PLASTIC POLUTION & HAZZARDS.
Goa: Anti-plastic rally held in Quepem.
On April 10th 2005 HERALD Goan Daily published the following: The
students and teachers of Holy Cross High School held a rally at Quepem to
create awareness on problems of plastic and the importance of reprocessing
it. The rally was flagged off by school Principal Dr. Uday Gaonkar and was
guided by Physical Education teacher Anant Narvekar. Other teachers guided
their respective groups. The rally started from the school, made its way to
Quepem Health Center, Quepem market and Quepem Police Station, before
concluding at the school.
On reading the above I was thrilled because I hail from Quepem and I like to
say a few words concerning the above captioned subject, but before that I
would like to mention that this is not the first time such rallys have been
conducted by Holy Cross HS students, I have been a student of this school
for a short while and have participated in student rallys such as Bus fare
for students, Opposing transport facilities plying Quepem route, and
blocking roads for not picking students due to which they used to miss first
2 periods, the student leaders who were actively involved were Basker Naik
from Rivona, Quepem, who recently was the Principal of Govt. College at
Xeldem, Quepem, Mr. Pradeep Shirvaikar, a Lawyer but is a Senior teacher at
HCHS, Pramod Desai, Ghurudas Dalal, Bale Sarojini Madhav who stood 5th in
all Goa back in the 70s, Kalindi Kunkolekar Senior teacher at HCHS, Manuel
Colaco Ex. President of Quepem Municipality, etc.. the list is endless
. All
of them were fearsome debaters and public speakers.
As far as I know there are many ex. students from this school even here in
Kuwait, also recently Mr. Suhas Dalal from Quepem was honoured with
Pratibha Prakashan for editing Mahaa Komkann Sudarshan (in Konkani)
Samyukta Goem Zaalemnaa Zaalyaar Komknni Lok Shennttalo was also a
student of Holy Cross HS.
We have indeed come a long way from the ancient and primitive ages to the
modern day world. During this long span of more than 2 million years, mans
life has been through several drastic and fundamental changes, but one of
the most difficult challenges that it faces even today is the menace of
environmental degradation that has been posed by mankind to a large extent
by polluting it over the ages. From the very inception of the Industrial
Revolution of the 17th Century, man has been constantly interacting with the
natural environment and destroying it to a large extent.
In todays modern era of Science and Technology Plastics have become one of
the most widely used products all over the globe. The Credit for this
invention goes to the famous scientist Dr. Alexander Parkes who had invented
the first synthetic plastic i.e. celluloid way back in 1856.. Since then the
number as well as the types and qualities have greatly increased, producing
superior materials such as epoxies, polycarbonates, Teflon, silicones and
polysulfones. The bonding properties and chemical versatility of carbon
account for the great number of plastics, though we have been successful in
creating such varieties, in the process we have adversely affected the
global eco-system as a whole. Today plastics have created such a menace in
many places that it has led to the proliferation in the spread of Cancer by
the production of deadly carcinogenic compounds.. Thus the best alternative
to plastics would be the use of biodegradable and naturally occurring
products.
Whatever it was it almost certainly came in a wrapper or a package that you
ripped off straight away and put it in the bin! Having done its job the
packaging became totally useless immediately.. Hmmm, if only it could just
evaporate
Do you know that we now use over 3.2 Million Tones of plastic and
cardboard a year for packaging which is twice what we used 10 years ago, you
may not give it another thought but it takes nature years or even centuries
to deal with all our old rubbish!
How long it takes nature to break down and recycle an object? It depends on
what its made of and whats able to pull it a part. Oxygen in the air and
Sunlight can help decompose many materials.. Meanwhile, living things like
bacteria, moulds and fungi regard some types of rubbish as a square meal and
will happily munch their way through them, this is known as biodegradable
waste. But this takes a lot longer than your average lunch break. Orange
peel can take between 6 months and 2 years to decay, while an aluminium soft
drinks Can takes 50 to 100 years
But the real everlasting, undestructive
and never decaying substance is PLASTIC.
Plastics are a particular pain, though undeniably useful of course in many
ways, this is because their molecules are tightly bound together and are
very very hard to prise apart, because plastic is a relatively new material,
only around in the last century, no micro-organisms have yet evolved that
are able to digest it, today in India every household in cities alone use
approximately 200 plastics bags per year but each and every one will take 10
to 20 years to decay. Studier plastic items like plastic bottles, will take
hundreds of years, if not thousands
no one knows yet.
Although we throw away less plastic than other materials its the one
environmentalists worry most about because it lasts so very long, Plastic
may take ages to decay on land, but it takes even longer in water, and not
only do plastics hang about in the sea but become a danger for marine
mammals and birds as well. Marine conservationists estimate that over one
million birds and 100,000 sea mammals die each year after becoming entangled
in plastic nets and ropes, or eating plastic items which get stuck inside
them.
Since the days of ancient Phoenician mariners, sea goers have been dumping
their thrash at sea, back in those days the oceans could easily handle the
waste, but today, both the nature and quality of trash have changed. Today,
what gets tossed overboard can have a deadly impact on marine life and cause
problems for others boaters.
Plastic, the wonder material that we use for everything is perhaps the most
harmful of this thrash because it does not readily break down in nature. In
fact, the plastic that goes over the side today may still be around in
hundreds of years to foul up the fishing gear, boat propellers, and beaches
of future generations, not to mention what it will do to countless
generations of marine life and sea birds that eat it or get tangled up in
it. Everyday more and more plastic is accumulating in our oceans.
Recreational boaters are not the only group that improperly disposes of
plastic refuse at sea, plastic also enters the marine environment from
sewage outfalls, merchant shipping, commercial fishing operations and
beachgoers.
Water pollution is also mainly caused due to insanitation, unhygienic
disposal of sewage into water bodies, oil spills and also due to
eutrophication. One of the worst catastrophes in recent times due to oil
spill was during the Gulf War of 1991 between Iraq and Kuwait. Although the
intervention of the United Nations later helped in putting an end to the war
by the defeat of Iraq, the destruction of the oil reservoirs of Kuwait
during the war killed thousands of aquatic lives due to the pollution caused
by the leakage of the fuel. According to estimates, the leaked oil was
abundant of fulfilling all petroleum needs of the world for 15 days.
Some time back The Education Board of Goa had held a seminar in Panjim
concerning POLLUTION, and the surrounding schools had sent selected students
to attend this seminar, after the seminar these attending students were
asked to write regarding this problems, here below Ill write in short the
contribution of students from different schools in Goa:-
1. Salma Buddaseth. Rosary HS. Miramar:- Pollution seems to be found
everywhere these days. Our Locality is certainly not an exception. I live in
Tonca, Caranzalem, a coastal town not far from our capital. It is very close
to the Miramar beach. We face garbage problem, Municipal sewage problem,
which indirectly causes water pollution, air pollution due to exhaust fumes
given off by vehicles that also cause noise pollution and the bad effects
caused by petroleum hydrocarbons like CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons). Etc. etc
.
There are plenty of laws to take care of pollution. The only problem is none
of them are being implemented. Therefore, the only way to curb pollution is
by creating awareness amongst the masses. Together we can rid our
localities off pollution.
The other students who contributed in this seminar are as follows:-
2. Molbey Devassy. Rosary HS. Miramar.
3. Binitha Pillai. Rosary HS. Miramar.
4. Raina Gaitonde. Rosary HS. Miramar.
5. Sanyogeeta Hiraji Andhale. P. V. Dempo H. Sec. S. Miramar.
6. Dielle DSouza. Rosary HS. Miramar.
7. Mitali Ashok Priolkas. Rosary HS. Miramar.
8. Bharat R. Chavan. P. V. Dempo H. Sec. S. Miramar.
9. Kotha Vamshi Krishna. P. V. Dempo H. Sec. S. Miramar.
10. S. Vineetha. Rosary HS. Miramar.
11. Sadaf Anwar Sheikh. Rosary HS. Miramar.
12. Monica Prakash Pawar. P. V. Dempo H. Sec. S. Miramar.
13. Noorjahan Khan Patel. Rosary HS. Miramar.
14. Lizbeth Pires. Our Lady of Rosary HS. Dona Paula.
15. Blanca Viegas. P. V. Dempo H. Sec. S. Miramar.
16. Samina Khan. Rosary HS. Miramar.
17. Ashutosh Ajit Mhapne. Rosary HS. Miramar.
18. Nikhil Heremath. Rosary HS. Miramar.
19. Tricia Pereira. Rosary HS. Miramar.
20. Nazma Khan. Rosary HS. Miramar.
21. Heeral Dand. Rosary HS. Miramar.
22. Viral J. Pitroda. Rosary HS. Miramar.
23. Shweta Ranade. P. V. Dempo H. Sec. S. Miramar.
24. Melicia Fernandes. Our Lady of Rosary HS. Dona Paula.
And many more
Do you have any idea where all those millions of tones of rubbish goes?
Well, most of it gets carted off to landfill sites, which gets rid of the
problem but is rather like sweeping dust under a carpet and hoping it
doesnt come back to haunt us. Huge holes are dug in the ground and filled
with compacted rubbish, then a layer of landscaping is put over the top.
Would you do this in your back yard? When the hole is full a new site must
be found, as we are on a small island and have a large population, we will
eventually run out of space to hide our waste. On the other hand be aware
that away from sunlight and oxygen, even totally organic objects take a
really long time to decay. In fact they tend to mummify rather than break
down. Just think over, if organic waste wont break landfill site what hope
is there that metals and plastics will.
Over the past few years, an extensive effort has been made by scientists all
around the globe in replacing non-biodegradable plastics with the
biodegradable ones. In this connection many professors and physicists like
Indian born Prof. Mrinal Bhattacharya of the University of Minnesota in the
US are using proteins from cereal grains along with plant starch and
degradable synthetic polymer to make this kind of plastic. Starch based
plastic act as a reacted blend of starch and synthetic polymer. It is
renewable agricultural product and the use of this product will reduce the
worlds dependence on oil a non-renewable resource. Besides, they are
recyclable and biodegradable thus reducing the environmental impact.
The recent invention of fiber extracted from feathers has shown significant
results. It can replace more expensive plastic and fiberglass. The feather
fiber is more absorbent than wood fibers. More importantly, it comes from
any bird and commercial chickens.
Surely in the new millennium, we will continue to produce new and innovative
environmentally friendly products that will enable the world nations and its
citizens to be eco-conscious. Remember scientists are helping to solve the
problem, and Governments are on the case, but best of all there are things
you can do to make this world a better place to live in.
Wishing everyone a better health.
Sanny Vaz Kuwait.
Sanny De Quepem.
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