I am a nature lover and wild life enthusiast. I
frequently go trekking to forests and mountains. It was in one of
those trekking expeditions the incident occurred. I usually trek
alone but once i had to accompany a group of people on trekking in the mountains. I have 2 liters water bottle with me in my
bag-pack and the bottle is refilled when ever i find a water source.
There were 10 men in the group and all were in their thirties. They
were working as software engineers at different IT companies in
Bangalore. After trekking for 3 km from the base of mountain we went
deep into the forest area. All of us were thirsty. I quenched my
thirst by drinking water from the metal bottle. The others had
purchased plastic water bottles of a reputed MNC. All of them emptied
one bottle each. Then the plastic bottles were thrown haphazardly on
the ground where we had all sat. Being an old man and having seen
the world i was not surprised by their action. Out of concern for
environment i asked them why they had disposed the plastic bottles in
such a manner. One of them said "I can see a heap of empty
water bottles 100 yards from here near the large tree. It means that
the bottles can be thrown any where. Why should we carry the empty
bottles. We have many bottles with us and these empty bottles will
unnecessarily add extra baggage to us. We have not done any wrong
act. Other trekkers have also dumped the bottles and other trash
here." The other persons in the group supported him. I asked
them whether they were aware of the fact that plastic was
non-biodegradable and it is harmful to the environment. All the
persons just laughed and one of them said that they were aware of the
facts. For the sake of convenience they had to throw away the plastic
bottles. In the jungle they had freedom to do what ever they wanted
and there was no monitoring authority to keep their activities in
check. They had come for enjoyment and for recreation only and not to
conserve the environment. The incident taught me many lessons. Some
Indians require constant policing to behave like civilized people.
Most of the educated people in the country care little about the
environmental issues and give excuses for not maintaining cleanliness
in the environment. They are intentionally ignorant and justify their
action on clumsy grounds. I questioned myself whether these people
were educated in the true sense. They had a university degree and a
job in IT sector. They badly needed education about the environmental
issues.
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