India is officially the world’s largest and the United Nations estimates India’s population at 142.86 billion people, an increase of 1.56 percent over the previous year.
By Nidhi Mehra
After the Paris Agreement the world is moving towards a tight deadline to control the global temperature rise and targeted markers of 2030 and 2050 are where most nations are lagging. India as a nation has taken the target of 2070. The recent monsoon shift, heat wave, temperature fluctuation, lack of drinking water, soil corrosion and many more such calamities across the country suggest that we need to fasten the process. However, we face the most adverse issue of population explosion. India is officially the world’s largest and the United Nations estimates India’s population at 142.86 billion people, an increase of 1.56 percent over the previous year. As its population has grown, India has emerged as a significant consumer market, particularly among people aged 15 to 64.
Here are five simple practises that can help individuals contribute to a true lifestyle mission for the environment.
- Be aware of your impact on the environment: Most of us feel that I’m not the one responsible. The reason for this is simple: we never evaluated ourselves and our lifestyle to understand what sort of positive or negative impact we were having on the environment around us. The easiest way to do this is to understand your carbon footprint. A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide and methane) that are generated by our actions. There are many carbon footprint calculator apps available, like MyPlan8. You can use these apps to evaluate your actions on a regular basis, which creates awareness of your actions and ownership.
- Control the use of plastic in your day-to-day life: Plastic is one of humans’ best inventions, but overbearing use of the same has created plastic pollution. Small lifestyle adaptations can help you reduce plastic completely. By using refillable shampoo, conditioner, hand wash, and dishwashing liquid, we have significantly cut down on the amount of plastic trash produced in our household lifestyle adaptations can help you reduce plastic completely. By using refillable shampoo, conditioner, hand wash, and dishwashing liquid, we have significantly cut down on the amount of plastic trash produced in our household. These green cleaning options are available at a number of different bulk food stores; if you don’t want to bring your own bottle, they also sell refillable bottles. Carrying a cloth bag to avoid single-use plastic bags, ordering food with cutlery, using refilled water bottles rather than plastic ones, and more can help reduce plastic overload.
- Being energy and water efficient at home and work: “Switching off” is the quickest and easiest way to cut energy use and your carbon footprint. Start by increasing your comfortable temperature range, which will reduce the frequency with which your air conditioning system needs to function. You may do this by turning off lights in favour of natural lighting and by utilising air conditioners less in favour of natural ventilation. In addition, because you will need to use electricity at some point, it is important to incorporate energy-saving technologies like LED lights and high efficiency, or switch to green energy if you have space and provision.
Similarly, closing the tap while brushing, limiting your shower time to 3 minutes, or using buckets helps reduce water consumption. You or your residential or office complex can also recycle and reuse water for gardens, toilets, etc. Creating an easy transition is the key here.
- Walk and cycle for local distances if you can’t go electric: Being health conscious is trend, but while we do our morning exercise routine, we usually avoid walking a smaller local distance. One of the reasons you see a rise in usage and adaptations of Blinkit, Zepto, or Rapido, the burning of fossil fuels has been the biggest contributor to global warming. Apart from energy usage, the second-highest usage is through private vehicles like cars, bikes, or scooters. Getting deliveries is not resolving that issue either. Be eco-conscious and walk or cycle your way to local destinations. If you can’t, going electric is much more eco-conscious than a fossil fuel-powered vehicle.
- Buy local or grow your own garden: Yes, going vegan and buying local is the easiest way to reduce your environmental impact. Local produce does not need much transportation and has a higher organic output. This helps you get native foods and immunity. You can also grow your own food, and you can do it in just about any place possess a garden? So, let’s begin with that. Don’t you have any kind of garden or space to use? Not a problem; just cultivate indoors, or better yet, start a neighbourhood garden. Plant one or two herbs as a starter project. Since most foods sold in stores are already packed, producing your own food is a great way to cut down on food waste while also strengthening your bond with nature.
There is no Planet B, and to nurture the one we have, we all need to be eco-conscious in our lifestyle every day. Indian consumers would need to accept the challenge of individual climate awareness and action to become environmentally minded with their lifestyle choices. Lifestyle determines impact. Changing one thing at a time to live more sustainably is the key to a greener existence. Replace one thing a month to incorporate these conscientious decisions into your routine.
(Authored by Nidhi Mehra, Co-founder, Myplan8)
