All of us are so very concerned about our environment and want to make all possible efforts things to minimise environmental degradation, control pollution and better the living conditions on the planet for us and the generations to come. But one is lost as to where and how to begin. Some of us may start by saving water and electricity. Avoiding the use of plastics or simply riding a bicycle to work one day in a week. All these efforts are laudable and add to the global effort in stemming the environmental rot. For all of you who want to really put in sustained efforts in that direction here is a pledge put out by the web site www.greenpassport.us that gives you the direction to follow so that you can play your part well in saving the environment. I acknowledge the interconnectedness of the world’s people and the environment. I pledge to explore and take into account the social and environmental consequences of studying, living, working, traveling, or volunteering abroad and will try to improve these aspects of my international experience. While overseas, and when I return home, I will do my best to: • Minimise my impact on the environment; • Act in culturally respectful ways; • Engage with locals and participate in the local community; • Give back to my host community(ies). At the work place we use technology to assist and improve our work output. Technology is playing a major role in our lives both at work and away from it. While all of us take pleasure in using the latest gadgets for fun and productivity improvement. But we do not see the use of these gadgets and tools as a means to help in the challenges we face to save environment. Putting everyday technology that we use for green benefit does not call for Einstein’s brain or Terminator’s toughness. Simple use of these tools can result in good benefit. Look at IRCTC web site. It has graduated from paper ticket to digital ticket. You can get you book you ticket through your mobile and get a e-ticket right on to your mobile. This does not need the changing of your cell phone or you learning a new language. When you use this process, remember you take part in a huge drive to save paper. Almost 145,000 tickets are booked daily on www.irctc.co.in. Imagine if we could save so many numbers of A4 size sheets, the favorite paper to print per day. The savings will be colossal if you multiply by 365. You can do the same with air tickets or cinema tickets.Paying bills online is a good option. You save time, fuel and paper. Have not graduated from recharge cards to e-recharge for our mobile phones? Paying taxes, credit card bills or insurance premium can be done online. So be tech savvy and adopt these methods. Ride the cloud: Give credit to the people at Google. They believe in making things easier for people (it’s a different if them make tons of dollars). They have come up with Drive and app in the cloud where yo can store all your documents. You can access them anywhere any time. So need for you to take print out if want to read a doc at office and browse it at home. There are several others also offering the service – www.dropbox.com and www. explore.live.com/skydrive. Which offer some free and some paid services. Its pouring Apps: Apps or application for your mobile are begin developed and hosted by the dozens every hour. Right from knowing the time, weather or news, you can use them to find out train flight timing, locating places and getting driving directions. These are helpful in saving you money and travel time. You spend less fuel to move around. Now get going with your little smart gadgets and toys to turn the earth green for all Source: The Hans India, ***
