This planet will die soon, if we do not take care of it. That is what my mother instilled in me since I was three, and that is also what I have been telling my kids. Earth is alive, and like all live beings, it will wither and perish. It is essential for everyone living on this planet to do their part in saving Gaia. (Gaia is Mother Earth, as I call her.) If we fail to do this, we will suffer all of the consequences.
Take, for instance, this problem with COVID-19. This started because people were tampering on nature and animals. We should have left things as they should since everything in this world has a natural purpose. But because humans want to learn more, they end up destroying what is natural. This also means our environment.
And so, I have realized that I cannot save the world all by myself. I do, however, can start from my home. At least I am doing my part in caring for this planet, and I am not guilty as to assisting a million others who are slowly slaying it. We should love and care for Gaia; otherwise, there won’t be clean air or tillable lands for our children, their children, and forward.
I do not care what people say to me like I am some kind of freak. My practices are normal and necessary at any time, and as long as my children will benefit from it, I will do it for our sake.
To help Gaia, these are some things that we do at home, especially now that there is a pandemic, and we are all cooped up at the house.
- Every chance we get, we use vegetable scraps and plant it, indoor style. Our house and the whole area is just enough for our family, and not too big. We do have a small lawn with a veggie garden since we grow our food whenever possible. I have Romaine lettuce, kale, Swiss chard, spinach, bokchoy, Chinese cabbage, and arugula. My daughters planted garlic, onion, tomatoes, bell peppers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, lemons, strawberries, and a whole lot more. I’m not saying we don’t buy from the market. We do. But when these gifts of nature ripen or mature, we use them to our heart’s content. It is very important now since I limit my public exposure due to COVID-19. We just pick out food from our garden.
- We cannot go to the park or the lakeside for some nature appreciation. And so, what we do is that we stay in our lawn and spend at least thirty minutes there for our yoga or meditation. We are not advanced students of these arts, but we do what we can with our Asana poses. My daughters love it so much since it makes them very flexible and alert, too. Within our walls, I feel that we are safe. There are no known COVID-19 cases within our community, thank God. Being there, though, is an exchange of needs between our plants and our oxygen.
- My kids are superstars in segregating wastes, and at this time, it is very important to do so. We do not want to suffer from waste-borne diseases if we are not careful with our garbage segregation and disposal. Remember the two types of wastes – dry and wet. Also, do not forget about wastes that can be reused or recycled and those scraps that can be planted.
- In our home, we do not use disposable plastic. Have you seen that turtle on YouTube with plastic on his neck? Plastic is non-biodegradable. It will not degrade, dissolved, decomposed, and it cannot be broken down. Plastic will live on for thousands of years and will aid in Gaia’s destruction.
- We use solar energy, as well.
There are many other things that we do to help our environment, but these are the main concerns. It is easy to follow, and frankly, anybody can do it. I hope you also start caring for the environment because it provides us our home and, in essence, a life.