The Earth Day- How green is my earth!

Every year 22^nd April is observed as Earth Day. Organizations and communities organize many programs involving the local population and mark this day with speeches, events, tree planting sessions and the like. But taking care of the earth is not such a simplistic affair marked by tokenism and lip service. Real change can happen only when each and every inhabitant of this earth feels responsible regarding the well being of this planet which sustains us and tolerates our idiosyncrasies.

The campaign to preserve earth should be a sustained, life-long process with involvement from each one of us. What can we do in our own small way to conserve earth and its natural resources? Let us see some possible solutions. These could involve preserving water, land, soil and air. It can be to ensure less pollution and less wastage of resources.

We do many things without thinking of the repercussions these actions may have on other life forms. Recently a video of a doctor pulling out a plastic straw from a gasping sea turtle went viral. Every day millions of plastic straws land up in our rivers and seas as they are dumped by careless workers. These end up in the stomachs of some unfortunate voiceless animal. The plastic covers that are ubiquitous become a meal to cows and cattle that roam the streets which chomp and gulp them down to cause many ailments. Can we take a silent pledge never to use straws and plastic covers when we go to a restaurant or a shop? We can always carry a cloth bag in our tote and keep them handy for any purchase that we may want to make. It is a small lifestyle change but a great leap in conserving this planet if we all do it together. Similarly, we can avoid using disposable plates and cups at home and switch to steel and glass instead.

We can also ensure we buy eco-friendly beauty products and not chemical based ones as these will have fewer pollutants in their manufacturing process. The same applies to cleaning products as well. We never know how many chemicals invade our homes in the form of household cleaning products or pest control products to name a few. Above all let us not buy just because we have the ability to spend but conserve and buy only if it is an absolute essential. Simply buying new things and throwing out the old is going to clog the refills and dumps. Recycle the waste and prepare home composts. Paper and other recyclables can be segregated and sent to community recyclers.

If we become conscious, then there are many ways by which we can take care of our planet earth. A beginning can be made starting this Earth Day.

 Easy Recipes for you

Spinach Pasta/Noodles/Spaghetti

Ingredients

Half a bunch of Spinach leaves, blanched in boiling water and cooled in cold water and then ground to a paste.

• 2 tbsps of Oil
• 6 Garlic pods cut fine
• 1 Red bell pepper.
• 3-4 leaves of the greens of spring onions cut into small strips.
• Half cup of fresh cream
• 2 tbsp of any cheese spread
• 1 packet of Hakka noodles/Spaghetti/pasta and salt to taste and half tsp pepper powder.

Method

1. Boil water with a little salt and when it boils immerse the noodles. Keep boiling till it is AL DENTE i.e. half cooked. Then strain and keep noodles on a plate. Put Oil on it and set aside.
2. In a pan put oil, put garlic pieces, bell pepper. When it cooks slightly then add pureed spinach.
3. Add cheese spread, cream, pepper powder, salt and the greens. Just while serving heat the mixture again and add noodles to it.
4. Give a toss and enjoy

News from the Veg World

By 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the Arctic Ocean

Hundreds of billions of pieces of plastic are floating in the once pristine Arctic, according to a new study, in a startling indication of how polluted the planet has become.

While most Arctic waters were found to have little plastic debris, researchers discovered two major “dead ends” the seafood we eat.

In a paper in the journal Science Advances, an international team of scientists led by Dr Andres Cozar, of Cadiz University, described how they had sailed across much of the ice-free waters of the Arctic Circle, trawling for plastic. “The total load of floating plastic for the ice-free waters of the Arctic Ocean was estimated to range from around 100 to 1200 tons, with 400 tons composed of an estimated 300 billion plastic items as a mid-range estimate,” the paper said.

The most polluted areas in the northernmost and easternmost parts of the Greenland and Barents seas were found to contain hundreds of thousands of pieces per sq km. “This should be a wakeup call to everyone,” said Sue Kinsey, senior officer at the Marine Conservation Society.

Source: The Independent

Content Team

Kenya Vegetarian Club

PO Box 1390, Obote Road, Kisumu 40100, Kenya

Email: kvc@shrivedant.com / website: www.kenyavegclub.com