An engineer hailing from Mysore and nationally honoured in USA, taking part in the Indian Science Congress hosted by the city way back in 1982 had presented a paper in one of its technical sessions explaining the level of utilising energy resource, coal in particular, as the index of technological progress of various countries. The data portrayed in that paper had shown India at the bottom of the rung among the world's major economies. More than a quarter century since then, the issue of utilising energy has become an agenda of governments of all countries, developed as well as developing, unmatched by any other, India not excepted.
Two other gifts of scientific and technological advances, namely plastics and electronic equipment, are currently receiving focus across the world for a different reason. Every product made of plastic, particularly shopping bags, plates, cups, trays, toys, furniture, parts of vehicles, packages for all goods of daily use, the list is hard to complete, has come to be realised as a serious threat to environment. The two ubiquitous tools of the e-world, namely the computers and the mobile phones, are in league with plastics in the matter of dealing with them after they cease to function. The combined scenario of the aforementioned, even as it is worsening, is bewildering to those who choose to ponder over it. For the rest, it seems to be immaterial.
The context in which the huge mass of plastics in its myriad forms and used-up e-tools should be the agenda of both the governments and every individual is the task of disposing of the waste, belatedly realised as not biodegradable over any length of time. At the moment, it can send shivers up one's spine even to debate the avenues of addressing the daunting task, for, there seem to be none. There are sure signs of people accepting their failure to contain the march of plastics and e-waste and preferring to look the other way.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has just announced several 'Green' initiatives aimed at slowing down the pace of environmental degradation in the metropolis, not to be mistaken as a solution to the problem of dealing with the mass of debris. As the only measure which is within its ambit, the civic body has proposed to ban the use of plastic films of less than 20 microns and impose e-cess applicable to generation of e-waste. It has also set apart about 10 per cent of its nearly ` 8,500 crore budget for addressing the issue of these 'modern' wastes.
The debate takes us to the point of exercising caution and introspection before getting euphoric in embracing the emerging gifts of technology. They are double-edged swords, to be used with discretion.
