Mangaluru: Social activist Tejaswini Ananth Kumar, chairman of Adamya Chethana Foundation, Bengaluru, said that if we bring changes in our lifestyle, it is easy to tackle various environmental challenges like poor Air Quality Index (AQI).
Speaking after inaugurating the new Emergency Center at Sri Krishna Hospital, Kakkinje, Belthangady taluk, she stated that in Delhi, due to poor AQI, air purifiers have become very common with ACs. Such a scenario should not repeat anywhere, she said.
Discussing the initiatives of Adamya Chethana, she noted that since 2011, the organisation has not contributed any waste to the BBMP from its midday meal kitchen. Furthermore, since 2009, they eliminated the use of LPG cylinders for cooking, which previously amounted to 50 cylinders daily. "Small actions can lead to significant improvements in environmental conservation," she said.
"It is essential to manage household waste, which is entirely feasible," she remarked. Raising alarms regarding the growing issue of microplastics, she said that microplastic traces are now detected even in breast milk.
"Residents of the city have been discarding plastic waste in the Western Ghats, which ultimately returns to them as microplastics. We must disrupt this harmful cycle by ceasing the use of single-use plastics," she stated.
She called upon the community to adopt sustainable living practices to reduce environmental pollution. Additionally, she underscored the critical role of emergency services in accidents and crises.
MK Pranesh, deputy chairman of the Karnataka State Legislative Council, MLC Kishore Kumar Puttur, and former MLC K Harish Kumar were present.