Every year people
around the world mark the April 22 as the Earth Day and show their support for
environment conservation. Festivals, parades and rallies are held in at least
192 countries to demonstrate support for environment protection. This year more
than one billion people are expected to celebrate Earth Day.
Earth Day aims to
encourage people across the world to get more environment friendly, which is to
mean increasing the amount they recycle, volunteering for local green project
or go for eco-friendly alternative source of energy like installing wind mills or solar panels in their
home.
The first Earth Day was
held on April 22, 1970 in USA. It was founded by former US senator Gaylord
Nelson after he saw the enormous 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, California
resulting in massive devastation. In 1990, the event of Earth Day went global
with 200 million people in 141 countries celebrating it under the Earth Day
Network.
Last year, the Paris
Agreement saw 192 countries agree to cut their carbon emissions in an effort to
keep the increase of average global temperature to well below 2 degree
centigrade above pre-industrial levels. While this year, the March for Science
occurs on Earth Day April 22, followed by People's Climate Mobilization on
April 29, 2017.
Globally there are six
ways to mark Earth Day:
1. Grow your own food
(or buy locally-grown produce)
2. Go paperless
3. Plant a tree
4. Stop drinking
bottled water
5. Start carpooling (or
take up cycle).
6. Invest in a solar-powered
phone charger.
These are simple ways
to conserve the environment and arrest the adversaries of Climate Change. However,
in an under-developed country like Pakistan not every man is able to follow these
measures. But if people resolve on this Earth Day to do away with a basic yet
common bad habit of using Plastic bags, that will be a great service to the
planet earth where we live.
Plastic shopping bags,
carrier bags or plastic grocery bags are a type of shopping bags made from
various kind of plastics -- in Pakistan mostly from polythene. Though, in
developed world modern plastic bags are increasingly recyclable or biodegradable
but unfortunately polythene bags in Pakistan are not only dangerous for health
but they emit hazardous effects in the environment.
As estimated, there are
120 billion polythene bags used each year in Pakistan. A substandard plastic
bag takes hundreds of years to get decomposed and as long as it remains in the
environment it causes adverse impacts on our daily routine and also on climate.
As they emit carbon dioxide and various polluted chemicals in the environment
on dumping. They can be dangerous to animals which might ingest then
accidently. They fly in the dusty air, block the gutters and cause them to
overflow.
The KWSB believes about
80% of the total litter is estimated to be plastic bags and above 80% of drain
blockages take place because of plastic bags. Burning of plastic bags adds more
pollution to the air around in the form of dioxins and furans. The material
used in the manufacturing of plastic bags i.e. chromium and copper causes
allergies. Many people who are in plastic bags business are at risk to have
many diseases.
Notwithstanding, as shopping
bags are an important means for carrying goods and different items, therefore the
quality of plastic bags can be improved through using less toxic elements and
addition of D2W(an Oxo-biodegradable bag) in order to reduce the hazardous
effects of plastic bags on environment and human lives.
In almost 50 countries,
the biodegradable bags have already replaced the plastic bags, but in Pakistan
its usage is very rare. The government must run a campaign for biodegradable
bags so we can reduce toxicity in the environment. They have short span of time
and decompose easily. They affect neither the land' fertility nor cause
pollution on land and sea, in the light or dark, in heat or cold, in whatever
timescale is required, leaving no fragments, no methane and no harmful residues
and help to preserve environment.
To be honest, in
Pakistan we are not doing justice with the planet earth where we live. So we
have no right to celebrate any Earth Day. However, we can still serve the Earth.
If we succeed only to reduce the usage of plastic bag in our routine.
By
Editorial, Infocus
