Getting rid of.... Our Mess

Image from JM Simon Post

While reading an article the other day, could not resist thinking on two things..

1... Good Bold Decision... 2.. Have we screwed up the system so bad?

What was it? Just a Dubai Govt campaign to slash 500M plastic bags! 500M bags in a year, as our consumption in a small country like Dubai was nearly 2.9 Billion bags annually. The thoughts that came to mind were the normal, no possible way, we cant be that bad, 2.9 is over exaggerated, etc etc..

Of course, also thinking more could not but resist thinking about a similar post of mine "The Green Thing", where is, we have another case of how we have managed to mess ourselves up with technology, our wants and our needs, and the generations that come, manages to blame the preceding generation, as each generation manages to mess up the environment...

However, back to Plastic Bags.. A great campaign, where in a decision is done to get rid of nearly half a billion plastic bags in six months. Chances are that they will achieve it and probably even more. Simply because of the will of the Govt and the people providing support to make the country a better place. So what is the issue? Just a few:

Why can we not do this without being asked to. We all know that half the things we use are bad for the environment, yet we use them extensively.

Why have we never learnt the concept of reuse unless we have to pay for it.

Why does every thing free have to be abused to an extent, that it has to be taken away for our very own benefit?

Why do we only follow these when the Govt's take it upon them to clear up the mess..

Why does the Govt allow the mess in the first place only for it to later on spend millions to clean up an environment that they are equally to blame.

Why do we never ask ourselves the question: Why, or Why no?

One looks in the streets, outside of Super Markets.. People have stacks of Plastic bags in their hand. It comes for every thing. One chocolate, and you want a bag, a can of Coke and you want to carry it in a plastic bag. Forget it that the minute one steps out of the shop, one takes out the item and throws the bag on the spot. And this is repeated every five / ten minutes.

The amount of non recyclable waste that we generate is mind boggling to say the least. The World population going up to nearly 7 Billion, and with population increasing leaps and bounds, it is simply a mathematical projection as to when, how soon, how fast can we head to a disaster in the making. And what is worse, that in many underdeveloped countries, the Govt does not care a damn about this, as the top few are busy making money even at the cost of the average man getting his life screwed (which he does on his own).

Not asking any one to put up a revolution of some sorts, but simply that we should to the extent possible, try to make the world a better place.. Of course one person in a million is not going to make a difference, but if this catches up, some day (hopefully by then we have not killed the world), we will have a nicer place to live in. A start with Super Markets without plastic bags maybe?