Go Green

Mahatma Gandhi once said: Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need,
but not every man’s greed.

I remember when I used to be a kid, my teacher always tells me to behave in the

world. He taught me: not to fight with others, to work things out, to respect
others, to clean up our mess, not to hurt other creatures, to share and not be
greedy.

As a kid, I’m bewildered. I mean, why are they, the adults go out and do all the
things they tell me not to do?

Literally, why? Isn’t this the cause of wildlife extinction? Isn’t this the reason we
couldn’t stay under the sun? Seriously, even after acknowledging the
consequences of pollution, what have we done?

Thankfully, every problem has a solution, and the one that brings the most
significant results is to Go Green. Basically, going green means to live life, as an
individual as well as a community, in a way that is friendly to the natural
environment and is sustainable for the Earth. But the question remains, how can
we Go Green?

Well, the first step towards living a more planet conscious life is to stop ravaging
the planet with over-consumption. Unfortunately, our “I am what I buy” culture
was something of a handicap. Let’s take a look at real life statistics. According to
National Solid Waste Management Department, statistics have shown that the
largest contributor to solid waste in Penang is food waste, at an average of 3,000
tonnes daily. That’s not all, do you know that when food waste goes to landfill,
which is where the vast majority ends up, it decomposes without access to
oxygen and creates methane, which is 23 times more deadly than carbon dioxide.

Talking about food, I believe most of us are not aware of the consequences of
excessive meat consumption. We all know that agriculture is a significant driver of
global warming and causes up to 15% of all emissions, but do you know that half
of which are from life stock? I’m not trying to persuade anyone to go green go
vegan. I’m saying that meat consumption, especially red meat should be reduced
and controlled to prevent climate breakdown.
Likewise, save your energy consumption. Switch off the power button when no
one is in the room. Avoid using personal vehicles when public transportation can
be used. In fact, you can even use bicycles for small distances and protect your
environment from harmful release of gases such as carbon monoxide which has
the potential to cause dizziness, nausea, or even death.

Let’s take a closer look at one of the latest news. According to Strait Times, a total
of 475 educational institutions, including 111 schools, in Pasir Gudang were
closed for three days from 25 June due to air pollution that caused more than 100
students from over 30 schools to fall ill. Even worse, this was the second time in
three months that the authorities had ordered all schools in Pasir Gudang district
to be closed due to pollution.

Nevertheless, sometimes the easiest way to solve a problem is to stop

participating in the problem. I’m only a teenager and I don’t have all the solutions,
but I want you to realize, neither do you!

I mean, you don’t know how to fix holes in our ozone layer. You don’t know how
to bring salmon back up a dead stream. You don’t know how to bring back an
animal now extinct and you can’t bring back forests that once grew where there is
now desert.

But the past is the past. We must stop playing the blame game and start focusing
on solving the current environmental problems by Going Green. These efforts
may seem small, but it has been said that something as small as the flutter of a
butterfly’s wing can cause a typhoon halfway around the world. Let’s take a stand
for the love of green as we are not apart from nature but rather a part of nature.