{"id":1900,"date":"2018-06-15T15:05:44","date_gmt":"2018-06-15T09:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tibetnature.lhasocialwork.com\/en\/?p=1900"},"modified":"2018-09-24T16:58:29","modified_gmt":"2018-09-24T11:28:29","slug":"english-essay-winner-_1st-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/english-essay-winner-_1st-position\/","title":{"rendered":"2018 World Environment Day Essay Competition \u2013 First Position"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"tenzinGenesis of a neo Earth<\/strong><\/p>\n

by:\u00a0Tenzin Younten Zenang<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>When Mr. Leo Baekland invented \u2018bakelite\u2019 in 1907, he would have never imagined that a young eight year old Tibetan refugee who never saw an ocean would swim in a pool of emptied plastic bottles in Mc\u2019leodGanj. A town remotely located in North India, hubbub of politic and home for many Tibetan refugees. Back then it was quiet with countable vehicles in a town where the only entertainment was playing outside. Nothing was prevalent like today except for those plastic bottles.<\/p>\n

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Ofcourse plastic isn\u2019t just for a package for drinking water,it is pervasive in just about everything, prevailing over traditional materials. Modern industries rely on plastic because it is cheaper, lighter, and durable. Yes, durable simply because it is composed of large molecules, this is where the real problem lies since it takes very long time to decompose after being discarded.<\/p>\n

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Reflecting back to the pool of plastic, back then I reckon not many we re aware of a plastic crisis. Probably because plastic was a strong force behind the profit and countries\u2019 growing GDP. Back then countries\u2019 primary concerns were the efficient, least-cost allocation of scarce productive resources and the optimal growth of these resources over time to produce an ever expanding range of goods and services[1]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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According to a report prepared by FICCI and Tata Strategic management Group (TSMG) on the plastic industry titled \u2018Plastic Packaging \u2013 The sustainable Choice\u2019, packaging is one of the fastest growing industries and stands at 700 billion USD globally. Plastics comprise 42% of packaging with a combination of rigid and flexible plastics in packaging. The Environmental Protection Agencypoints out that, on average, people only recycle one plastic bag in every 200 they use. Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute \u2013 billions end up as litter each year.<\/p>\n

Those are big numbers and honestly quite nauseating. Anyways, remember that refugee I mentioned who never saw an ocean in the beginning? What interested me to say thisis because I am overwhelmed by David K.A. Barnes\u2019s statement (a marine scientist), that plastic bags have gone \u201cfrom being rare in the late 80s and early 90s to being almost everywhere.\u201d That\u2019s to me, mind-boggling.Also, I have actually never seen an ocean.However I know how enormous the ocean is, covering \u00beof our earth and people are capable of polluting to such extent. My personal experience has been oblivious, and limited from swimming in empty plastic bottle to voluntarily participating in a local clean up group (waste worriers) in collecting garbage on the hill and the occasionalprod by broken glass (thrown by a drunk) while swimming in the river. Oh, how can I ever forget cows\/bulls chewing on plastic bags so deliciously but I can\u2019t unsee a video where a veterinarian put his hand inside a living cow\u2019s gut and pulled back a bunch of bags, undigested obviously. (I am glad we can\u2019t smell in videos.)<\/p>\n

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If it wasn\u2019t the monetary issue, there is an option of bio-plastic, genetically engineered bacteria to synthesize completely biodegradable plastic such as \u2018Biopol\u2019. However, this is expensive. Therefore, the earliest approach to the plastic problem was met with a wide effort toward recycling. I have seen people reusing bags, however reusing plastic bottlescan be harmful but still people continue, I guess we trust authority bit too much and hopefully those reused plastic bottles aren\u2019t polyvinyl chloride (P.V.C.) plastic containers in which chemicals get dissolved gradually causing death due to cancer and other skin diseases.<\/em>Eww! Scary.<\/p>\n

Well, studies and awareness campaigns effectively pursued have led many countries to ban plastic bags. In India, 20 states completelyban plastic bags and 5 states partially ban. Likewise, there are many organizations, individuals and foundations aiming to fight plastic. Recently, I saw this simple yet ingenious invention \u2018Seabin\u2019[2]<\/a>– created by two Australian surfers, that literally sucks pollution out from the water\u2019s surface. Mr. Adrian Griffiths from the British company recycling Technologies is using a machine the size of a tennis court in a trash processing center west of London to break down a variety of plastic products, including cling wrap and electronics, and turn them into usable materials or energy producing oil. If I could narrow our perspective a little, I read about the Indian lawyer Afroz Shah who decided to start cleaning the beach rather than resorting to complaining about it. He later receives community support and after 48 weeks the beach has transformed into something anyone has ever seen, clean Versova beach.<\/p>\n

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I will not go into great detail on how Tibet is polluted by the Chinese government, etc.\u2026 however I want to assert that many Tibetan individuals have dedicated their life to environmental conservation. Best example I can give you is Tulku Tenzin Delek who was recently persecuted and later allegedly killed by the Chinese.I believe Tibetans have a sense of keeping a clean environment, probably because His Holiness the Dalai Lama repeatedly educates on the importance of the environment. Maybe, the exile Tibetan community is small enough to spread awareness quicker. I know of a lady who collects garbage around Lingkor[3]<\/a>and everyone appreciates her initiative.<\/p>\n

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The planet earth is 4.5 billion years old and she has gone through Ice age, volcano eruptions and comets that wiped out the dinosaurs but earth still remains. It has been only 200,000 years since human came into existence. We do not stand as a threat to earth, the earth can handle anything humanity throws at it and heal only on the millennial time scale, and the earth will be where it was meant to be. The real threat is to us. There is no distinction between our environment and us. Like astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson puts it, \u201cWe are part of this universe; we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts, is that the universe is in us.\u201d[4]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Thus, every effort we put into taking care of earth is an effort to save ourselves. Humanity\u2019s major problem is with the excess of plastic, compared to paper, plastic never fully breaks down.To my understanding and with limited knowledge, I wanted to share some ideas on how to tackle the plastic problem, though its all repetition.<\/p>\n

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Most important step to conserve the environment is the 3Rs; reduce; recycle and reuse. I love it when celebrities promote something meaningful such as minimalism. To me that is proper use of their charisma, trendy and valuable. Thick NhatHanh[5]<\/a> s<\/em>aid,<\/em> Conscious consumption is not only good for the earth, it\u2019s good for you. \u201cMindfulness\u201d, says<\/p>\n