While the World Cup football contests in Russia are keeping everyone glued to match proceedings and the results, a responsible behaviour by the Japanese fans at the stadium last Tuesday added an extra value. After the match between Japan and Colombia, hundreds of Japanese spectators started cleaning up the stadium. Young and old, they picked up the rubbish, normally water bottles, soft drink cans and snack packs, to let the venue look like as neat and clean as it were. It readily spoke of the Japanese culture.
Last year, a lawyer and environmentalist in Mumbai seized global attention and appreciation when he kicked off a year-long plan to clean up the Versova beach front edging the city. Thousands of enthusiastic young men and women joined the campaign which collected about five million kilograms of plastic and other rubbish from the once pristine beach.
These incidents reminded me of a sight in Bali, Indonesia couple of years ago. While walking along the street in the early morning I noticed young children being escorted by their parents to schools carrying school bags and brooms. Out of curiosity I followed them to their schools and found the children engaged in cleaning the ground in their school premises. Along with their teachers, the kids were seen enjoying the task. What a noble learning pursuit!
Indeed, cleaning up public places should be everyone's concern. No doubt it is primarily the duty and responsibility of the municipal authorities as we all pay taxes for the same. However, it is the habit and lack of consciousness in littering around due to our convenience that create public nuisance along with risks of health hazards. Things get worse when municipalities fail to steam their responsibility due to negligence and corruption. This is exactly what is happening in our society today although the situation has much improved in certain designated areas.
Littering is, indeed, a bad habit. Besides being an unacceptable habit, it also exacts a huge environmental cost. Littered items, when not cleared properly, end up in drains or waterways or landfills causing serious environmental damage. These days we notice many urban areas getting clogged even after a brief shower because of the blockage of drainage and sewage systems by litters, mainly plastic materials.
Due to rapid socio-economic development all around, we are beset with newer habits of convenience and that is creating the menace. It is reported that the volume of littered trash is increasing at an alarming rate and already affecting our ecosystem. Should we continue to make things worse or do something to redress it?
It is high time we moved away from the trend of relying more on our convenience. Many societies have realised it and taking appropriate actions. For instance, departmental shops and convenience stores in England have pledged to move away from the use of polythene shopping bags and wrappings. Similar actions were taken in our own country long before but those could not be sustained.
However, what is more important is the fact that we need to change our inclination towards convenience and free littering. We must step out in concert to reduce the trends of convenience. We must moderate it now.
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