Save The Planet

This essay is uploaded to the Essay writing competition on Creating A Livable Planet Earth by Lead India. 

Synopsis

This essay outlines changes and other activities that can be done to improve the quality of life and provide a better Earth for the future generations. This essay contains 3 parts: 

1. Compliance with SDG’s (Sustainability Development Goals)
   • SDG India Index 2.0
   • SDG Objectives
2. The Content of the Essay

The context of each paragraph has been specified in brackets. Pictures relevant to the topic have been added.

• Sustainable Way of Life
• Improving the Quality of All Life
• Planting More Trees
• Protect Wildlife
• Cleansing Water Bodies
• Using Eco-Friendly Products
• Using Electric Vehicles
• What We, As A People, Can Do To Help the Government

1. Our Project

• What We Do in Relation to the Topics Covered in the Essay
• Access To Our Website

 

Compliance With SDG’s

Sustainable Development Goals are gratified by a majority of member nations of the United Nations Organisation and in the essay we have covered some of the objectives of the SDG India Index 2.0 which are:

• Good health and well-being
• Clean water and sanitisation
• Affordable and Clean Energy
• Decent work and economic growth          
• Industry, innovation and infrastructure
• Sustainable Cities and Communities
• Responsible Consumption and Production
• Climate Action
• Life Below Water
• Life on Land

(Sustainable Way of Life)

The most popular topic that comes up when we discuss about safeguarding the planet is to create a sustainable way of life. Sustainability, as we know, is just simply being able to meet our needs without compromising those of the future generations. When a country develops in a sustainable manner, it is expected to be a highly economical one. Giving importance to education, raising awareness, linking programmes to the SDG’s, and many such activities can be taken up by initiatives to implement sustainable development. The list of things we can do to enforce this, is almost truly endless. If we look into our lives through a lens of such changes that we can make on a daily basis in favour of trying to reach SDG’s, we may come across many ideas.

(Improving the quality of all life)

Setting SDG’s and linking the various activities and/or initiatives to them, in my opinion, is the right first step which we have to take to achieve them, like how an army of ants can overcome a stronger foe with just their sheer collective focus on completing the task successfully. So this brings our attention to the quality of all life on this planet, and what we as humans can do to improve it. In the Bronx Zoo, NY, there was an exhibit of the most dangerous species on the planet, and all you could see was your reflection in the mirror. We, humans, are the only creatures that have ever killed off entire species of other animals. If we have the capacity to do that, we can most certainly do a lot of things to safeguard Earth. Avoiding smoking is a thing we can do. We understand its ill-effects yet we continue to do so. Quitting smoking can improve the air around us and if avoided on a large scale, this alone can provide significant changes in the atmosphere, thereby improving the quality of life.

 

Accumulation of waste leads to growth of pathogenic organisms and other unwanted microbes. This is why disposing waste properly is an important aspect in our day-to-day life. We can create pockets of nature wherever possible as it has numerous benefits. Organic waste is a highly valuable asset that we can use to improve soil fertility and promote plant growth.

 

(Planting more trees)

We have heard our elders say “Plant more trees” and we would wonder why they said it so often. Planting more trees increases the oxygen level and the freshness of air. The colour green itself has many benefits both on the physical and mental level. Green is a colour that can evoke powerful emotions. It is a dominant colour that makes you think of growth and creativity, expressing renewal and life. Think of nature and the incredible shades of green vastly available in nature. Green evokes a feeling of abundance and is associated with refreshment, peace, rest and joy.

 

(Protect Wildlife)

Animals need shelter. Creating pockets of wildlife everywhere we go will help, even if very little, in providing suitable habitats for wildlife and plant life. Staying in touch with nature is one thing we give less and less value with the passage of time. Doing small yet significant things like this helps us to stay connected with the Earth, considering we live in it. Poaching animals for our own selfish desires is one of the cruelest things we can do contradicting our views of humanity. Balance is another thing we should aspire towards achieving. Upsetting the balance of life has proven nothing but harmful and destructive towards nature and life on this Earth. We all protect our own, but when we protect each other, then we gradually start protecting the Earth.

 

(Cleansing Water Bodies)

Nowadays, water bodies are becoming dirtier. So we need to cleanse water bodies to the extent we can. Things like creating more dams and treating sewage effectively and completely are useful activities. The cost of building dams takes a toll on the Government, and displaces people living nearby and floods their farms. But many such problems are solved by modern preparation and designing of dams. The advantages of building dams are: more hydroelectric power production, electricity at a steady rate and water is preserved. For irrigation purposes, water sports or even other types of pleasurable activities, the reservoir built behind the dam may also be used for the same. The buildup of water within the lake ensures that when required and also when water is released for producing electricity, we can store energy.

(Using Eco-friendly Products)

The Earth already provides everything we need, yet we insist on using man-made substitutes. The issue is not our choice in using them, but in the time it takes to decompose so that it can be utilised by plants. Degrading them takes a lot of effort and time and harms the environment, like how overstraining yourself during your training sessions results in injuries and fatigue from which you most probably take a lot of time to recover from. Plastic  takes invariably long to decompose and harms the environment. Even burning plastic releases fumes which cause many problems like lung cancer and many more problems in all life affected by the fumes. The importance of using cloth bags and other substitutes for plastic and synthetic items cannot be stressed enough. It is we that must take initiative and raise awareness towards using eco-friendly items and effectively use them.

(Using electric vehicles)

The vehicles we use as modes of transport run on fuel, electricity and many such sources, but the most dependence has been on fuels like petroleum and diesel. This can be considered a wrong choice in this modern day and age. Electric vehicles are eco-friendly, useful in minimising air pollution. It has to be accessible to all so that it can be the primary choice for people. We have all heard of Tesla Motors, by Elon Musk, that manufactures electric cars and it has already started to be the favoured choice of people around the world. Supporting entrepreneurs and organizations involved in the production of electric vehicles is something the government can do to promote its use.

Some things we as a people can help the Government with is

• Taking steps to prevent Wildfires and raising awareness about them

• Minimising use of chemical fertilisers on soil which would improve soil quality
• Fighting against Covid by

1. Maintaining personal hygiene
2. Going out only if absolutely necessary
3. Staying fit

• Focusing on breathing and learning how to do it consciously
• Maintaining and improving energy levels

1. Getting vaccinated

• Exercising population control
• Eating healthy

1. Human excreta is less harmful for aquatic life as most of the sewage, after proper treatment, is released into the ocean
2. Improves health
3. Prevents diseases whilst maintaining hygiene which again, reduces the risk of Covid

• Recycling Waste

1. Is useful, cost-effective
2. Reusing what is already there reduces the necessity to make new items from unused sources
3. Dump piles will be reduced if this is effectively implemented

• Practicing Yoga

1. Staying in tune with the environment
2. Can be practised by a wide spectra of age groups
3. Restores and improves energy
4. Improves fitness and health

In the process of writing this essay, we have discussed some of the primary problems and have oriented thinking towards possible solutions. We are enthused to take up a project, for whose website we took the help of our parents, which will cover all the topics discussed above, the details of which are given below. For further clarification:

• Using eco-friendly products in a sustainable manner (More info on our website linked below)
• Improves quality of life by using easily decomposable items productively
• Each pen will be equipped with a seed of a tree with Ayurvedic properties, so when disposed, if the conditions prove habitable, can initiate its growth and support wildlife
• The Ayurvedic properties of the tree includes detoxification properties which has the capacity to cleanse its surroundings
• The tree doesn’t require the use of chemical fertilisers for its growth
• Practising Yoga under the tree also has numerous health benefits

We are also doing our part in safeguarding the planet, where we strive to make a significantly positive impact on our Planet Earth.

The link to our website: sen4ngos.org/3d_writeo2/