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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Earth Can Satisfy Every Man’s Need, Not Greed!

The UJALA scheme was launched in January 2015 with a target to replace 77 crore incandescent lamps with LED bulbs. The use of LED bulbs will not only reduce the electricity bill but will also help in environmental protection. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Movement) is a campaign that was launched by the Prime Minister on 2 October 2014. The campaign seeks to clean up the streets, roads, and infrastructure of 4041 statutory cities and towns in the country.

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By: Priyanka ‘Saurabh’

Mahatma Gandhi once said that – Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed. Humans have destroyed one-tenth of the Earth’s forest in the last 25 years and if the trend continues there may be none left within a century. Humans account for only 0.01% of all biomass on Earth, but despite being such a small part of the planet, they have destroyed 83% of all wild mammals and half of all plants. We need to remind ourselves that we must protect and protect our environment for our future generations.

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For this reason, every year 22 April is celebrated as International Earth Day. It is a day that emphasizes the need to protect the planet and preserve its environment. Many programs and campaigns are being organized all over the world for environmental protection. On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans – 10% of the US population at the time – took to the streets, college campuses, and hundreds of cities to protest environmental damage and demand a new way for our planet. The first Earth Day is credited with starting the modern environmental movement and is now recognized as the planet’s largest civic event. The result of the first Earth Day was that the first Earth Day in 1970 triggered a wave of action, including the passage of historic environmental laws in the United States.

The Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts were created in response to the first Earth Day in 1970 as well as the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. Many countries soon adopted similar laws. Earth Day holds major international significance; in 2016, the United Nations selected Earth Day as the day when the historic Paris Agreement on Climate Change was signed. It is celebrated to remind each of us that the earth and its ecosystems provide us with life and sustenance.

The day also recognizes a collective responsibility, as stated in the Rio Declaration of 1992, to achieve a proper balance between the economic, social, and environmental needs of present and future generations of humanity, in harmony with nature and the earth. To encourage the day provides an opportunity to raise public awareness around the world about the challenges regarding the well-being of the planet and all life supported by it. This year, Earth Day focuses on ending the use of plastic and reducing pollution. It was launched primarily in response to developments internationally, with eight missions focusing on India’s domestic development needs.

India has pledged to eliminate all single-use plastic in the country by 2022. In April 2015, the central government began rapid adoption and manufacturing of hybrid and electric vehicles to promote the sale of eco-friendly vehicles in the country. It is a part of the National Mission for Electric Mobility. Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana provides LPG connections to five crores below poverty line beneficiaries. Connections are given in the name of women beneficiaries to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and conventional fuels like cow dung for cooking, thereby reducing air pollution.

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The UJALA scheme was launched in January 2015 with a target to replace 77 crore incandescent lamps with LED bulbs. The use of LED bulbs will not only reduce the electricity bill but will also help in environmental protection. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Movement) is a campaign that was launched by the Prime Minister on 2 October 2014. The campaign seeks to clean up the streets, roads, and infrastructure of 4041 statutory cities and towns in the country.

Prudential investments and policy reforms can help make India resilient to climate change. Any adaptation to climate change will require climate justice. This could be fuelled by the expansion of joint research and development partnerships such as the US-China Clean Energy Research Center, which links India’s emerging smart cities with green cities in the West. India needs to reduce carbon by reducing emissions; there is no doubt about it. But the West also needs to pay its bills. Cities adjacent to national parks and sanctuaries need to be transformed into green smart cities with advanced waste recycling processes. (The author is a Research Scholar in Political Science, Poet, freelance journalist, and columnist. He can be reached at priyankasaurabh94167@gmail.com)

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The Hills Times
The Hills Timeshttps://www.thehillstimes.in/
The Hills Times, a largely circulated English daily published from Diphu and printed in Guwahati, having vast readership in hills districts of Assam, and neighbouring Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.
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