Comparison and Contrast

9. A term often used to people who are deeply concerned with the environment is “green”. Compare a “green” person’s attitude toward consumption with that of a person who is not “green”.

“Green” can be defined as environmental friendly. So, a “green” person can be taken as one who cares about the environment, the mother earth. He will pay attention to what he does every day, even a minor action which is taken for granted among most of us, like over-consuming unnecessary plastic made stuffs wherever we go. He tries his best to cut down the usage of those environmental threatening substances. Although consumptions cannot be avoided sometimes, he will still recycle or reuse those things which are the leftover of the consumptions. Namely, plastic bags, aluminum cans and things like that. Wasting no energy will also become one part of his life. One flick to switch off the air conditioners, fans or lights is just an automatically generated message in his mind.

For someone who is not “green”, maybe it is just the mirror reflection of one who is “green”. Inconsideration and lack of “green” knowledge towards the environment is the vital killing element is his brain. Passive moves have to be taken on them to make him go “greener” for maybe a short period only or even no effective at all. No active actions will be taken by him to make our mother earth live longer. He might just throw away anything that might still be recyclable or reusable. Wastage is the motto of his life.

Solutions.

First of all, the government should strengthen his citizens’ understanding of the environmental issues since they are young. The ministry of education can include those study materials which comprise appropriate steps of protecting the environment and it should be imparted by teachers to students during their primary or secondary education. The concept of using less plastic or recycling plastic can be built up during this period.

The government can also always hold campaigns about proper ways to “use“ plastic. According to news report, Housing and Local Government ministry of Malaysia had launched a series of campaigns with the supports from local hypermarkets to reduce the usage of plastic bags during the shopping. In an effort to stem the increasing problem, the ministry, along with the Malaysian Plastics Forum (MPF), has launched a month-long 3Rs Plastic Bag Campaign to educate the public to reduce, reuse and recycle plastic bags

If education or campaigns are not effective enough, the forceful move is to enforce the laws to make citizen be cautious of what they should and shouldn’t do. Supermarkets should stop giving free plastic bags to their customers. Instead, the Government should ask the supermarkets to charge, say, 5sen or 10sen per plastic bag. For example, Paris, Singapore and Taiwan contemplate to impose a similar tax on plastic bags.

In conclusion, one’s mind plays a very important role in practicing the steps mentioned above. Remember that human beings are the ones who build up this modern civilized world. So, self-awareness is the key to make one thing become reality.