Green is cool

It’s cool to go green. There are a few facts that youth of today cannot reconcile themselves to, and most of them have to do with our environment. The ‘cool’ people of today are those who embrace green technology and do their bit to save earth’s natural resources.
For the first time, it seems that the younger generation’s idea of what’s cool has finally overlapped with that of the previous generation. People aren’t cool (only) because of what they wear or what they say. They are cool for actually making a difference on issues that are important for our survival.
Recently, the ad campaign launched to save the 1,411 tigers in India has achieved considerable success. Stars, big and small, from sports and the entertainment industry, have all come together to create awareness about this abysmally low number of tigers in the wild in India. Their numbers, according to official accounts, in 2009 seems to have halved since the 2002 census. Apart from that, many Facebook groups have been formed to save ‘Stripey’, the tiger cub featured in the ads.
Many companies are releasing green products, a sure sign that market sentiment is moving in that direction in a strong way. Nokia has introduced a phone recycling system, and a promise that it would plant one tree per phone recycled. This is amazing. There is a difference between saying that something must be done and actually doing it. Many people don’t know what they personally can do to save the planet. They think it’s too macro a problem to be tackled at an individual level.
Small things like recycling an old phone instead of throwing it in the garbage bin, teaching children not to waste electricity or water and telling them that there are many endangered species in the world is the only way forward. These are things that are considered ‘cool’ today. And this awareness couldn’t have come at a more opportune moment.