Lolz, that rhymes!
I usually don’t do memes and tags on my blog, but when my good friend Jean Chia from Malaysia tagged me with a stern message on “Going Green”, it was just too hard to resist that call.
Going green is something that had always been on my mind, especially when I hail from Mizoram, the greenest State in India. With over 80% under forest cover, Mizoram had been leading the rest of the country when it comes to afforestation.
I love Green. Many poets and writers have been inspired by the sheer beauty of green mountain forests right through the passage of time. It can give anyone a certain peace of mind, like a Shangri-La or an eternal Nirvana. Even the Garden of Eden was filled with greeneries.
In India, people always flee to hill resorts and other places of scenic beauty for a vacation because they find it extremely relaxing as compared to the smoky hectic life in the city. Ooty, Shillong, Mussoorie, Kodaikanal, Darjeeling, Shimla, you name it. I spent my school years at one such hill-station: Montfort school, situated on top of the splendiferous Yercaud hills of Tamilnadu. Maybe that is why I am so robust and healthy even now
As mankind progressed, new technology and inventions were discovered that only added more problems to the environment’s woes. Global warming, depletion of natural resources, emission of pollutants etc etc.
But what is really ironic today is, with the recent hike on fuel prices by the Indian government to battle inflation, most people have no other option but to go green!
We are advised to reduce our petrol intake and go on a car pool to save energy and reduce emission. With inflation, we HAVE to do this now because it is the only thing we can afford to do. We are requested to minimize our usages of refrigerators, heaters and air-conditioners to reduce CFC emission. With Reliance Energy in Mumbai hiking the electricity by a whooping 10% from this month onwards, I don’t even dare to switch on my AC anymore!
So I’m just looking at all the points dear Jean had mentioned in her post, about the role each of us can play in “going green”.
- Reduce the AC to 24°C – Like I said before, I don’t even switch on my AC anymore.
- Use fewer staple pins – In my line of work, I never use staplers.
- Use eco-friendly household cleaning products – Hmmm... I don’t use household cleaning products
- Don’t speed. Save petrol consumption – Again, as mentioned before, I dare not travel by car unless it is an emergency. I now walk.
- Eat closer at home – Hehe. I am a roadside junk food addict. I eat regularly from the chaat-wala standing right below my apartment every evening.
- Stash your trash – I can’t. By law I have to give my trash to the garbage boy who comes every morning. Otherwise the Mumbai Municipal Corporation will fine me.
- Be a cone head – Yes, another point scored. I am always in favor of ice-cream cones rather than those paper cup ones.
- Say no to ATM receipts – Wooohoo, another plus point. With my current financial condition, I don’t need to go to the ATM because there’s nothing in my account
- Use cold water – I live in Mumbai. Only the crazies and the rich pampered snobs would take a shower in hot water! Another point to Mother Nature here. Boy I’m on a roll!
- Tell your cleaners/dry cleaners to skip plastic – Hehe. I never give my laundry to any cleaners. My reliable maid turns up every afternoon to wash the clothes for me (and scolds me like a doting mother if I wear the same clothes for more than 2 days).
See? I just scored a 10 out of 10. How difficult is it to go green when there is inflation. I guess this is one positive side of going through a recession
Hope you all go green too. As instructed by Jean, I am just pasting the blog-roll list on her blog here too. Hope everybody puts more effort into making this World a better place for our children (Clichéd line but it still works)
Cheers!
By the way, I stumbled across this site recently: http://lonelymizo.com I don’t know who owns it but I’m pretty impressed because I think it is run by a bunch of Mizos and yet it does not have a Mizo-centric theme! Kudos to the Admin for doing something different. The site is about Environmental awareness. Please do visit it when you have the time.
Hope you all go green too. As instructed by Jean, I am just pasting the blog-roll list on her blog here too. Hope everybody puts more effort into making this World a better place for our children (Clichéd line but it still works)
Cheers!
By the way, I stumbled across this site recently: http://lonelymizo.com I don’t know who owns it but I’m pretty impressed because I think it is run by a bunch of Mizos and yet it does not have a Mizo-centric theme! Kudos to the Admin for doing something different. The site is about Environmental awareness. Please do visit it when you have the time.
16 comments:
Let's see..
Reduce the AC to 24°C : I’m cold most of the time
Use fewer staple pins : I never want to staple.
Use eco-friendly household cleaning products : Non problemo
Don’t speed. Save petrol consumption: Forget speeding. I have a serious phobia when it comes to vehicles.
Eat closer at home: I eat lunch at work. I don’t eat breakfast and dinner
Stash your trash : The cleaning lady picks them up
Be a cone head: I don’t eat Ice creams
Say no to ATM receipts: I can do that most of the time.
Use cold water: Can’t do that
Tell your cleaners/dry cleaners to skip plastic: I decided to never give my clothes to the cleaners after they have turned my white towel into a dirty brown color.
Guess I scored about 91/2..hehe
I’m cold most of the time
Now thats hard to believe...
*Wicked Grin*
If you guys are cold most of the time like I am, then you should really consider investing in bioheat. It's AWESOME! Have you heard about it? If you haven’t I’m shocked because it’s the hottest thing going on in the green community right now. It's biodegradable and non-toxic, so inhaling all of those toxins and nasty fumes are out of the question. The best part about it is that it's made of heating oils and every-day products like avocado and corn. Now you can be green AND keep your buns warm. Cool right?
That's it!! I ain't gonna eat green leafy vegetables anymore..pork will suffice..:D
@ kieth: Thank you for the info. I've read briefly about it before, but now that you mentioned it, I googled around for it and found it very interesting. But I don't know whether we can get those here at my place. Any way, Mumbai is not cold at all, and I guess it may not work out well here. Thanx though for sharing. I'll definitely tell my friends in colder places to try it...
@ luliana: Hahaha! Thats a good excuse :-P
Ni e,kei pawh "go green"hi pawimawh ka ti :-D.Mizoram pawh a lum sawt ve tawhkhawp mai."go green" kan ngai ve tran tawh e:-)
Tun atrang chuan thawmhnaw green hlir hak tawh tur nih chu :-D
hello sandman! congrats!! i'll give you an A++ for scoring in all the 10 points!
btw, how much is the fuel hike? here in malaysia, we are experiencing around 40% raise! Isn't that insane? i think sooner or later, we gotta switch to NGV. :D
@ seki: i mawmssss... go green ka tih vang khan kuhva HRING va ei hrep tur tihna emaw i lo ti palh a nge (i phur danah hian) :-D
Bakah kuhva hring i ei vak chuan, i "go green" lovang, i "go red" zawk ang *GRIN*
@ Jean: The hike here in India is around 5 bucks per litre. It is not the same everywhere. In my city Mumbai:
Old price: Rs.50.94
New price: Rs.55.88
[(55.88-50.94)/50.94] * 100
= 10% increase
Hmm I guess thats better than Malaysia.
But gas cylinders have increased by 50 bucks, so that would be
[(350-300)/300]*100]
= 17 % increase
:-(
wow, that's alot too! hope everyone will be able to cope wt this new price soon. ><
oh, i saw the blogroll in yr post but not the flash badge. It should work perfectly, either in post or sidebar. *straching my head* erm.. do you mind copying the whole flash badge code again and see how it goes. Thanks, ya! :)
When I included the Flash badge, my whole editor hanged! Now I am in a different system from the same cyber cafe, so lets see whether it works this time.
yayyy.. the code is working now. I love the graphics color... it matches my blog template :-D
yayyy! thanks, sandman!! the flash badge looks so stunning in yr black bg! :))
Thank you thank you :-)
Great article...by the way http://www.lonelymizo.com was founded by me L. Colney along with some of my friends and it was registered in my name when i was in Bangalore. The administrators are.
L. Colney (Currently Calcutta)
Akash Baruah ( Ontario, Canada)
George Mathew (Bangalore)
Fredi Ahlund (Stockholm, Sweden)
Sam Samuelson (Orlando, FL, US)
Bodhi Satyakiray (Calcutta)
Lawma (Mumbai)
Henry (Aizawl)
Hnathawk lai ve kan nia, hman vak lo chungin kan hriat ang ang kan post ve thin a ...we need a lot of people who could contribute their ideas, facts and truth about what happens speciall in NE and mizoram. Thupui fun, non cortroversial..not like hmar/paihte hi mizo an ni emtih mai mai(It could be debated forever). Instead how can we come to terms could be much better....we invite every one to participate and contribute.
Thanks a lot.
Well, great job L.Colney! I hope you continue with your work. And yes I totally understand when you said it is difficult to update because of work. That is why I stick to blogging only and I no longer log in at social network sites because I no longer have time for those. Keep it up with the fantastic site! You should advertise more actually.
I have done a few things to make myself more eco-friendly and have even written a few article online for a company I work about going green. I hope that more people will do it and I also hope that we are not too late in trying to save this planet.
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