Have you ever noticed how much of our resources get wasted because of our silly habits? Once you start seeing it, the list gets bigger and bigger.
Think about how often you have left the faucets running while brushing your teeth or taking long showers, using more water than needed. We often keep our light switch on when leaving the room and overboil the water to make our morning cup of tea. We even leave our gas burner on all day long just because it'll take a few extra matchsticks to light it back up, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Water is the most essential element for life. Only one per cent of the world's water is safe to consume. Although Bangladesh is geographically blessed with sufficient natural water sources, we are misusing this resource in many ways without even realising the ensuing catastrophe.
One of the most common ways to waste water is to leave it running while brushing teeth, shaving, performing ablution or washing the dishes. Taking long showers wastes five to 10 gallons of water. Switching to a low-flow showerhead can save up to 2 gallons of water per minute. It may seem insignificant, but leaky faucets and pipes also cause an exorbitant amount of water waste.
Cooking also requires a lot of water. Washing fruits in a pan instead of running water can save a lot. When we boil vegetables, we can stock the water in soup or curry.
Sometimes we order more food than we are hungry for and waste the extra food simply because we are too lazy to take it back home. We often buy an unnecessary amount of fruits and vegetables that go bad too quickly, and we are left with no choice but to throw them away.
We tend to throw away packaged food items just because we missed the expiration date by two days, but most of these are just 'best by' dates. Most supermarkets add it in such a way that customers can consume it at its optimum freshness. When assessing freshness, sight, smell, and touch are just as good indicators as any.
One thing that we most commonly do is leave electronic devices plugged in all the time. We keep our mobile phone chargers, laptop chargers, and many household appliances, such as televisions, gaming consoles, and microwaves, plugged in standby mode, which continues to draw power even when we are not actively using them. Incandescent lights are another example that consumes a huge amount of energy. Switching to energy-saving light bulbs can solve this problem.
We use paper every day, not just for writing. We use paper towels in the kitchen and tissues in the toilet; we print on them for study or work purposes, and we use them carelessly. We often tend to overlook the fact that paper is made from trees. The more paper we waste, the more trees will be cut down, leading to catastrophic consequences for nature.
Well, our wasteful behaviour damages the environment in numerous other ways. Excessive use of plastic is the first thing that can be discussed. Plastic is one of the major contributors to our land and water pollution. We use plastic products such as bags, bottles, trays, and food packaging daily. And then comes one-time-use plastic utensils. It's everywhere. And most of us don't recycle them, which is causing tremendous harm to our environment.
Tossing electronic waste is another harmful practice. Cell phones and electronic materials contain toxic materials that get exposed to the environment when they are not recycled or disposed of properly. There are many examples of self-destructive behaviours that waste our possessions and affect our health. Excessive consumption of fast foods, for example, brings complexities to our health. The number of fast-food businesses has more than doubled in the last decade. Bangladesh already has over 1,000 fast-food establishments. The habit of eating fast foods regularly leaves a long-term negative effect on our bodies, not to mention the financial burden it puts on our pockets.
These seemingly insignificant habits have much bigger consequences than we initially realise. In light of the ever-increasing need for sustainable practices, we all should be more considerate about preserving the resources around us.
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