I was looking up the sort of materials I could compost, and I just couldn’t believe how long the list was. Napkins too!?

To be honest, I ‘forget’ to recycle from time to time, so I don’t know why I even bothered to look up composting in the first place. But deep down I yearn to lead a zero carbon footprint lifestyle, whereas the people around me could care less.

And the sentiment is understandable, to lead a virtuous green life means taking time out of your life to sort out paper, waste, compost and electronics… then call the designated city department to get you the bins! With all of life’s stresses, this is quite a vexing task to add to the list that no one is lawfully, financially or religiously obligated tied down to.

The whole environmental thing sounds either like a nagging chore or a fad.

You see, the term itself, ‘environmentally friendly,’ doesn’t conjure up an immediate sense of duty for us regular people. For such a grand concept so threatening to our entire existence, why is it labeled with such a fluffy term? Friendly? Who cares about being friendly?

And why should anyone care about being friendly to the environment anyway? Isn’t our lives built around being clean, sterile, and nature-free? By that logic, why should we care about anything green, let alone an endangered species?

What we can all agree on is ensuring the survival of the human race.

What some of us learned is that the environment has something to do with it.

So I implore everyone, including the members of the media, to immediately eliminate the term ‘environmentally friendly’ and switch it to ‘human friendly’. Or even ‘human safe’- a term that really sums up the threat!

Instead of carbon free footprint, let’s make it simple like, ‘clean footprint’.

Instead of saying, biodegradable, let’s call it ‘soil-degrade’, ‘vegetationous’, ‘farm nutritious’, or ‘planting-dependent’ or something that shows why it’s important for things to biodegrade quick.

And let’s put our papers and cans into a ‘life-cycle’ so they can turn into new fresh pieces of crispy paper and clean cans.

Instead of saying ‘garbage’, let’s call it ‘hazard’. Because what we put in the garbage isn’t quick enough to biodegrade! And therefore it becomes a hazard to our environment. Eliminate the hazard!

I know suggesting changes in our languages to change our action is blatant propaganda-ish, but who said propaganda cannot be used to influence good? Changing the language with euphemisms and breaking it down into simpler terms to change our behaviour isn’t just a fictional concept from Orwell’s ‘1984’, it’s a technique that creeps on us even today by marketing and government agencies. Changes in our culture is inevitable as is our evolving language, and it’s time for us to steer it in the right direction!

And remember- don’t put life-cyclables in the hazard!