Letters
On Going Green
Thank you, Star, for calling attention to the threat we face from climate change and the small ways in which we can all help save the environment. Your excellent cover story "Going Green" (January 29) opens a window into eco-friendly living that I found highly illuminating. It is clear from your story that Green Living is an attitude and a mindset. The writer presented the whole issue in a very interesting way and offered practical tips that we can use in our daily lives. Bangladesh is at the forefront of the battle against climate change, and we should show the world that we are serious about tackling this grave threat. Apart from cutting greenhouse gases, we also need to do much more to conserve our valuable resources, and stop pollution. We can already see our rivers being contaminated, and our mangrove forests dying. We can see our energy crisis getting worse. The writer is right when he says the future of our environment is too important to be left to politicians alone. Green living is healthy living. Small steps from all of us can translate into a huge step towards saving the earth we all inhabit. This is not only sensible; it is also a test of our conscience.
Jashimuddin Ahmed
23/H Pisciculture Housing Society, Shyamoli, Dhaka
The Dream of Education
Everyone wants to get higher education because acquiring knowledge is a stepping stone to a good job and status. In our country, the first and foremost objective of higher education to earn money but it's really true and a matter of great regret that a huge number of students don't touch the higher education because of limited seats. Though a lot of seats are available in private medical colleges or private universities but when it is hard for a student to maintain the expense of public universities at that time how they will be able to fulfill the demand of private universities. It is a bitter pill that we have to swallow in Bangladesh.
Subrata Ray
Department of Business Administration
Shahjalal University of Science & Technology
Sylhet
Road Accidents 
In our country road accidents are increasing day by day. Many individuals and organisations are trying to save the country from the curse of road accident. But accidents are not decreasing. Every day the number of vehicles is increasing sharply. On the other hand, the width of the road is not increasing according to our need. The population is also increasing. As a result traffic jam would be more severe in the near future.
There are many who do not consider road accident as a problem. They leave everything to fate. But for the majority of people this is a big problem. Most people know of someone who has been injured in a road accident. We already discovered many causes behind road accidents. Research is still going on. But today I think the elementary reasons behind this accident carelessness, lack of skill and aggressive behaviour. It seems that when we get behind the wheel, we have to show the world how macho we are!
In our childhood we learnt many wise sayings. For example, “Slow and steady wins the race.” We also read “Haste is waste.” We have now become very aggressive. Herein lies the problem. Let us now stop blaming each other for this and change our attitude towards life.
Pradip Das
Lecturer in English
BHPI, CRP
The Senseless Slaughter
In recent days, disturbing reports of rare wild animals being brutally killed in parts of Bangladesh has drawn our attention. The irony is that all we do is just read the lines with sympathy, even the avid ones among us feel bad but hardly do anything for these animals. If we really need to change ourselves, now is the time. The government itself is doing very little for them. Various species of animals found here and there remind us that this country once had a very diverse wild life which is greatly harmed because of these nonsensical activities. In rural areas, when unwanted animals are caught, they are brutally beaten by the villagers, even if they are harmless. Moreover, our people are not very concerned about the fact that we need our wildlife as they are part of the ecosystem. We have failed to foster consciousness and humane behavior towards animals, hence the need for a well-equipped animal rescue team. We could call the emergency hot-line when an animal is in danger, or needs rescuing. Maybe this will not remain a dream anymore; someday we can make this service possible. Protecting wild animals is paying off in many countries. Bangladesh has many sanctuaries. Animals in these sanctuaries are helpless. They do not get ample food and water. Their habitat has disappeared. Our negligence is the prime cause for the near extinction of the precious animals.
Nurus Sakib
H.S.C. examinee
Notre Dame College
Motijheel, Dhaka
Corrigendum
In the last issue of The Star in the article 'A Fair for the Rights of Citizens' it was mistakenly printed that "five slum dwellers in 3,000 slums of Dhaka..." It should be five million slum dwellers. The error is regretted.
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