Pollution A Major Concern

Let me start with the quote of Evo Morales, “Sooner or later, we will have to recognise that the Earth has rights, too, to live without pollution. What mankind must know is that human beings cannot live without Mother Earth, but the planet can live without humans.” Last week I visited Pahalgam a famous tourist spot in the valley of Kashmir with my friends. Indeed It was a great outing & we enjoyed a lot in the cradle of nature. What I had observed there is extremely sad, people behave unethically with the mother earth. Plastic is everywhere, it becomes a new norm in the Kashmir that plastic bags are used everywhere . It will have dire consequences for all the inhabitant species & threat for overall environment. Due to the process of deforestation, indiscriminate killing of wild animals, birds and plant species, urbanization and misuse of natural resources has become order of the day. Many species of insects, birds and other animals and plants are the verge of extinction. All the required resources for sustainability of life ,i.e, water, soil, air, mineral, metals for industries, food for people and fuel for transport are drawnfrom nature. It is a fact that human society derives maximum benefits from the activities that are often undertaken at the cost of natural resources like land, water, air, forests ,fossil fuels, solar energy and so on. The human society uses environment and it’s elements for development to gain convenience and efficiency. At the same time, it is the human society which is mainly responsible for environmental degradation through constantly depleting natural resources and release of pollutants in the environment. Pollution has created a havoc on earth as it undesirably changes the physical, chemical & biological condition of water, air and land that will adversely affect human life and other living creatures.
We do not remain friendly with environment both as an individual and as well as a social being. Now the situation is grim all over the globe. Common people use plastic for everything but only few people know it is most harmful as it does not degrade rapidly in the nature. Everyday more and more plastic is accumulating in the oceans and as a result thousands of marine creatures die. Recently it was in reported that sea birds, turtles, penguins and other marine animals are being killed each year with a rapid rate by consuming plastic materials. More than one lakh terrestrial animals die every year due to plastic bags. Many times I too observed animals like cow, dog, donkey consuming plastic bags mistaking them as food item and die. As per world survey around the world one million plastic drinking bottles are purchased every minute. Every year people all over the world use upto five trillion disposable plastic bags. It takes one thousand year for a plastic bag to decompose into minute pieces. Every year eight million of plastic end up in the oceans. The love of the packaged goods has turned the beautiful planet into garbage grounds. In developing countries especially women folk use cosmetic products frequently but unfortunately they don’t know that a single cosmetic product releases 5000-95000 micro plastic ingredients which kill thousands of marine animals each year. We are surrounded by plastic, people like to use it but in the long run it will prove disastrous for both marine and as well as human life. There is an urgent need to create awareness among people to protect environment in the current situations and particularly the usage of plastic bags. More than 40 countries around the world have banned plastic bags. The UNEPS has recommended ban on all plastic bags globally. Last but not least it is our collective responsibility to save the environment and present administration should take necessary measures to protect environment and ban plastic bags completely and propose severe punishment for those who promote use of plastic bags. The role of human society in saving environment is very crucial. Society has to be careful in using the resources and implementing strategies for development and regeneration of environment. The present generation too can be educated through media & awareness programs. Role of every individual towards the environment must be constructive.

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