Plastic bottles - A nightmarish threat to human beings and environment

                 I was talking about planting trees for our sustainable future in my previous posts. In this one, I would like to share with you about the effects of plastic water bottles on human health, environment and of-course on our future too.

                We people live in a world where there the use of plastic water bottles and plastic tea/coffee cups are thoroughly unavoidable. Since they are cheap and handy, there is always an increasing usage of plastic cups and bottles. The reason why many environmentalists stress on the ban of plastic is that they take more time to decompose than a normal paper. This poisons the environment and the wildlife in it. Hence the plastic items can be considered as TIME BOMBS that may burst after several decades. The chemicals present in the plastic bottles such as Polyethylene Terephthalate (commonly known as PET), breaks into smaller segments over time and absorbs the toxins, thereby contaminating the soil and the water bodies.

                Another major environmental problem associated with the plastic bottles is the amount of crude oil required to manufacture it. Approximately, it has been estimated that around 1.7 crore barrels of crude oil is required to manufacture water bottles for one year globally. This is more than enough to fuel 10 lakh cars for a year. These issues related to environment has made the plastic bottles, a potential threat to the environment and the future generation.

Problems to human health

                Bisphenol A (BPA) is one of the chemicals used in making plastic bottles. This chemical is know to cause lot of health related problems in human beings. Some of them are

• Neurological problems
• Early puberty in girls
• Reduced fertility in women
• Certain types of cancer

               Another chemical named "phthalates" (as I mentioned earlier as "terephthalates"), causes problems related to reproduction in men.

So the solution??? -RECYCLING

               Many countries use their own ways of recycling the plastic bottles. But to recycle, first you need the bottles right? The city of Sydney in Australia has come up with an innovative solution for this. Yes if you drop a plastic bottle into machine, you will get a chance to win movie tickets in return!!!! Doesn't it sound interesting? It really does. I was really amazed as people have given  a huge response to such machines in Australia. Going through one of news website in Australia I came to know about this. 

                  I see this as an innovative approach towards sustainable future. I would love to see this in India too. I know that its a little bit difficult in implementing such things in India but there is a need for us to do now. India is a developing economy and the government has the responsibility in implementing sustainable initiatives like this to save our planet because ITS OUR GLOBE and WE ARE ONE in doing so!!!!

                

                

Species: FARMERS Status: GETTING EXTINCT Venue: INDIA

                 I was talking about planting more trees in my previous post. Yes of course, we have to plant more trees but at the same time we need to be alert about our food availability also. Particularly in India, the rate of suicide among the farmers is showing an alarming increase. We all know the prices of various vegetables, cereals, fruits,etc are increasing at a steady rate. This is due to the lack of adequate cultivation and decreasing farmers. I live in a small town in Tamil Nadu, India, on the way to a village called VAYALUR. The meaning of this village is "a place full of farms". A few years back, when I go to this village to worship lord Muruga who has a temple there, I used to see a lot of farm lands on both the sides of the roads. Surrounded by lush green lands on both sides, it was a special experience riding through that road.
       
                But now when I went there a few days back, I could see that the lush green cover was missing and they were converted into plots for sale by the real estate developers. I was shocked to see that and it was then I understood why the prices of vegetables and cereals are increasing. Basically I am Civil engineering graduate who is pursuing the higher studies in the same sector. But I thoroughly disagree with this happening near my place. In the future, we may have  beautiful houses to live in but how to sustain without having food to eat. Farmers sell their land to the real estate developers for a cheap price and these real estate walas divide the land into many small plots of 600 sq.ft to 1200 sq.ft and sell them at very high prices. Not only in my area, this awful thing happens throughout India. How long can we do like this? At certain instant of time, we will have to pay the price for it.