“How to keep the environment clean” as a topic is nothing short of a necessity.

It is common knowledge that unclean and filthy surroundings can breed disease-causing microorganisms galore. However, we all seemed to have learned to turn deaf ears to anyone who mentions cleanliness out of sheer hopelessness.

A wise man once said, “Cleanliness is next to godliness.”

To keep your surroundings clean, here are a few more reasons why you need to keep more than just dustbins to ensure proper cleanliness:

• To Increase the Aesthetic Value

A clean and tidy environment is bound to look better than a filthy, smelly one with unbearably unhygienic conditions. An environment that is clean is bound to be aesthetically pleasing to look at as well.

• To Address Health Concerns

If a place has flies, filth and foul stinks, can diseases be far behind? Any area with lack of proper waste disposal facility is going to harbour germs, bacteria and microorganisms that do anything but good to the human inhabitants.

• To Kill Mosquitoes

Untended garbage can consist of decaying pots and discarded tyres. The garbage often gets stacked to such an extent as to form heaps that can cause water to stagnate. Stagnant water is the breeding ground for mosquitoes. Diseases like dengue and malaria might be commonplace in neighbourhoods with un-disposed garbage.

• To Better Livelihood

A cleaner city can mean improved livelihood. Tourists, especially foreigners, have a strong inclination for cleaner and hygienic destinations. Keeping your city clean can mean more tourists and better standards of living for the locals.

• To Breather Pure Air

Ever passed a garbage dump and stopped inhaling altogether for the duration just to avoid breathing in the witheringly obnoxious odour? You don’t need to do that anymore! All you need to do is keep your city clean!

• To Enhance the Appeal of Your City

A cleaner place will not only attract tourists but also attract big-shot companies, corporate giants and multinationals and create more job opportunities in your area! Why move the cities to look for jobs when you can stay and work in your own?!

• To Preserve Nature

Preserving Mother Nature is the need of the hour. The first step to working to working towards it is to keep the city you live in as clean and tidy as possible. It is your obligation as to be a socially responsible citizen.

Besides using dustbins to segregate recyclable waste from the non-recyclable one, you ought to stop littering around and ensure that the garbage dumps are emptied timely and disposed in the right manner.

 

Ever heard of the Ozone layer and how we constantly contribute to its depletion?

The first time I learned about the Ozone layer, I was in elementary class and I found it interesting. I remember talking to my dad and siblings about it then. Now, let me explain what it means and how we deplete it every day.

The ozone layer is a region of Earth’s stratosphere that absorbs most of the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation. It contains a high concentration of ozone (O₃). Don’t get this wrong, the sun’s radiation is essential to humans, animals, and plants’ survival but too much of it is harmful. So basically, what the OL does is absorb a type of radiation called ultraviolet radiation, or UV light, which can penetrate organisms’ protective layers, like skin, damaging DNA molecules in plants and animals.

I’m sure you understand why the ozone layer should be protected at all cost. Unfortunately, it is getting thinner and thinner every day because of a chemical known as Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC). A chlorofluorocarbon is a molecule that contains carbon, chlorine, and fluorine. CFCs are everywhere, mostly in styrofoam and plastic products. Businesses and consumers use them because they’re inexpensive, they don’t catch fire easily, and they don’t usually poison living things. But the CFCs start eating away at the ozone layer once they get blown into the stratosphere.

Before you burn any plastic or styrofoam, bear in mind that you are contributing to the destruction of the one thing that cannot be repaired. So, instead of burning them, recycle them.