ISLAMABAD: This August 14th, 2019 Pakistan’s capital Islamabad will be implementing a much-awaited ban on plastic bags. From suppliers to retailers, the days of plastic in the beautiful city seem numbered.
But because climate change and global warming are mostly being impacted by big businesses, the general impression is that individuals have no control over its increasing rates.
And so a question often asked in earnest is, “But what can I do?”
Turns out, quite a lot.
Here are some of our tips and tricks on how to make yourself, your homes, and our cities more green. In a country of 208 million people, every carbon footprint counts.
Plastic is now squarely faux pas
Social media, particularly in the last year, has been flooded with horrifying images of garbage islands that weigh tons, floating around our oceans. Sea animals and birds die tangled up in it, whales suffocate or starve as their stomachs and throats fill up with plastic. All this awareness has started making one thing crystal clear: Plastic has got to go.
The no-plastic initiative need not remain limited to the Pakistani capital only. In fact, after the images we’ve all seen, there is no excuse not to invest in reusable household items.
It’s an easy rule to implement in homes and neighborhoods. Heading to the store? Bring along a tote bag, a back-pack, a basket, a cloth bag. Done with your toothbrush? Instead of investing in another cheap plastic one from the pharmacy, do some research and buy yourself a bamboo brush, made from long-lasting and biodegradable material.
Reuse is the magic word
Plastic straws? Goodbye! Paper coffee cups? Khuda Hafiz. Single-use plastic has no room left on our planet. Invest in metal straws and utensils, reusable coffee cups, metal or glass water bottles, bid farewell to the plastic and stop using excess paper. At first it may feel strange showing up somewhere with your own little kitchen drawer on you, but in the long run, it will be second nature.
Recycle your existing plastic
If you’re anything like most Pakistani households, you probably have a bevy of plastic bags from your shopping trips stowed away for other uses — which is a good thing. It means you’re already recycling the plastic in your own way.
If you have plastic bags and you don’t want to dump them, use them as reusable lunch bags, as shoe covers and dust bags for small electronics or packed away valuables. Have plastic water bottles in abundance? Repurpose them as planters for your garden! Look up recycling set-ups in your city, or sign up for a service like Waste Busters who do recycling pick-ups in most places.
Raise your garden
To some, the idea of planting a garden seems like a bourgeois response to climate change. But there are ways to garden that are affordable and make sense for your space. If you are living in an apartment and do not have much earth to work with, go for some modern urban gardening. All you need is a pot, a plant and the will. In your own kitchen, you could be growing vegetables, fruits and herbs that not only help reduce your carbon footprint but feed you free of cost. For people with more land at their disposal, get planting!
Plant more cactuses!
When planting and watering your garden, keep in mind that Pakistan is facing a water crisis and in some areas, drought has reared its ugly head for years. The conservation of water is as important as going green, so why not plant cactuses? Drinking water from the earth and storing is what they do, making them a sustainable and unique choice to green up the place without big water demands.
And speaking of the water crisis, it’s the monsoon season and rain is (almost) everywhere. Store rainwater for your plants and for other uses whenever you can.
Volunteer your time
Organizations, social groups, even the government in Pakistan are routinely setting up tree-planting drives. Trees are nature’s air conditioner remotes. Pakistan’s temperatures are only rising, but trees can bring those degrees down. The math proves it.
Are you and your friends heading to the beach in Karachi? Bring one of those plastic bags you have repurposed and picked some trash up along the beach. Living in Islamabad? Do the same in the Margalla Hills. You are not only volunteering your time but possibly starting a domino effect where your awesome actions influence others to step up as well
Stop singing in the shower
Your long private concerts in the shower will have to end without an encore, we’re afraid. Save water, take quicker showers and don’t take baths which result in an enormous amount of water wastage.
We know it’s Eid but...
Eat less meat! Beef and other meats’ carbon footprint is huge and in Western countries, a rising trend is to specify a single day of the week as absolutely meatless. Enter ‘meatless Mondays.’ Even cutting a small amount of meat from one’s diet in a week will make a massive difference to its supply, to billions of animals and all corresponding emissions that drastically increase rates of global warming.
