The Earth We Leave Begins With Us
bySantosh Nagasamy
Last night we took our daughter out for dinner. There was a crisp salad in front of her, a pastel-green scoop of avocado ice-cream beside it—yet neither got so much as a glance. All her attention was locked on one thing: a small child-safe glass of water.
She lifted it with both hands, tipped it toward her empty plate, watched the silver pool appear, then filled the glass and did it again. Over and over. No noise, no mess—just pure, laser-focused wonder at how water moves.
I run a company that fights plastic pollution. My days are filled with investor calls, production targets, policy drafts. But in that moment, the entire climate debate collapsed into one quiet question:
Will the world she inherits still feel safe enough for this kind of discovery?
I keep a notebook of poems for her. One stanza kept echoing:
"What we think, and do, and say— Becomes the world we shape each day. So walk with light in all you do, The Earth we leave begins with you."
They were written for her—but they challenge all of us.
Beyond the Polite Earth-Day Post
Most corporate Earth-Day messages are tidy and forgettable: a list of green goals, a leafy graphic, and everyone moves on. Meanwhile:
- 380 million tonnes of new plastic will be produced this year.
- Less than 9% will ever be recycled.
- Micro-plastics already float through human lungs and Arctic snow.
“Happy Earth Day!” rings hollow if that’s the chorus underneath.
Why Phitons Exists — and Why That Glass of Water Matters
We engineer materials that vanish when they’re done: compostable pouches, mulch films that become soil, water-resistant papers that biodegrade. The work is technical, messy, and expensive—but necessary.
Because if my daughter’s glass already carries yesterday’s micro-fragments, every slick sustainability slide deck is meaningless.
I don’t want her curiosity filtered through a toxicity report. I want her experiments to stay experiments—not risk assessments.
A Personal Call to Action — No Soft Edges.
- If you design products — start with the end in mind. If it can’t safely return to nature, redesign it or kill it.
- If you control capital — shift at least 5% of your portfolio into regenerative tech—today, not next quarter.
- If you lead people — make carbon and plastic footprints as visible as P&L targets. Accountability beats ambition statements.
- If you’re a parent, student, or citizen — audit your daily trash. Discomfort precedes change.
And here’s the harder truth I’ve learned: some of the largest corporations—those whose ad campaigns scream "sustainability"—aren’t willing to pay even 1% more to lead the change. They want to be seen on the podium, not help build the platform.
But there’s another side to the story. Some leaders—quiet, committed, often behind the scenes—have gone above and beyond. They’ve backed our mission not with words, but with action. They’ve chosen to walk the harder path, even when no one was watching.
And that gives me hope.
I carried a sleepy child out of the restaurant, leaving behind a plate glazed only with water and possibility. Her tiny experiment reminded me that Earth Day isn’t a marketing slot; it’s a moral checkpoint. Our habits flow outward just like that water—quietly shaping everything downstream.
So I return to something else I wrote for her—on a quieter day, in a quieter mood:
"May you never need to unlearn your joy. May the world you inherit be worthy of your wonder."
Because the Earth we leave begins—with brutal clarity—with us.
#EarthDay2025 #ForOurChildren #SustainabilityAtScale #TheEarthWeLeave