World Environment day

posted in alayam on 6/5/06

Harish.... Harish.... I could here my mom shout. I was still half asleep. Since it was monday i was feeling more lazy to get up. The clock (my cellphone is my clock at night..) showed 6.45. I pulled myself out of the bed and forced myself to go through the morning routines. It was around 7.20 when i sat for my breakfast, I was browsing through the news channels. I really had only 10 minutes to finish my breakfast and also to take in all the news i could. By seeing TV i felt, i could get more information in a short span of 10 min than going through the newspaper, though both of them had its own pros and cons.
Though i was late, still i could get into my company shuttle in time.I went and took a window seat, and as usual the radio was playing. Thanks to the radio, i came to know that today was World Environment Day(WED).
It was then i vaguely remembered how i used to memorise all those days when i was in my college quiz team.I had a small diary with all the important dates copied from the library's latest yearbook of Malayala Manorama. I just used to memorize... 17th May... World Telecom Day.... 5th June... World Environment Day.... and the list used to go on.
So i thought i will better search in the web atleast for some information regarding this. In 1972, the United Nations designated 5 June to be the World Environment Day (WED) as a reminder to all nations to protect the environment and fight against pollution. As usual we got lot of White papers and manifestos prepared in making the world a better place to live. I really cannot comment on those coz i really do not know whats happening to make it work.But what i feel is all the plans formulated by the United Nations have to be modified to be applicable in each country.We have Bharat Standard II emission norms applicable for all vehicles in our country from April 2005. This Standard is equivalent to the European II norms. As far as the Major cities are concerned, its Euro III norms now and the Government is planning to start implementing Euro IV norms from April 2010. But sadly when i move out in Chennai, I see the famous city buses, still called PTC by old timers here, spilling the most amount of poisonous gas. Ironically the buses are painted green. If this continues maybe those buses only will form what is called as greener Chennai. If the government vehicles do not follow these norms, how can the Government expect others to follow.
There are lot of issues to be discussed when it comes to environment, some concrete steps to be taken to really make this world a better place to live.