How To Be Kinder To The Planet

You’ve seen images of the Amazon burning on social media. Of rivers choked with plastic. Of dead coral where marine life once thrived. If you haven’t already got the memo, here it is again: Our current lifestyles aren’t sustainable. Here’s how to cut back on your carbon footprint and lead a more eco-friendly lifestyle

- Aatish Nath

The stats are terrifying: The ocean will have more plastic than fish in it by 2050; this past July was the hottest month ever recorded in the world; water scarcity is no longer a problem of the future.

Pop stars and actors are doing their bit. British band The 1975 recently teamed up with Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg on a self-titled track, in which Thunberg recites a speech over dreamlike synths. Radiohead has pledged album sales to Extinction Rebellion. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio’s devoted his Instagram feed to raising awareness about the planet’s changing weather patterns and the devastating impact of climate change. The rest of us need to step up our game too.

Arunabha Ghosh, CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, an NGO that focuses on independent policy research, identifies two major problems when it comes to managing our resources: “One, we don’t actually know how we use resources on a real-time basis,” he says, referring to the lack of tools to measure our consumption of water or the amount of waste we generate. “The second challenge has been our inability to value our natural ecosystem, independent of price. So just because we can’t ascribe a rupee value to a tree’s ability to store carbon dioxide and recharge groundwater, we undervalue its importance.”

Start by trying to become a more conscious consumer. It may sound fuzzy, but all it takes is some research and some effort (like remembering to carry a cloth bag when you go grocery shopping, carrying your own water bottle when you step out of the house). A host of online trackers can also help take some of the guesswork out from your decisions, by highlighting ethical brands that are making a genuine effort to reduce their impact on the planet.