The other day I came across an alarming article ( well not so alarming.. as it was a disaster in waiting always!):About 12 Indian cities are at a risk of being submerged by the end of the century! Although I will definitely and hopefully, not be alive to witness it..but the very thoughts and images that are coming to my mind, in the event of such a catastrophe has been churning my stomach. So I wrapped my thoughts around this and started introspecting deeper into this ..( Since I had a lot of time on my hands, being under home isolation due to Covid..! Yes you heard it right... I got the big C Too! .. But my bittersweet experiences with Covid warrant for an entire separate blog, which is in the making and will be published soon!)
But circling back to the bigger issue at hand of Climate change.. It is a known fact that our waste disposal mechanism and the emissions are a major contributor to global warming resulting in the ebbing of snow glaciers and rising temperatures! My train of thoughts... led me to believe that over the last year and a half, since the advent of the pandemic, which has jostled our lives completely out of gear, COVID has been a key factor to global warming as well!
COVID has propelled the use of PPE suits, rubber gloves, masks, face shields and other related paraphernalia in a manner and extent like never before. How do we ensure that all of this non biodegradable hazardous waste is disposed in the right manner.. ? Being in home quarantine for the last 10 days, I alone have used so many masks, tissues, sanitizer spray cans, etc.. all of which are packed in double garbage bags sanitised and sprayed on the outside by me and marked hazardous waste and will be eventually left in the dumpster in our building separately (once i get out of my isolation) ... Now I can be rest assured that I have safely disposed off all the hazardous waste , with no exposure of contamination to others. RIGHT..? WRONG..! Since my fears are not allayed by doing this alone. How can I ensure that this waste most of which is plastic is being disposed off in the right and safe manner by the Municipal authorities and others in the chain of command of waste disposal management. And this is just my waste, imagine the numerous covid patients like me in home isolation and in hospitals .. the amount of waste each one of us might be generating... and to even imagine, the manner in which all of this hazardous waste might be getting disposed , albeit in all probability in a very unhygienic and unhealthy manner, gets my stomach knotted!
Thus it is a vicious cycle.. as if we had a dearth of factors contributing to global warming... now adding to the already long list of reasons , indirectly is this COVID..!
So one way or another all of us are going to end up dead.. Sooner or later.. !
But since I never like to sign off my blog on sad note, the perpetual and compulsive optimist that I am... all I would like to say it let us make the remainder of our lives on this planet safe, healthy and peaceful, by masking up, getting vaccinated, maintaining physical distance ( social distance is a misnomer if you ask me) from others, and try and limit our use of resources which may contribute to the looming gloom of climate change!!
