The Hindu : Kerala News : Kick off celebrations by kicking a habit

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Thursday, Jun 05, 2008
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Kerala

Kick off celebrations by kicking a habit

Every year the World Environment Day is celebrated across the world on 5th June. And with the passing of every year, the relevance of the day, dedicated to spreading awareness about the care that one should give to sustain the ecological balance of planet earth, is growing manifold. As a matter of fact, the World Environment Day campaign is spearheaded by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and it’s playing a stewarding role in mobilizing political attention by streamlining integrated action for a better a planet to live in.

Every year, a slogan is adopted, chiefly with the aim of putting focus in to a specific sphere of concern, and this year the World Environment Day slogan is "CO2 Kick the Habit! - Towards a Low Carbon Economy" Aptly understanding the fact that climate change is becoming the serious cause for concern in the current scenario, UNEP is asking countries, companies and communities to focus on greenhouse gas emissions and on how to reduce them. And this year’s celebrations will focus on alternative resources and initiatives that promote low carbon economies.

This year, New Zealand will play host and will act as the fountainhead of international celebrations of World Environment Day.

The day was christened by the United Nations General Assembly way back in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.

Today the day is celebrated across the world and celebrations finds its manifestation in street rallies, road shows, bicycle parades, tree planting, clean-city campaigns, advocacy programmes in schools and colleges, sensitization lectures and workshops to encourage the use of alternative sources of energy, presentations on conservation issues and much more.

Aiming towards attaining a low carbon economy, various environmental agencies have taken up it as an agenda to give a human face to environmental issues and to empower people to become active agents of sustainable development. Whether you are an individual or an organization, there are a number of steps you can take to reduce your carbon emissions. This year the day’s celebrations remind us of the fact that the world is moving towards carbon neutrality. The maiden step towards achieving carbon neutrality is to know and identify where and how you are generating greenhouse gases and to adopt a sensible strategy and action plan in alleviating it.

A plan to reduce carbon emissions will first focus on the type of energy and the way it is used. Reducing this energy can create instant savings. Other ways of reducing your carbon footprint include wasting less time and energy on travel and to opt for public transport options including promoting the use of bicycles. The cities like Paris and Vienna have already adopted this, a public bicycle system, with remarkable success.

One can also turn energy efficient by choosing to build and promote green architecture only because conventional buildings account for a sizable share of CO2 emissions. Various methods of green architecture are becoming popular these days. These apart, very simple and harmless methods can also turn out to be great energy savers. Just turning off unused lights, motors, computers and the like can substantially reduce wasted energy and of course, money too.

Another effective method is to switching over to gadgets that has low carbon energy. Compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) are one such product that significantly consumes less electricity when compared to a standard incandescent bulb. Solar run electric equipments are yet another energy saver that will reduce electricity costs. UNEP is helping to promote such schemes in various parts of India, in a big way.

Excessive burning of fuels like petrol and diesel is yet another cause of worry. Advanced automobiles that reduce emissions should be promoted and battery run vehicles must be given priority.

Finding it very difficult to cope with the ever spiraling oil prices, more and more countries are switching over to alternative fuels like compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG). And today, the world is looking to India as a destination for all such alternative methods and initiatives. However, the buzzword making rounds this World Environment Day is to reduce, reuse and recycle. And it’s time to decide to buy green and sell green. Any takers?

Sunil

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