Going Green

About a year back,or may be longer, after charging my cell phone, I did not unplug the charger and this was not gone unnoticed by my husband. "You are not green!" he had commented as he gave me a stare and unplugged the charger. His words still ring in my ears.

Co-incidentally, we also watched Al Gore's 'AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH' around the same time. (Ref.- http://www.climatecrisis.net/aboutthefilm ) . What a Film/ documentary!! I am almost entirely green ever since I watched it. I am recycling as much as I can, I unplug everything that is not in use, I switch off whatever is not needed, I buy only natural fabrics now(well, 99% of the time. But to make that 100....the clothing industry has to go entirely green), etc.

But there are certain factors which are stopping me from going completely-green.
Like-
1. Insufficient recycling venues in Bangalore.
2. No place to recycle plastic bags- Now, I do try to carry my bags from home when I go out for a planned shopping. But, sometimes when I go off my shopping list, I get plastic bags. I collected all these bags from the grocery store I regularly go to and flattened them and kept them nicely so that the bags look almost new. I went back to the grocery store yesterday and offered them the bags. I told them that I just want to recycle those bags. But they refused. Not just that, I also got weird looks from all POS people as well as other shoppers. I dont care a lot about the looks as I am used to that(thanks to my good looks) but what bothered me was the lack of social responsibility. Just to add a bit of irony, the grocery store is visually the greenest store in Bangalore. Please do tell me if what I did was something really uncivilized or bizarre.
3. What shocked me this morning was the news that BBMP wants all autos to be painted green and yellow so that the city looks GREEN. I dont know how Mr. Gore will feel about this but I am sure he wont be too glad. Hello BBMP! Going green means acting green not looking green.
I spent my college years in Delhi and I was there around the time when delhi was in process of switching over to CNG. Oh what a mess it was! Because of lack of planning, awareness or whatever you may want to call it, but I even had to stand in a Tata 407 truck to get back to my hostel because all public transportation went on strike. And we had to paid Rs. 40 for that Tata 407 convertible, if I remember correctly. And yes, I was wearing a Business suit and returning from IIFT after a seminar.
Those days, there were not enough CNG filling stations and the autowalas has to stand in queue the entire day to get refueled. But at the end of it all, Delhi public transportation is on CNG completely. That is going Green!
4. Many other such deterrents which I will write about when I face it.

This also reminds me another incident from our days in CA. This was right after watching An Inconvenient Truth. I collected all beverage cans and bottled and went to a recycling center about 3 miles from our home in San Jose. On my first visit, it was closed. I did not get discouraged. I had pledged to be green. So, I went again. Now, I was standing in a very long queue of homeless Asians. If any of the readers have been to San Jose, they would know what I am talking about. Yes. The shopping cart guys walking on the curbs......you can find them all over CA. Some of the un-bathed, toothless, and whatever, women gave a detailed look to me and them murmured something that I didn't understand. Then one of them said"you have to wait for 2 hours".
2 HOURS!! in that queue?
NO!!Never!
Then with another grin, the lady said "u give your bottles. I get money. OK?"
Not OK.
And yes, the most important part of this is that CA charges 10 cents as a security deposit for the cans and bottles purchased. And there is no place you can get your hard earned 10 cents/bottle money back conveniently. Going green is inconvenient! and so is the truth.

But MI is one state which has made recycling at grocery stores as easy as it could be. It has ample number of bottle, cans, etc. acceptor machines which prints out a store credit coupon equal to the value of returned stuff and you can redeem it in cash or use it to pay your grocery bill. That's pressing easy button.

And if anyone is wondering if my green pledge is the reason my blogs have a green back ground....Yes.

At the end of my long blog, I request everyone who happens to read my blog, to Go Green! as much as you can and as much as you are allowed to. And, Please watch An Inconvenient Truth.