Go Green@Free

Go Green is the latest buzzword. The internet is flooded with various ideas, tricks and ways of going green. There are various tools to measure the carbon footprint. Every industry is doing something or other to be green. From business point of view, Carbon credits are getting a place in the balance sheet. Being green means more carbon credits. For the Go Green revolution to be really effective, the common man also has to play a part. The issue is that most of the methods, ideas of going green require a change and at times the change costs. In a country like India where more than 50% of the population falls under Middle class or lower than Middle class any extra cost is a burden and they would not want to bear the burden. So to be different from the crowd, I have tried to find solution to reduce the burden of extra cost of the common man and go green.

One of the basic needs of life is Light and for decades, the incandescent lamp has been the major source which suffices this need. Ironically its not green and so one of the easiest ways of reducing carbon footprint for a common man is switching from the traditional bulk to CFL. But a CFL costs around 70-80 INR and on an average a household will need at least 4-5 CFL. The total cost of this change would be around 400 INR. For many people in India, this amount could be a burden. The chances are that he/she will not go for the change. But there is a silver line. The newspaper is a very integral part of our life and in India its a common practice to sell the old newspapers ( aka Raddi). Yes you git it right. My idea is to use the money received by selling the old news papers. On average the newspapers are sold at 7 INR and typically if you have subscribed for 1 daily, the total weight would be around 2 Kgs. Simple maths reveals that a common man could purchase a CFL free of cost in 5 months. I know its slow but as they “Its better to be late than never” and “Slow and Steady wins the race”. Instead of never switching to CFL, a person can complete the switch over in course of 2 years.

The transformation could happen a little more faster if along with the Raddi, the other old stuff and clutter categorised as Bhangar is also recycled.

This trick has multiple advantages. Firstly, you are of course cleaning your house which is good in all ways. Secondly you are recycling the old stuff and thus reducing carbon foot print. Thirdly the money is used to even further reduce the carbon footprint by switching to CFL. As the insurance agents calls, its a triple advantage policy.

Technorati Tags: Go Green,Recycle,Clean Clutter,ban the bulb,Switch to CFL