Keep Clean, Go Green

Writing after a long time. Hope to be a lot more regular in times to come. 

Half of the topic I've chosen to write today is the flavour of the season. 

Everyone seems to have woken up to the need to get our country clean. India's current Prime Minster (Narendra D. Modi) has been trumpeting the need to keep clean almost since the day he joined office - maybe before as well when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Our country that has been termed filthy, dirty and adjectives such as these for a long, long while now. It has AGAIN been given a shot in the arm to clean-up its act. This is not the first time this activity has been taken up at the national level. Will this catch the nation's imagination and stick such that it becomes part of the psyche? Or will this be another attempt that will fizzle out? And then another political war will start with the opposition stating "I told you so"! 

Let us first understand what the aim is. "We need to make our ‘nation’ CLEAN by 2019”. A simple statement with lots and lots of work involved. Everybody wants their surroundings to be neat and clean. 

Now let us hear the common statement that emerges from this: “But then that is the job of the sweeper and other conservancy workers. Is it not? Why do I pay my taxes? I do my work sincerely from morning till evening. Why can't I expect the same from the government?” 

Before I spell out an answer to this, let me first say that the aim is incorrect. It connotes that we have to clean the entire country. No matter where you start, it is quite an impossible task. 

“So how can I do it?” I ask myself. The task has to be small enough for me to do so myself, right? Yes. That is the right premise. If every Indian can be reached and told, neigh taught, about this then the aim is in the right direction and can be taken towards an implementation phase. 

The next question is: “What can I do?” This is the crux. I shall come to it in a bit.

Even as I think on that “WHAT”, a lot of queries come flooding into my head. Almost all of them are around how to ensure that this movement is carried forward in the right way right away and meet the target set for 2019!

There are a lot of nitty-gritty’s to be resolved. Who takes it to every Indian? What is the exact simple message to take forward? What is the medium in which this message needs to be communicated? Can there be feedback and how can this feedback be incorporated back into the original requirement to make it stronger. How can this be a people's movement? How can this be a people’s movement that can finally enter a collective consciousness?

But before we address the specifics, we need to set the atmospherics right. We also need to understand what and how to do at an individual level. So let us embark on this.

First the fright: We spend around 5000 rupees individually each year on health because our country is filthy. And I think this is a small estimate. This and all other amounts lost due to our unclean surroundings amounts to a staggering 2.5 trillion rupees. Do you know that if we can clean ourselves up, our country stands to improve our GDP by 6-7 percent annually? Do you know what that can do to family prosperity?

“Okay. I understand. Those figures are mind-boggling but it doesn’t hit too hard since I am quite cosy where I am. I have a steady job and earn a decent income. Yes. More money is welcome but why should I get my hands dirty? You have still not answered me: what happens to the tax money I pay to the government each year? Why don’t they clean things up? I can’t stand this. Probably, I should immigrate to a cleaner country. Maybe Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Singapore?”

Given all of the above negatives, is there some place we can start? Yes. Let us start with ourselves. To hell with the country, state, city/ village, community, building/ house. Let us start with our own selves. Let each one of us ask two questions to ourselves each day. ONLY these two questions:

1.     “Am I clean physically and mentally?”

2.     “Do I ensure that I keep one square foot around me clean?”

Okay. Those were really loaded questions. So let us break that up into simpler questions.

How do I keep myself physically clean? Do I brush my teeth, wash my face, wear washed and clean clothes, take bath daily, and eat from washed plates and queries such as these?

Much tougher is to ask how I keep myself mentally clean. Remember, the question is clean, not fit! Do I ensure that bad thoughts are rooted out at the bud, that I have and influence myself to have good thoughts, keep myself relatively happy and stress-free, that I have a laugh at and with my near and dear ones and queries such as these?

Ensure that the physical and mental cleanliness are followed without any break. Note down times when you have had an urge to break the rules. If in spite of this the rules of cleanliness are broken, ensure that the vow of cleanliness unto one’s own self is renewed. Light a lamp; say a prayer, a moment of solitude.

And now to get to the second question: If I can keep my surrounding one square feet clean (physically and mentally) at all times during the day, I can ensure that I get my space and have that space clean enough to be productive and less chaotic. Keep all negativity at bay. If you see litter within a foot, ensure that it finds a basket. If you have plastic lying around, ensure that it is properly disposed off. Try to replace the plastic with a biodegradable material. Ensure that unkempt things are put in order. You get the drift, right? This second question is the key to the call for change – Swach Bharat. If you can achieve this consistently, you’ll have metamorphosed into a champion of cleanliness.

The above was the first stage in reaching total cleanliness. And this was the biggest stage. It could take anywhere between 1 to 6 months to get this quality of cleanliness inbuilt into oneself.

If you already are a monument of individual cleanliness, then the next step is educating the people in your house. The initiation for them would have already taken place because of their proximity to you and learning by example. But the devil is always in the details and teaching and cajoling them to follow would ensure that they would not fall back into filthiness ever again.

The next step would be to act as a family; to spread the word to your neighbours. A lot of tact comes into play here. You have to show with your own example. The best bet would be to teach the neighbour’s children. Get the children to shame their elders in case they litter. After that casually showing the grownups the way would ensure that the idea is driven home.

And the final challenge is to change your immediate neighbourhood in conjunction with your neighbours. The trick here (especially in urban areas) is that as a community you invest in dustbins at every 100 meters and use these bins and only these to dispose of the daily refuse. In case one bin is not enough (there is overflowing), buy another. If anybody in the neighbourhood litters, go up to them tell them it is not good to litter; teach them about the bins available to put the litter and then show them how to do it.

Another aspect is that the sweepers in the building and conservancy workers, who work in the locality, sweep and deposit the leaves, dust and grime on the side of a building or road. A vehicle passes by, a gust of wind appears and all this is deposited back all over the place. The only way to ensure that this does not go back to invest in portable, industrial size vacuum cleaners along with the municipal/ village panchayats and ensure that this dust is duly collected and disposed off appropriately.

Still another aspect of the neighbourhood cleanliness is pets and strays. Ensure that stray animals of any and every sort are caught and taken to designated areas away from human habitation (probably into jungles). Handling of pet poop should lie with the owner. A stiff citizen’s fine should be applicable where the owner doesn’t manage the poop. The money collected from such activities can be used for neighbourhood programs.

Once these major things are taken care of, the next step would be to bring to the notice of the municipality about cracks and potholes and get these repaired. Building/ house walls in need to of a coat of paint should get that coat of paint through voluntary activities. Plants and grass-beds and planting of saplings by the side of the road should also be encouraged. Then there is the filth introduced by houses under construction, roads dug, open manholes and interior work in homes. There have to be strict fines involved – some to be collected by the local governments and some by the citizen’s groups. In the end, none of these activities should be allowed to create dirt around the neighbourhood. The dirt should be handled properly and disposed off by the offending party at their cost. A process should be formed such that roads dug up for whatever reason should be brought back to their original quality and strength. This has to be the work of the local governments but citizens’ forums should ensure that things are followed to the letter.

If there is pride and ownership associated with the cleanliness and beauty of the neighbourhood, all of the above can be very easily achieved.

Now a very important question arises, what happens to the waste from one’s neighbourhood? Where is it disposed? It shouldn’t happen that to clean one’s neighbourhood, we make the life of another unliveable. Here our responsibility comes in segregating our refuse into multiple parts: biodegradable and wet waste, metal waste, glass waste, paper waste, plastic waste, e-waste and others.

The biodegradable and wet waste can be easily be used to create bio-fuel cells which can be used for electricity generation in plants. Water from this can be treated and the groundwater recycled.

Metal waste can be separately treated and reused in various industries based on the type of metal.

Glass waste can be powdered and reused.

Paper waste can be pulped, recycled and reused.

Collecting plastic waste separately would ensure that the harmful effects of plastic can be controlled. Certain types of plastics can be rebuilt back into plastic pellets which can be reused down the line. Further education within the neighbourhood would ensure that use of plastic goes down if not completely eliminated. Alternates to usage of plastic can be presented at prominent areas – especially in shops and roadside vendors.

Along with plastic, e-waste is the highest pollutant in the world now. These have to be skilfully handled and poisonous matters like arsenic should not be allowed to enter into the soil. There have to be separate processing plants to dismantle these substances. New ideas in handling of e-waste are required to take this further.

Other kinds of waste, like wood and construction material can be taken to landfill sites and disposed off. These landfill sites should be way out of the habitable zones. Also, as each designated landfill is used completely, afforestation steps can be taken up to ensure that there is a give back to nature. These areas could also be used to generate solar and wind energy.

All of the above might seems like a big chore to handle each type of waste separately, but it is very important that we really and painfully do this. It is very important that this is done to save ourselves and our planet.

Then we have all the queries that flooded our brains first up. Now that we know what to do, let us try and answer these rationally.

Why should I get my hands dirty?

This has already been answered above. Cleanliness is a very selfish activity. It is above all for one’s own self. Hence it is important to put that one year of effort and once a process is set, it would not seem like dirt at all. It would give a lot of mental satisfaction and calmness.

What happens to the tax money I pay to the government each year? Why don’t they clean things up?

Government is OF the people, BY the people, FOR the people. Why do we always concentrate only on the FOR part of it? The OF and BY parts are equally important. What have we done to ensure that the government does the work it is supposed to do? What have we done to ensure that we contribute and collaborate with the government towards this aim? At any length, shouldn’t it be our selfish motive to live in a neighbourhood that is clean and green. And towards that end, isn’t it our duty to get things sorted?

I can’t stand this. Probably, I should immigrate to a cleaner country. Maybe Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Singapore?

If we follow all that has been mentioned above (the WHAT and the HOW), don’t you think that all that we aspire for  in Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Singapore and all those beautiful, clean countries can be achieved right here in India? For far too long, we have been escapists. Either we say “this is how it has always been” and shrug our shoulders and look the other way. Or we say “this is too much to bear; I can’t take it” and escape from the shores of our beautiful country. What about our duties and more importantly our rights to our country?

Now that we have come thus far, let us also think about Go Green which is symbiotically related to Keep Clean.

We have already touched upon certain areas of living with nature and not against it. Balance is everything in nature – some yin and some yang. Currently this balance is badly skewed. We have managed to exploit nature but not to balance things out. We tear down hills and mountains, whole forests, farm the oceans for sea food, harm fragile ecosystems with air, water and noise pollution. It is important to know that if we take from nature, we have to give some thing back in return of equal measure. If not, sooner or later nature will take back somewhere else in a devastating way.

So what can we as individuals do to improve the balance?

First, keep clean. Since we have discussed this some depth, we can go ahead and implement it.

Second, plant trees. If we are crashing mountains, then build new ones based on the waste we have produced. Plant them with trees, and every wild thing that can grow. Hills and trees would help increase the groundwater table, increase oxygen and reduce carbon-monoxide levels. In the concrete jungles of our cities, trees would ensure that it remains cool in spite of the heat from the concrete. Tall trees on hills would ensure that rain bearing clouds stop by occasionally to clean the air.

Third, use water judiciously. Do not dig into the groundwater too much. Ensure grass and roots grow around you to catch as much water as you possible rather than flowing away. Do not poison the groundwater with e-waste and plastics and effluents. Ensure that these are treated and properly disposed off. Easier said than done, but this should be part of Corporate and Individual Social Responsibility. Incentivise these schemes.

Fourth, control air pollution. Use private transport only if you must. Demand efficient public transport from your government and when you get it, use it. Companies ought to treat the smoke spouting out of their chimneys into solid waste and using standard solid waste management processes, convert this bio-degradable and efficiently manageable waste matter. Use renewable sources of energy like tidal waves, wind power and solar energy instead of non-renewable or dangerous sources of energy like gas or coal or hydro-electric or nuclear.

Fifth, control noise pollution. The more silent is a place, the more serene our mind. The more serene is a place, the more productive our day-to-day activities. It also has a profound effect on our health.

SixthlySixth, do not waste anything; especially food. Any food wastage means that a few poor families that could have been fed would have to go to bed on an empty stomach. Wouldn’t we want to change that?

Note: I have been a city dweller for 75% of my life and my thoughts are probably quite biased towards solutions towards cities. I might fall back on my experiences in village life to update this blog later on.

Also, I shall expand in more detail on the Go Green area in another blog.