Wednesday, 4 December 2013

Sunday, 24 November 2013

Perks of using RSS and Google Alerts!



Google alerts and RSS: a fast way to get relevant information!

Recently while participating in an online social media workshop, I came to know about the importance of the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and the Google alerts. RSS feeds enable publishers to syndicate data automatically. RSS feeds also benefit users who want to receive fast and timely updates from the sites of their concern; in other words it saves a lot of time by providing you with only the relevant data you need. I set up an RSS and Google alert account primarily to use it for my ‘social media campaign: There’s no Planet B. Save the Planet A’ (which I discussed in my last post), and here’s what I found through my RSS feed:


Due to lack of enough ‘waste disposal systems’, most of the home waste and other kinds of wastage is usually thrown away on empty plots next to the houses and is then burnt in open air, which may be harmful to the people living nearby. Only less than 5% of the waste is recycled and most of it is disposed directly on the ground. There are only a few garbage cans along the
roads so people living far away just have to dispose of the trash somewhere else. This attracts flies which then spread diseases. Apart from this, the rubbish thrown would disintegrate in a 1000 years from now! So the basic need is to improve the quantity and quality of such disposal systems and by recycling the trash and  play a role on our own part for being a responsible citizen.
Source: http://environmentspk.blogspot.com/search/label/Land%20Pollution

Sunday, 10 November 2013

“There’s no Planet B. Save the Planet A!”

Greetings!
This is Mujtaba, a foreign exchange student from Pakistan. It's my first blog post about the social issues my homeland is facing and how I can help to eradicate these issues and make my surroundings a better place to live in.
  The alarming increase in the land pollution especially that of garbage and waste is causing many environmental, social, and health problems. I along with my friends have already started working on this project and have been appreciated by the community and the government officials. Abbottabad- my hometown given the small area of land but has a relatively huge population of 1.5 million. In a city like this the situation is much worse. As they say, "Charity begins at home"

Me along with friends helping out with collecting garbage at the local park (dated: June 22, 2013)
- I plan to focus my local community first, where the issue of land pollution has reached up to an alarming rate. To be more specific, I will start this with the recreational spots in my area such as ‘public parks’ etc. where due to poor maintenance the spot remains polluted with waste and garbage for many days. I plan to clean up such area along with the help of my community and make our effort to eradicate such issues. My project is a small effort to reshape our society in a better way. So, the success of the project can be measured by the views of the people, the cantonment board, and seeing the local area in a better condition; free of garbage. Eventually, I will increase my area of focus from my local community to other nearby areas. Our community partner will be the cantonment board which is concerned with such issues, and the local community members. The campaign’s slogan is “There’s no Planet B. Save the Planet A!” As the title shows that we have to live in the planet earth only and have got no choice. So, better take utmost care of the area we live in. A social media campaign can strengthen this project many folds. It will help me achieve a wide range of audience. For me, this project will give an idea that how much effort it takes to clean even a small patch of land; while it is very easy to litter it and one gets effected by it directly or indirectly. I think that by doing such community service projects we can make a better change in our society, and subsequently make our world a better place to live in; and YES, WE CAN!