Ever since the dawn of the Industrial Age over two centuries ago, humankind has
been digging up resources from the Earth faster than ever before in history. These
resources – coal, petroleum, wood, minerals, stuff like that – have been used to
make things we use in our everyday lives.
Basically, everything from your iPod Nano to the Tata Nano came from this Earth.
Always, in the process of making these things, we end up using a whole lot of other stuff. For instance, the Citizen Eco-Drive (a watch powered by sunlight) uses up more stuff in the process of its production, than its actual weight on your wrist.
Now, not all of this stuff is nice. And some of this “not nice” stuff ends up in the products you buy, and some of it is thrown out as waste from the factory that built the product.
Basically, everything from your iPod Nano to the Tata Nano came from this Earth.
Always, in the process of making these things, we end up using a whole lot of other stuff. For instance, the Citizen Eco-Drive (a watch powered by sunlight) uses up more stuff in the process of its production, than its actual weight on your wrist.
Now, not all of this stuff is nice. And some of this “not nice” stuff ends up in the products you buy, and some of it is thrown out as waste from the factory that built the product.
The “not nice” stuff that comes out of all factories is the cocktail of toxic chemicals
that goes straight into our rivers and lakes, our air, soil, and oceans.
Due to the presence of these chemicals in our rivers, toxic waste dumps in our fields, poisons in our groundwater, in the air we breathe, in the food we eat, all living species today carry at least 700 man-made chemical contaminants in their bodies. The results aren’t that well-hidden, though… cancers, deformed sex organs, falling sperm counts, aggressive behaviour and diminished intelligence.
Even after things stop working and you throw them away, they continue to pollute. In the electronic graveyards across India where old gadgets end up, there are children waist-deep in cables, keyboards and circuitry picking through a soup of hazardous chemicals (including lead and mercury) to find components or bits of metal they can sell. They breathe in dioxins as the PVC cables and casings burn around them. They stop drinking from local wells polluted with heavy metals.
Due to the presence of these chemicals in our rivers, toxic waste dumps in our fields, poisons in our groundwater, in the air we breathe, in the food we eat, all living species today carry at least 700 man-made chemical contaminants in their bodies. The results aren’t that well-hidden, though… cancers, deformed sex organs, falling sperm counts, aggressive behaviour and diminished intelligence.
Even after things stop working and you throw them away, they continue to pollute. In the electronic graveyards across India where old gadgets end up, there are children waist-deep in cables, keyboards and circuitry picking through a soup of hazardous chemicals (including lead and mercury) to find components or bits of metal they can sell. They breathe in dioxins as the PVC cables and casings burn around them. They stop drinking from local wells polluted with heavy metals.
One way to reduce the amount of toxic stuff around you is to reduce the amount of
stuff you buy. A disposable diaper takes 450 years to biodegrade (or be decomposed
by bacteria and other living organisms and go back into the Earth). What if you
used the old-fashioned cloth and soap-water alternative to keep your baby’s bum
clean?
Don’t have babies? Okay, have you ever bought a bottled drink? If that bottle is made of glass, it’ll take 1 million years to biodegrade. If it’s made of plastic, it will NEVER biodegrade. What if you just bought fresh fruit juice instead of the one in a carton? What if you carried your own water in a flask instead of buying the bottled one?
You can reduce, reuse and recycle. But frankly, if you’re really concerned about the poisons in our air, water and soil, the best thing to do is refuse. Stop buying stuff you simply want but don’t really need. Try it sometime. It works.
Don’t have babies? Okay, have you ever bought a bottled drink? If that bottle is made of glass, it’ll take 1 million years to biodegrade. If it’s made of plastic, it will NEVER biodegrade. What if you just bought fresh fruit juice instead of the one in a carton? What if you carried your own water in a flask instead of buying the bottled one?
You can reduce, reuse and recycle. But frankly, if you’re really concerned about the poisons in our air, water and soil, the best thing to do is refuse. Stop buying stuff you simply want but don’t really need. Try it sometime. It works.
