India is fighting a battle with smog today. Do you remember the last time you slept on the roof and saw a sky full of stars? I remember when we were young, we used to sleep on the roof at our grandparent’s house in the village. Seeing a sky full of stars, wondering what is up there and falling asleep while counting them were all special memories.

I don’t see that clear sky anymore. Gone are the days when our mind was full of imagination fuelled by the beauty of the stars.

I remember seeing shooting stars. I remember my Grandfather teaching me about the star ‘Dhruva’, (star closest to the Earth’s north celestial pole). That is the star used to navigate because it’s position is always fixed.

We have lost that clear sky over the last few decades because of heavy industrialisation and other forms of pollution. Buying a car is very easy with banks willing to give you the loan with minimum paperwork. But should there be a limit on the carbon footprint a person can have? Should there be limits to how much pollution we can create? I think with more and more capital and urbanisation things will become easy as now a middle-class person can afford a flight ticket, but that also increases air pollution.

Knowingly or unknowingly we are all contributing to air pollution. A thick layer of smog in Delhi-NCR is just the beginning.  I think each one of us should take this responsibility to cut down on our carbon footprint. Air travel cannot be stopped, and it will take a while when you start seeing the solar powered commercial airplane. That’s futuristic.

What we can do right now is to make intensive use of solar power. Bring solar into your life and shift your energy requirements from coal and oil to solar power. This will cut your carbon footprint by 95%. 

Only if all schools and offices run on solar in Delhi NCR can we hope to see clear skies anytime soon. Install solar panels in your house. Even if you live in an apartment you can buy solar power from a nearby provider or ask your facility management to go solar for common area power uses.

It’s time we all unite to fight pollution and reclaim the clear skies of the past.

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