If we really cared for the environment we would do all we could to protect it. Here are some simple tips to do our bit for a greener planet.
Try and feed peanuts to squirrels that visit your garden, and keep water for them and birds to drink from.
A study has shown that children of gardeners who do not use chemicals were six times less likely to get leukemia. Tell your parents and other elders to stop using chemicals in the garden and home.
Avoid these nasty and dangerous colours in your food: look out for E100 to 180 colourings, sulphur dioxide E220, the anti-oxidants E320 to 321 and monosodium glutamate E621.
Eat more fruits and nuts and fewer biscuits and chocolates! Be healthy like a squirrel and eat more nuts!
Make sure your mother buys things which come in the minimum of packaging!
Mend things rather than throwing them away.
Take your own bag to carry the groceries bought at the supermarket. Reduced packaging means cleaner streets and fewer smelly health hazards.
Take re-usable bottles and boxes on picnics and hikes. Just consider how much rubbish collects for the poor ducks to wade through in Lal Bag’s lotus lake, because the people who visit throw all their plastic bags and bottles inside it!
Store food in the fridge in re-usable airtight containers, not clingfilm. Make your Mother throw away all clingfilm and start using airtight containers.
Don’t waste paper. Re-use it as much as possible. Write letters or a nice poem on them. Use both sides of each sheet whenever you can.
Get a dog or a cat from a shelter instead of buying one from a pet shop.
Re-use envelopes. Have a competition among friends to find out who managed to re-use the most number of envelopes.
Gift wrap presents using old, pretty, bits of saris, skirts, etc. or old pretty cards, paper, and anything not being used. don’t use paper plates and plastic cutlery.
Use towels and tea-towels in the kitchen instead of paper kitchen rolls.
Use cloth diapers for the new baby instead of the terribly wasteful disposable nappies. Disposable materials have been known to cause cancers and other illnesses.
Refusing to use disposable items saves trees, rivers and wildlife.
Finally, just remember to do everything sensible, kind and wise so you can someday hear the squirrel’s heart beating!