Our Surroundings

We all live in surrounding which includes living things and natural forces. Living things not only live in the surrounding but interact with it as well. They affect the surrounding and are affected by the surrounding. The places we live in consist of air, water, land, plants, animals and the micro- organisms; they all are part of environment. We depend upon our environment to fulfill our various needs such as oxygen, food and shelter etc. We must keep our surroundings neat and clean to live healthy life.

A Clean Environment

To stay healthy we need a clean environment. For a healthy living, two things are required, sanitation and hygiene. Hygiene means practice that we follow to stay healthy and clean. Sanitation means measure we adopt for improving and protecting health and well-being of ourselves.

Every household generates waste or garbage. We should not throw waste or garbage anywhere. Dirty surroundings help in the growth of germs that cause diseases, like cholera, typhoid, dengue etc. Dirty and stagnant water is the breeding ground of mosquitoes. Mosquitoes cause malaria.

Disposal of waste

Proper disposal of waste is necessary to keep our environment clean. Waste water from our houses should go through proper drainage system and should be treated before dumping it into water bodies such as sea or ocean. In metropolitan cities, there are huge underground pipelines that are connected to the main sewage line which passes through the treatment plant where waste water get treated by various method and then finally get disposed of.

Solid waste from houses such as vegetable peels, waste paper, plastic bags etc. should be thrown in covered garbage bins. Throwing of these solid wastes out of houses in open area cause piling of waste which attracts flies and germs and spread diseases. Open dumping of waste may cause land, air and water pollution.

Waste material such as fruits and vegetable peels, decomposes easily. These are called biodegradable materials. Biodegradable material can be disposed of making compost pits. Solid waste kept in pit turn into manure that can be used for crops. Many things like plastic, glasses etc. do not decompose. These are called non-biodegradable material.

The three R’s – Reduce – Rescue – Recycle

How we manage waste affect our environment and environment in turn affects us. The waste we create has to be carefully managed so that it does not harm our environment and our health. Practicing of three R’s will help us to keep our surrounding clean and healthy.  

Reduce Waste

This means to use less.

Example:

Use of water and power wisely - We can save electricity by not using it unnecessarily and can save water by closing water tap when it is not in use.

Reuse

This means using things again.

Example:

     1.   Carry old plastic or cloth or jute bags to the grocery store for reuse.

     2.   Plastic or glass container in which we buy things can be used to store other products at home.

     3.   Material can be donated to the people who could use them in its original form.

     4.   Carry washable glass or cup instead of using disposable cups.

Recycle

Many materials such as paper, glass, aluminum, plastic etc. can be recycled to make useful things out of them. Recycling means treating or processing material in certain way, so that it can be used again.

Benefit of Recycling:

     1.   By recycling paper we need to cut fewer trees to make newspaper. Hence we can save our natural environment by cutting fewer trees.

     2.   We can save energy, as factories needs energy/power to make new things.

     3.   We save the environment by reducing the amount of waste produced by the factories.

Steps that help in keeping our environment clean and healthy:-

     1.   We must keep our house and its surrounding clean.

     2.   We should not throw garbage out on the road.

     3.   All the drains should be kept covered.

     4.   Save paper by writing on both sides.

     5.   Recycle material such as toys, books, etc.

     6.   Make use of the recycle bin, for paper and cardboard at home and work place.

     7.   Use water and power judiciously.