Every festival is a reminder of togetherness, fun, food, celebration and at least one environmental problem! It’s funny that we become conscious about the growing water scarcity only during Holi, and noise/air pollution only during Diwali. These days, of course, Shadu Mati Ganpati tops the chart!
Well, to be honest, I too am guilty as charged! Though, in my defense, activism is my second name – and I do not need a festival to kindle that side of me. (No, that’s not the only reason why I have such less friends.)
Earlier we used to live frugally, and hence festivals were an expression of celebration and life, and thus, so lavish! Now, we read a couple of listicles on Buzzfeed, get inspired and spend every moment like it’s the last moment of our life – of course, till our resources last and then we fall back on the ground, and how! We spend every day like there is no tomorrow – which is exactly what they said, figuratively! But we Humans are an expert in making everything into as convenient as it can get!
Last week I stumbled upon a video that compared the popularity of an urgent and important environmental issue with that of Taylor Swift’s legs! Nope, that is not a typo! As bizarre as it sounds, the video made more sense than any walking-talking-breathing creature next to you right now! What it rightly sums up is that we are tired of being told how to live, what to do, how to celebrate – we are all trying to be our best anyway day after day, and this sort of creates a lot of pressure! Wait, what?
But the truth is even if we stop human activities from putting any more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere tomorrow, we’re still going to have a rough ride. We’re not even surprised anymore when there’s flooding somewhere at a time of the year when they’ve never got floods before. Unpredictable is the new predictable. Umm, I am not sure if that made sense, but why, me making sense is also tad-bit unpredictable.
Going green isn’t just a gimmick. With mountains of evidence behind our planet’s climate change, the green movement has exploded over the last decade, but saving the planet isn’t the only reason go green. I mean if we don’t save the planet Earth and give it all the love and affection it needs right now, even Taylor Swift’s legs are endangered! Think about it. The problem is graver than it looks at the face of it!
As easy as it can be to believe, we do NOT live in our own world. We share this one. I am saying all of this at the cost of sounding too preachy but we only have one chance to get it right. We all share responsibility for the planet. (Please don’t stop hanging out with me, my dear leftover friends!)
PS: Ganeshji toh maati ke hone chahiye, POP ka toh culture bhi hai!
U+ Collective 
Doing nothing is also big business as Time magazine in a lead cover story once described. And noted in a well-written story with graphics that huge investments and enormous resources are applied for holiday seekers just for doing nothing !
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