Let's breath together

Of all the free gifts that we get from nature on a regular basis,oxygen is the most indispensable one.It's a well known fact that a person can survive without food for months,without water for few days but it is impossible to live without oxygen.

That's why in Hindi it is rightly termed as 'Pranvayu' the gas giving life.

It is practically impossible to imagine a world without oxygen.The current scenario has highlighted the value of this gas in the ugliest manner.We never imagined that the gas that constitutes 21% of all gases present in atmosphere would become sparse.

This crisis is the outcome of human activities.Reckless cutting of trees,overuse of resources ,excessive combustion etc being the main cause of this extreme situation.Enough have been talked and discussed about the human activities resulting in the environmental degradation.

Time now is to discuss the healing process.We all know that the Earth is ailing and it's high time we should start working for it's treatment.We should start taking every possible step to reverse the effect of all the damage already done by us.

Oxygen is present in large quantities and the first effort is to maintain it's quantity by adding it more as well as decreasing it's consumption.Few steps that can be done:

1.Trees add oxygen in the atmosphere by the process of photosynthesis.That is one ultimate process that enhances the level of oxygen.

2.Also very few of us know the fact that maximum oxygen (90%) in the atmosphere is added by sea weeds or algae.So efforts should be done not to disturb their growth in the sea and other water bodies.Incidents like oil spills,waste dumping in the sea etc decrease their growth and hence should be checked.

3.Combustion is that one process that consumes a lot of oxygen.It's the right time when we need to switch to electronic gadgets in the kitchen for cooking purpose.Electronic cars will also prove a fruitful way of consuming less oxygen.

4.We all know that electricity supplied in our houses is thermal electricity produced by burning a lot of coal.Coal when burnt produce lot of smoke as well as takes in oxygen.If electricity is consumed judiciously then somehow less oxygen would be consumed.

5. We donate large amount of money in the name of charity to temples.But the greatest donations are those that help humanity during crisis.So we should donate to buy oxygen concentrators and cylinders rather building huge temples and statues.

Each one of us can contribute our bit in maintaining the level of oxygen .A bulb kept off when not in use, a walk instead of scooter to get some groceries, a plant gifted on birthday instead of toys..can make a huge difference.Evert small step matters a lot.

©Dr.Shweta Prakash Kukreja