of chemical pollutants, minors dying of lungs cancer etc have become the new status quo. This life style has done everything wrong..very wrong..

We are all familiar with the problem. But do you all know what's the funny thing? We know the solution as well. Inaction is a sin and we all are committing it everyday. We receive the first set back through self doubt. We think that what good will our steps do in a world filled with 7 billion people? To this I can quote only one think. People that surround you do not learn from teachings, they learn from examples. Once you prove that zero waste and sustainable living are possible, people will take up the challenge themselves and soon change will be visible.

Covering the entire topic of sustainable ways of living cannot be completed in a single blog. In the following blogs I would come up with the changes that I personally have implemented to live minimally and in a more sustainable way. The most inspiring thing in my journey has been the realisation that living sustainably is the easiest in our country. This brings us the opportunity to grasp the ideology without much changes in our life style. As every one else out there who talks about sustainability and its positive financial impacts, I guarantee you that all those things are true.

The upcoming blogs will list the positive impacts of a sustainable life style. We are lucky to have access to knowledge about modern meaning of living sustainably. But it's sad that our own culture promotes such a life style to which we turn blind eyes. As I said living can not be taught, leave aside sustainable living. It can only be propagated by self examples and experiences which is exactly what I am determined to do.

REDUCING WASTE..

Our lives today have become fast. To aid this fast life many inventions have come up that are designed to save time. We all come across hundreds of such inventions in our daily lives. Some prominent among them are the one time use polybags, canned food items, packed foods, ready to eat items etc. These all have changed our lifestyle to suite the need of the hour.

These items are trending and the demand is very high. To keep the interests up, this arena is dedicated to more innovations to suite the needs of the growing population. We accept them as a boon of modern age and never give a second thought before accepting them.

These items have been responsible for immense damage to our ecosystem. By using these items we have played our part in damaging our environment. The whole concept of use and discard has been a curse in disguise. Almost all of such items are non biodegradable. The world as a whole generates thousands of tonnes of these non biodegradable waste per day. Most of these items end up in the landfills or in the oceans leading to land and water pollution. The oceanic ecosystem has been heavily impacted by these and have resulted in mass extinction of certain species.

The international forums have now become conscious about the impact of such inventions and have placed many restrictions on their use. The developed countries have been somewhat able to implement these restrictions and replacing these items with environment friendly ones. But developing countries have not been able to properly implement them due to cash crunch and lack of innovation.

The important thing to note here is that the government is not responsible for the waste generation. The waste is generated by us. Then why should we blame the government for the environment? It is our home, its our responsibility to take care of it. In early days people lived and had a very minimum carbon footprint. We can reduce ours by taking conscious decisions. We can avoid using one time use items and replacing them with alternatives that can be used multiple times. While shopping we can opt for items that are not packed in plastic. Canned food items can be replaced with fresh ones. All these are just small lifestyle changes which can impact the environment in a positive way. Plus there is an added benefit of good health as the packed items usually contain harmful chemicals. 

The social media has addressed this topic very well and there have been numerous experiments on minimalism and carbon negative lifestyle. Some have proved these lifestyle changes to actually have been economical. All we need is just conscious decision making and we can actually do wonders for our environment.