Earth Day just passed on April 22, and it was celebrated in different ways across the globe. Events are held annually to demonstrate support for environmental protection.

But this is ironic. Is a day enough to remind us of our responsibility towards a place we inhabit for a lifetime? Shouldn’t this be our lifetime duty to return the love we’ve been receiving from Mother Earth since our birth?

The only way to do so is to take up the moral responsibility of doing whatever is possible on our part to protect and conserve the Earth – without any excuses. As children, we used to celebrate the Earth Day by wearing badges and crowns made out of reused paper, by making crafts with old papers and newspaper, making use of color pencils and paints which would otherwise be thrown away, cleaning up the school grounds and making sure that the garbage is sorted into the distinct categories of recyclable and non-recyclable matter.

My favourite part was when we would plant seedlings and watch them grow into new plants over the course of the year. This was done to instill in us the habit of reusing and recycling, and a reminder to continue doing so.

However, we often forget all this once Earth Day passes and then get back to littering, throwing away things in order to make room for new and updated stuff, watch the heaps and tonnes of garbage burning away on roadsides , witness trees being cut down mercilessly and never question as to why is this happening? We fall back to our lazy ways, we give up our duty towards this planet, and we forget that, ‘the Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth’.

Globally, climatic changes and global warming are taking place, these are no more just threats. The situation is alarming and the time to rectify it is now or never. Only last summer, we saw how people lost their lives due to the heat wave which gripped various parts of our country. Have we questioned ourselves as to why is this happening? Are we doing anything on our part to stop it? We will immediately take refuge under excuses. But it takes a little more courage to do something than make an excuse.

So let’s stick firm to our resolutions, let’s start by taking small steps and keeping to them. Let us switch to cloth bags instead of polythene, let us carry water bottles instead of buying disposable mineral water bottles or reuse those bottles instead of throwing them away. Let us sort out our garbage before we dispose it, let us dispose it off in the best manner possible, let us minimise the use of valuable resources such as water, gas, electricity. Let us walk to short distances instead of using our cars, let us reuse and recycle everyday items instead of rushing to the market to buy new things every time and let us remind ourselves everyday that we have to be the change which we wish to see in this world.

Lastly, take out some time and plant seedlings. When we’ll take the responsibility of caring for them and find them growing into healthy plants over the course of time, we’ll realise how important we are in the process of making Mother Earth a greener and healthier place to live.

Remember these wise words: “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”

Published in Dawn, Young World, April 30th, 2015