Save the environment

The west has always been on the forefront of environment awareness. United states have a very powerful and influencive government body to regulate the industry for any impact on the environment. Europe too has a similar arrangement. However ironically in some ways the West is also the leading poluter of the environment.

With the advance in modern technology the affordability of cars, the demand for fridge and such eleectronic items have sky rocketted since the last few decades to an extent that some of them are considered necessities for the day to day lives. Take the case of automobiles, as people in the west grew accustomed to the convenience of driving their personal vehicle, it also gave rise to the evergrowing concern of smog(caused by emission from vehicles and factories) in major cities.

There are various groups around the Western world including the United states which apparently strives to spread the awareness of saving trees. However consider this.. every ton of paper that we use, requires roughly about 17 trees(Source: http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC063191/paper.html) . When people use paper to wipe out the smallest of dirt, the paper companies profit but nature looses. When a sheet of paper is used to clean dirt, there's this issue of then properly disposing/re-cycling it. On the contrary, if people use water, nature takes on the role of re-cycling it.

Since the last decade computers have invaded our lives like no other and has now come to be an essential part of the household items. Along with the computers, demand for gadgets like cameras, printers etc also have risen. These new genaration of electronic devices grow obselete very quickly and need to be disposed really carefully in order not to endanger the environment. They really are a major threat when you consider these facts.. chemicals such as beryllium, found in computer motherboards, and cadmium in chip resistors and semiconductors are poisonous and can lead to cancer. Chromium in floppy disks, lead in batteries and computer monitors and mercury in alkaline batteries and fluorescent lamps also pose severe health risks.

Although the Orient too is playing a catchup role in guise of advncing its technology compatibility(e-waste), modernizing of society(demand for cars, industrialization), it still lags far behind the west.

It's time for the west to sit up and take a serious look on its impact on the nature and mends its ways effectively. The east, traditionally being an ardent follower of the west , then perhaps will follow course.