T-Shirts Cusions

Ever had to put up with t-shirts that you never really wanted and you never really wear? Is the texture really silky or soft? Well, what can you do with something like that? Create a cushion for your bedroom! For most teenage girls, their rooms express their neatness (unlike mine) and their fondness for new pillow cases or bedsheets, that match their favorite color. Use these t-shirts and stuff em' up with cotton and stitch the sleeves, and the neckline and the end of the t-shirt! Voila! You have a winning pillowcase that will speak for itself in your room! You can even make some for your best friends, and use buttons to write their names on the Pillow case!

Sustainable Development

I went for a Round Square Conference in Indore, and the topic was on Sustainable Development. What does Sustainable Development mean?
It is a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
The ammount of Fossil Fuels being used has increased. We have created a major imbalance, which has led to Climate Change.
Now, the Impacts of Climate Change are

• The Precipitation Patterns-Less Rainy days, More Rain
• Large ammount of snow
• Floods
• Droughts

What is your Carbon Footprint? And how do we calculate it?

Most citizens of our country are not aware of what a carbon footprint is. It is the ammount of Carbon one emits into the atmosphere. If you buy a dishwasher, it uses electricity, which uses fossil fuels, which emits carbon dioxide. So your Carbon footprint increases. If you buy a t-shirt, the factory where it was made must have emitted some ammount of carbon. Then it was transported to the shop where you bought it, the transportation emitted some ammount of carbon. Thats why, before you buy ANYTHING, you must ask yourself whether you REALLY need it! How do you calculate your carbon footprint? This is the website : www.carbonfootprint.com.

MY ROOM IS TOO HOT!!!

I don't know what to say when my best friends come to my room for a sleep-over. It's usually quite messed up, and there's a lot of junk underneath and on top of my bed. Winter clothes (I know, pretty late to keep them out), plastic bags, cloth bags, sketchpens, movies. And right on the side of the room- a bunch of shoes that I know I'm NEVER going to wear. So, why keep all the junk that you know you're never going to use? There is a guard didi, who works in our school. She lives with her tiny daughter and her mother, and husband. A happy, yet poor family, living in a small cottage. Believe it or not, I have millions of clothes, that do not fit me. They're either too big, or too small, and sometimes if I'm really fussy, they're too ugly to wear! These past three days, I spent working my way through my room, finding things that I didn't want at all, that I didn't want to see. I gave all these objects- mostly clothes and shoes, to that guard didi, because she's always been a friend to me, a very close friend, and I can trust her most of the time. I still have one packet of clothes to give her. Mostly, people only give away food, and clothing, and extra objects when they are leaving a country for a long, long time, because of the weight. Why can't we give away the things that we aren't going to use, to people less fortunate? This is the question that I insisted to ask myself while I cleaned through my room. Then, I asked myself a few other questions:
1. Am I ever going to use this again?
2. Is this object sentimental?
3. Can I keep a part of this object if it is sentimental?
4. When was the last time I even noticed it?
5. Is it intact to give away to someone less fortunate?

My mother had recently bought a cooler for me. On the morning we first started it up, I went into her room to talk to her about something, and it was wonderfully cold because of the A.C. in her room , whilst my room was a little humid. My mother said that it took time, and that the Air Conditioner emitted a type of green house gas i.e. Hydro- Fluoro Carbon or Hydro Carbon, which was contributing to global warming. Of course, the Air Conditioner is also a criminal in the world of electricity, consuming more of it than a cooler does. This is in contribution to the power shortages that we now see today, because Fossil Fuels are burning out quite fast, EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY. The Air Conditioner also sends out a harmful gas called Chloro- Fluoro Carbon that damages the Ozone Layer.
A person who is reading this might try to find the faults of the cooler- "What about wastage of water?". When it comes to the cooler, there is no such thing as "WASTAGE OF WATER". The water that is put into the cooler reuses itself many times before finally evaporating. It does not consume as much electricity as the Air Conditioner does, and does not damage the ozone layer or contribute to global warming. In fact, I think that there is still time to save the environment if we use the cooler instead of an Air Conditioner.
So the next time you think about buying a new Panasonic Air Conditioner, think of a cooler instead. It gives a calmer, much more gentle feel in the room, honestly.

To Cycle or not to Cycle

Has anyone ever heard of going to school by a cycle? Well it's impossible in Delhi, and in our School, which is located on a mountain, it's even more impossible. For one, many people who earn a lot, prefer to send their children in a stylish and expensive car. There are other reasons why it is so impossible. Drivers in India, are extremely rash when they drive, and this leads to numerous car crashes every hour of everyday. There are still some places that use bicycles to go to school. I once went to Bongaigaon in Assam. It was a beautiful place, and it rained a lot. People either travelled on a bicycle, a rickshaw or a motorbike or scooter. It was quite rare to find a car around there! If one were to start a campaign about throwing cars, melting them for metal, and starting to cycle again, it would save a lot of fuel, which is a rare resource these days. I've noticed that the poorest of people are effectively doing their best to stop our world becoming a modern day hell without even knowing it, and yet, they aren't treated with Respect. These angels in disguise are Cycle-Rickshaw drivers and Ragpickers. So, how do we stop the car thing from manipulating our lives? If an old man and an old woman had a car, and a driver, throwor sell the car, and buy a rickshaw instead. There are other options too. Environmentally friendly cars. There is a new scorpio that a teacher of mine bought, and all though it is expensive, it saves fuel and the environment at the same time. But the environment isn't really a problem for rich men and women. It's more of a problem for the poor, who face global warming in there homes, with no running water or electricity. Most colonies, in India have generators, so nobody really knows how much electricity really goes for. If any of you know what the Earth hour is, it is an hour that the whole world switches off each light and fan and electrical appliance for one whole hour in unity. My mother had spoken to one of the housekeeping staff only two days before. And it was actually quite humourous because that lady was really confused. She had heard a rumour that in two days time, the entire world was to come to an end! My mother set the record straight, and told her about the Earth Hour. The lady then said "Alright, if we have any electricity, we'll switch off our lights and fans for the hour". I don't find it a joke that so many people are less privellaged with proper electricity rights. Therefore, if there is a light or a fan that we are not using, we switch it off immediately! The more electricity we save, the more fuel we save, and the less it is wasted.

Recycle Plastic Bags

Every morning, our milkman brings two packets of milk in a small plastic bag. We have made a decision that should be an inspirational step for all of my friends, and the other residents. My mother and I took out all of the plastic bags, that had been used for delivering milk. Our deal with the milkman was that he gives us the plastic packets, and after we have a pile of them, we'll give them back to him to use for us. So we're basically reusing all our plastic bags, in different ways, and this is one of them. We straightened all the bags out, and put them in a pile. Tomorrow, we shall be giving these plastic bags for reusing.

Another very good way of reusing all the plastic bags that lie in your kitchen, is the big bags that you get from big bazaar, or spencers, these are the bags that are specially meant for your shopping. Just fold them up, and carry a few of them along, and it is guarenteed that your shopping will hold them. When they start tearing, is when you can throw them away, but you must make as much use as you can of them.

If you have thrown all your plastic bags away, here's the way to go: buy a school bag, and put all your shopping in there. If nessecary, take a family member with his or her school bag as well, and if you URGENTLY need something, then you take a plastic bag from the shop. But you must reuse the plastic bag until it wears out.

These three techniques only apply when one is shopping for more or less the same objects each time . Don't buy something because you want to, or because you have to, buy something when you really need it. Never buy anything unless you absolutely NEED it!

Why is saving the environment so important?

A little girl walked into a shop, and bought a packet of plastic cups, a spices holder, a toy bow and arrow, a mop and a plastic toy plane. The little girl gave in the money, and the items were immediately shoved into a plastic bag. Seven days later, the mop had worn out, the spices holder had started to send out a horrible smell, the plastic cups had been thrown into the dustbin, the plastic plane and the toy bow and arrow had broken and was immediately thrown away. Nowdays, items being shoved into a plastic bag have become a part of our daily routines. Normally, a person would say, it's not a crime to use plastic bags. One cannot go to jail. But, should we start to put down a rule like that? If we did, almost every supermarket would ban plastic bags immediately. Most of us never ask, where does the garbage go, because we all know that it goes into a landfill. Many of us don't know why plastic bags are such a big deal, and the truth is that plastic bags are a huge deal. When plastic items enter a landfill, they don't biodegrade, they photodegrade. The sun, heats up these plastic objects, and the objects release a harmful substance. Over time, the plastic breaks into smaller harmful substances known as Petro-Polymers. If a plastic bag doesn't go into a landfill, it travels through drains to get into the ocean. It flies to different parts of the world. It harms sea creatures in the ocean. What can we do to stop the plastic bag taking over our lives? That is only the first task. Soon enough, we'll get the world or at least India to listen to this very important message, that could help landfills and other waste materials take over our life.