Ignorance is fun.. Saving the Earth? I don't know..

We were having coffee today at 12 pm(perfectly normal in this place) after class and were having one more of those keeping-in-touch-with-reality conversations. After drinking my coffee, I crushed the cup and casually threw it on the ground. I looked up to see the “ugghhh” look on 3 out 5 faces around me. A fourth one decided I didn’t even deserve a dirty look. For a second, I felt a pang of embarrassment. Embarrassment, mind you, not guilt. Preethi, one of the faces that was kind of enough not to give a dirty look or turn away, bends down, picks up the cup I threw and walks to the nearest dustbin and chucks it in. Two more faces decide to turn away. By this time, the first face who had initiated the turning away process had finished her Appy drink contained a plastic bottle. And my initial feeling of embarrassment turned to a toned down version of amusement. Meanwhile, Preethi comes back, sits down, gives me a smile and starts eating something out of a non-degradable plastic bag. My amusement turned to laughter. This is where I think the environmentalists have got it all wrong. Maybe even fundamentally.

Keeping your campus clean as opposed to saving the planet. If Reshmi or Veena(two of the five faces) had told me that I was a disgusting animal who couldn’t keep my surroundings clean, I d have agreed with them. One hundred percent. I clean my surroundings once in a while, but I ve never bothered to(actually unable to) keep them clean. Maybe the embarrassment from such a statement among a group of friends might have even prompted me to pick the cup up myself. But instead there was an inclination towards this idea of I m not doing anything to save the planet. In fact, I was almost condemned with the act of quickening the execution of Mother Earth.

I don’t know.

The field of vision for the environmentalist trying to save the earth stops with the nearest dustbin. Of course, there is this argument of do-your-bit. But still, for an issue allegedly as serious as the destruction/execution/decay of the Earth, don’t you think it deserves more than just no plastics in a 2 metres radius. Don’t look at me. I don’t believe the Earth is dying. Call me ignorant. Shove all the scientific data into my face. Make me sit next to Al Gore for the next 2 days. Let’s say I still stand strong or rather stubborn on my belief that the Earth is not affected by plastics. But you on the other hand believe that the Earth is dying. Let me re iterate. The Earth, the planet on which you live, the place that provides you food and water and shelter, the place where you found your true love and bought your first pair of branded jeans(in a plastic bag, but that doesn’t matter) and the place that accommodates at least a hundred people you know and care about is actually DYING. You are telling me in some years, the Earth will actually cease to exist and with the Earth so will we. You know all this. And yet, for something as serious as this, you actually make yourself believe that the best you can do is pick up a plastic cup and throw it into the nearest dustbin. Is the contention that arises with I’m-doing-my-part argument of any perceivable significance for an issue that you deem as serious as this?

I don’t think so.

Like I said, I feel there is something fundamentally wrong with the way the environmentalists are pushing this matter. So the way I see it, throwing a paper cup on the ground is wrong, but throwing a plastic cover into a dustbin actually gives you a feeling of adding a few extra seconds to the life of Mother Earth? Why don’t you stop using plastic in the first place? Veena asks me what will the packaging industry do then. Well, I appreciate your kind heart, Veena. We need to take a stance here right? Either go with Mother Earth or with the packaging industry. I m sure we can find substitutes for the plastics we use everyday. But it requires time and effort. How many of us are willing to give that? Or a less painful solution. Don’t buy anything that comes packed only in plastic. I’m sure Preethi could do without eating that thing(man, I need to find the name of that). Or if it is an inevitable purchase, then demand for a paper bag. Or take your own bag. Bringing the Shoppers Stop bag down to your room and carefully placing it inside the dustbin, somehow doesn’t t appeal to me as an effective method to save the Earth. How do you know the plastic is safe and secure in the dustbin? In my defense, the paper cup may have even acted as manure for the soil, or it may have even created employment opportunities for another rag picker. Have you ever cared to think about what happens to the plastic bag after you render your services to mitigate the imminent threat it posed??????

Find out in The Life of the Plastic bag..

PS: Ignore the grammar errors before, now and after.