Why I think India has the biggest shot at being the most green country
the video here demonstrates how it is possible and easy to have less trash and be green. The end of the video says Reuse, Repair, Repurpose and be Responsible.
Whether Indians are responsible or not is a bigger topic for discussion and ought to be discussed perhaps somewhere else. But I can say without a doubt that Indians have an innate need to repair, reuse and repurpose.
Repair: Almost everything you posses - a bag, purse, watch, mobile, umbrella to any piece of electronic machinery's can not be used for anything less than 5 - 20 years, depending on what the article is. If it fails within three years - its a piece of junk and the company that produced that product may not be trusted anymore.
Reuse: 'Pass it on' is a culture strongly followed in India. An elder sibling passes on his/her books to the younger one(s). So are clothes, although this might be less frequent. Often when the youngest one has grown out of them, they are given away in exchange for stainless steel utensils.
while on the topic of utensils, you'll find that in every Indian housewives kitchen, almost all utensils are made of steel or aluminium and therefore reusable. Breakfast and lunch packs are also packed mostly in steel boxes - which are reusable (as opposed to most zip it bags)
Repurpose: "Never throw away something that is clean or not smelly - for it can be repurposed" A CD that won't work anymore can be turned into a beautiful show piece oin the hall. Those emboidered patches of the salwar that won't fit anyone anymore can be repurposed to make the table mats llok prettier, the saree thats torn(the one which the maid refuses to take cos she's just too cool for that :)) can be repurposed into a doormat. I swear by the last one, a doormat my grandma knitted with my mom's torn cotton sari has lasted for nearly 5 years now. Its washable and and serves the purpose perfectly.
However, this is changing.. Western thoughts/objects have started to make us think that plastic is cooler. This needs to be turned around and we need to go back to our previous ways of re-purposing, repairing and reusing.