Growing up, I never realized how blessed I was to have access to safe drinking water and a clean environment to breathe in. Hailing from Kashmir, that is itself regarded as heaven on the face of Earth all I was used to seeing were tall mountains and blue skies around me. But as I grew up, I realized that things were changing. Mountains were being cut off for housing and the rivers were shrinking. Though we would still get clean chlorinated water in our houses but till when? This was the situation where I lived, a place whose condition is much better than other cities in my country. In some metropolitans of Pakistan, people are already facing water shortage and are forced to drink unclean water. Moreover residents of these cities don’t witness blue skies and clean environments so often.
I remember when I was in school, in break time I would run for the dustbin to throw the wrapper, or if I was busy, I would simply put it in my pocket. If I had the bag with me, I would put all the trash in my bag planning to discard it upon reaching home. Therefore after a week or so, when I cleaned my bag, I used to get a lot of wrappers from it. I have never been so consistent in anything in my life as I have been towards this habit of mine. My friends used to ask me what would it bring to me. I alone could not change anything but I believe “Every change starts with the person himself. We can’t force others but inspire and encourage them through our actions.”
As I simply can’t put an end to the shrinking of water reservoirs, what I can do is to use water carefully and not to release anything into the environment that may act as a pollutant. Furthermore, another thing that I encourage is “owning one’s waste and finding a suitable disposal method”. This can potentially reduce the amount of waste in our environment. As I am a frequent writer so I often write and share articles encouraging people to observe cleanliness and demonstrate their responsibility as good citizens. As I am fully aware of the tremendous role writing has in molding the mindsets of people. I can’t stop deforestation but I can plant trees in my own house. I can turn the tap off when brushing my teeth or doing the dishes. I can take care of the waste I produce and I can put my garbage into the bin. And I hope that if I can do it, then all of us can.
Pakistan 