Beautiful town of Leh in northern India, snow leopard habitat. Leh in winter is icy and cold, but plastic water bottle free all year. Photo Sibylle Noras.
It’s the 41st annual Earth Day and organisers have got an online pledge facility happening. Over 100 million people are pledging to make a change in their lives, even litle things like taking shorter showers, planting a vegetable patch and one of my favorites, giving up the purchase of water in plastic bottles.
I was so impressed when I was in Leh, Ladakh India, for my snow leopard trek recently. The town, which has about 35,000 people and thousands of local and western tourists every summer, has gone plastic bottle free. For so many years discarded bottles choked the little waterways and streams of this beautiful Himalayan town, but no more. Go people!
If you feel like helping the Earth today, visit the Pledge site to take part. Every little thing we do helps our environment, our wildlife (including snow leopards and their habitat in the mountains of Asia) and our future generations.
{ 2 comments… add one }
Hi Sibylle,
The local government did propose to make Leh free of plastic water bottles, but I heard recently that they have decided to impose it next year. This is probably to allow for alternative arrangements to be made for the number of tourists who visit Leh.
I do hope it happens by next year. Of course I also hope Leh has enough water to supply the large numbers who visit every summer.
Best,
Sujatha
Hi Sujatha,
thanks for your comment. I know water is an issue as well as the plastic bottles and tourist season is coming rapidly. My last visit to Leh was February last year when it was very very quiet. I congratulate the government on understanding the issue and looking for an alternative, I know this isn’t always easy.