How power-fool are we?

We relish the animations on Ice Age even though we are the Global Warming generation. We have a voice and we believe that we can make a difference. We are the ones who tread into the future and leave behind a giant carbon footprint which we just cannot retrace. We have moved too far ahead to undo or erase. Not that that stops us from trying.

So we hold Green Day concerts. The intent is pure. For sure. We have to save the earth is the message. Be frugal today so there is enough left for tomorrow. And so we fly over artists from all over the world. We print posters, we make brochures. We make websites, we write blogs too. We sit in our airconditioned rooms and log onto the internet and cry our digital lungs hoarse. The voice should be heard by one and all, and in the process we have already borrowed more than we could possibly save at all.

We make airconditioners and inverters that save power. There are those offices designed green and batteries healthy for the earth’s spleen. So we set up more factories more chimneys that smoke. We need to advertise to sell so we fly around those stud blokes. Competition is tough so we will deliver till home, the hole left by your carbon footprint this time is just an inverted dome.

And then we host talk shows to discuss how hopeless the situation is. And like many others I too write a blog post using electricity, a laptop and internet connection and we talk and we talk and we talk … If there ever was a vicious circle this is one.

We all know the problem. And of course just like the spectators of a cricket match, we all know we could’ve scored better if we’d been playing. But the fact is that we ARE playing. … Playing with our own lives.

For some reason we believe it’s the bigger actions that matter. Everything should be done at a large scale. No single believes that his lone effort will matter. And it won’t. Not when it’s done by that one person and that one time. One power-saving air conditioner bought will not equate the millions spent in manufacturing, advertising or delivering it. One Earth-hour will barely save power equal to that spent in all the malls across a city in a month (I assume). One Green-day concert will make a big noise, enjoyed by a lot and still be forgotten. One more blog post will be written and add to the digital pollution (as if we needed another kind). So, no … our solitary efforts will not help.

But can you just imagine the power of a hundred solitary actions? And then those hundred solitary actions multiplied by a thousand. And that thousand multiplied by another thousand … and … well… you get the picture.

The sad truth is that we all know this. What I’m writing here is no apple dropping on anyone’s head. But then there was an apple that helped discover gravity and there was the apple that got us all locked out of Eden. And then this here is an apple that we all want to savour and all it requires is a little iEffort ;-).

So yes, that car pooling will help. Switching off the power while leaving the room – do it over the year and you’ve already done better than switching off just during the Earth Hour. Yes, do close the tap while you’re brushing your teeth. Use a bucket instead of shower to have a bath – may even make you relish the rain better :). Do please go ahead and buy that power-saving airconditioner – and use it as little as possible. Walk more than drive, Let’s help the Earth survive 😀

And as long as we are wasting digital power, let’s discuss more ideas, small efforts that we all can make to make things better. And after we are done talking about it, let’s do as Nike says and Just Do It!