GO GREEN ! Wait, it’s a little difficult.

‘It’s not the same ! ’ , cried a very agitated Sophie, on the billing counter at the local supermarket.

‘Ma’am , it’s fine quality plastic, I assure you. It IS eco-friendly’, assured the woman across the counter.

‘If it’s not above 20 microns thick, the plastic is NOT eco-friendly ! ,’ asserted Sophie.

This continued for some time, before, the shopped items were shoved into the plastic carry bag by the woman and 12-year-old Sophie was shoved into the car by her mother.

Sophie was really annoyed by now.

1. Her mother forgot to bring a cloth bag to the store. Really, ‘How could she?!’
2. The reluctantly taken plastic bag did not meet the global criterion for plastic bags to be eco-friendly.
3. She had the guilt of being injurious to Nature.
4. Her mother did not feel the same agonizing concern as her.The hundreds of articles and slogans and marches and the like , have all managed to collectively and somewhat successfully drummed into your system : Care for Nature. Sustainable development. Clean air. Make the small difference. “Go Green ! ’’However, ‘being green’ is not easy. It’s easier said than done.
   • Changing the mindset: ‘If I don’t turn off the engine at a red light, what difference does it make ? Everyone else’s engines are also emitting greenhouse gases.’

   ‘If I don’t segregate waste as biodegradable and non-biodegradable, what difference does it make ? It’s all going in the landfill anyway.’

   This mindset is dangerous and ignorant. Above all, it is obstinate. People simply refuse to assimilate that every teeny tiny bit counts. That they ARE the difference. If everyone gets that, simple mathematical integration: A big, visible result can be seen.  However, actually changing the mindset is rather difficult to begin with.

    

   • Convenience : Going green requires a little extra effort from the earth-ravaging ways of life. You walk into a showroom, buy that expensive dress and walk out with a dead tree. Yes, if that glossy, thick papered carry bag could speak, it would scream ‘murder !’ It is more convenient to take carry bags than bring your own cloth bag along.

   It is more convenient to eat an ice candy and flick it out of your car window, leaving it to clog drains, getting swept into the sea and being eaten by a turtle; which ultimately dies. And boy, do people love convenience. Most people don’t care for what happens to the future. If it’s easier now, the future problems can be solved in the future.

    

   • Necessity : Sometimes, you just cannot help it. You simply need plastics in life. You cannot do away with them. You need to do homework and generate paper waste. You cannot travel long distances without automobiles. You cannot completely do away with disposables too. You can take coffee in mugs in office but you do need disposable syringes at the hospital. More often than not, you are consciously or unconsciously, a part of factors that hinder the entire purpose of being green. It is rather difficult being green then.
   • Ecological paradox : Going green comes with its paradoxes .

   If you wrap your food in aluminium foil , you are unnecessarily wasting the non-renewable mineral resource.

   If you wrap your food in clear wrap, you are using non-biodegradable plastic, which will one day form a mountain of its own and refuse to go away from the face of the planet.

   If you wrap your food in paper, are you not harming the trees ?

   This is a small example. Every small thing matters. But the trouble is, how do you go green by not harming any Nature’s resources ?

   While being green , it’s a little unsettling to decide.

   

   • Cost effectiveness : For industries, going green is a little difficult path to follow. When their prime goal is to gain maximum profit from minimum capital, Mother Nature is shown the door. When they can easily leave their toxic waters into a Third World stream, why bother about cleaning it and spending money on ozone filters, sediment tanks, etc. ?

   Most people, organizations and industries would prefer to burn the easily available and cheaply bought fossil fuels than install solar panels which are highly expensive at the moment. When it comes to money, ‘going green’ transforms from ‘green-the colour of Nature’ to ‘green-the colour of money’.

   • Social gatherings : You are at a house party. There are drinks everywhere. In Styrofoam glasses that you know none of the brilliant microbes of the earth can degrade. Yet , you cannot really say much. Because, that is what all people do. Going on a picnic, it is convenient to take disposables than actual utensils. It combines most of the points mentioned above. We have become so heavily dependent on all things anti-green , that we cannot function without them.

    

   There is a growing creed of people going the greener way. They are the few who actually take the effort, cross the hurdles and care for Mother Nature. ‘Go Green’ ideas are easy. Simple. Fifth graders write answers in tests on such questions. Everyone KNOWS them. Few IMPLEMENT them. Some out of laziness, some out of habit and some out of actual practical problems.

   Whatever be the case, being green is not easy.