Is it really Green

Iread quite an interesting piece today. Titled 'Stop Trying to Save
The Planet' it has been written by Tina Dupuy (who is an award-winning writer
and the editor of FishbowlLA.com). In her article she argues that all of us who
are going overboard with saving the Earth should realize that we are the weaker
ones in the battle of polluting the planet. According to her, if and when we
lose this battle, it is we who will die, mother Earth has seen worse times and
survived and she is sure that it will survive this time also.

Now this is the first and only piece that I have read of Dupuy, (was sent to
me by my friend Deepshikha) but the first thing that I recalled was how in
India, espousing the 'Green' cause has become the 'in thing' for celebrities
especially the Bollywood actors and actresses. So when NDTV did the Greenathon,
which is really a commendable effort by the channel, a bevy of stars including
Priyanka Chopra, SRK and Abhishek Bachchan to name just a few came on TV to urge
all us mortals to go green. Then last week Abhishek Bachchan starting spreading
the word of switching off your lights for the duration of World Earth hour. So
after the first tweet, there were like zillion re-tweets by him about how his
followers were spreading the word. The irony of the entire thing is that while
everyone is telling the others to do something no one is willing to take on the
initiative themselves.

Exactly something similar happened at Copenhagen, the developed countries
with their high levels of carbon emissions were keen that the first cuts should
be made by the developing nations. Similarly while it has become a fad to now
propagate 'Green' to everyone, no one is willing to take any measures
themselves. For example a lot of Abhishek's followers suggested that to cut the
norms even the actor could ditch his fuel guzzling SUV and switch to something
greener. Now we all know that the new green vehicles are a tad bit more
expensive than the normal vehicle. But for a person with lakhs at their
disposal, and if he wants to espouse the green cause can surely afford it. But
unfortunately that was not one of the tweets resent by Bachchan Junior.

This is obviously the smaller one, not to mention how all the said 'Green
Crusaders' do not mind at all jet setting from one city to another just to
attend a 'special' friends party and then proclaim that to the entire world and
their cousins. It is definitely a different shade of green that they are looking
at propagating. So why does this happen, well because it is easier to preach
than to follow. In fact, hats off to people like Salman Khan who regularly
cycles to his shoots, or Vikram Chandra of NDTV Greenathon who took the office
cab to work to go green. Either you walk your talk, or please don't talk at all!

Shivangi Yadav

shivangiy@cybermedia.co.in