As we celebrate The World Environment Day on 5th
June we must first ask ourselves what is meant by environment. In what way and
how are we related to it or it to us? Are we part of it or is it part of us? Why
does it require a special attention? Is it an issue or a problem or a very
intrinsic part of our life? And many more such questions arise.
Special days are normally observed to celebrate, to
commemorate, to commercialize, to carry out rituals, to call attention to
express concern for victims and victors, to cater to express our relationship
to specific feelings, persons, issues, problem and so on.
Unfortunately, of lately whenever the word ‘environment’ is
mentioned the following collocations are carried like joeys of a flyer [female
kangaroo]:-issues, problem, concern, degradation, bio-diversity, sustainable
growth etc. why?
Are these trends, the result of our perceptions going
through prism of preconceptions with which we see nature? Or are these the
result of real damage to human and environment relationship? Or are these a
manifestation of concerned caution or candid confessions or hyper reactions?
It may be the result of all of the above or any of the
above.
Though for all of us, at least, the word ‘environment’
denotes either the whole or some aspect of nature.
Ronald Harvey in his book ‘Our Fragmented World’ write, “The
influence of environment begins long before birth. It begins at the beginning,
with our genes. Genes do not exist in vacuo. They are part of their environment
as we are to our world. They are as it were ‘sewn into’ their environment as we
are to ours. No organism ever develops without an environment. It is not
inheritance per se but the interaction between inheritance and environment
where the responsibility must be placed”. “So our world and ourselves are one,
we and our world form part of an organic whole”
So environment is not an issue it is part of our tissue.
It is not a problem but a magnified emblem of elements of
which the whole biochemical organism of human body lives.
If we etymologically trace the word to its remotest origin
it is from the Old French ‘en’[in]+‘Viron [circle] i.e. things that “environ” us, that encircle or surround us.
So originally the whole of nature before human species made different
enclosures.
So, it is human nature to look up to nature but humane
culture to look after nature. Slogans appeal to everyone than sermons or
scientific facts.
In the course of evolution, everything and everyone
interacted either consciously or otherwise either with or without the awareness
that everything and everyone are interconnected. Vagaries of nature and
vicissitudes of human life have both contributed to changes to the environment.
Ancient traditions wonder at nature; some religions
worshiped nature; civilization made man work and use it for his comforts;
modern technological and economic advancement excessively use it.
In the process of evolution human beings realized that while
mentally mighty they were physically weak so to live acclimatizing in naked
nature was becoming difficult. Therefore, he started using the natural
resources for his shelter, security, comfort etc.
Human population explosion and the concomitant need and
greed made him over use nature and this has led to an imbalance in the
relationship between humans and environment. This must be and can be rectified
by various means or when everything else fails nature takes care.
At the same time resorting to extremism like objecting to
every human, or economic growth related activity in the name of environment
protection is hypocritical because those who protest must stop using paper,
stop living inside houses, stop cooking, stop using any gadget, stop plucking
vegetables and fruits as all these also are uses of natural resources; stop
talking because that harms many tiny microbes.
We must realize human species has to be in a perennial
relationship with the whole of environment. So, instead of advocating a late
divorce or ill treatment we must adopt the best possible means of improving our
relationship with nature.
Hysteric reactions can never set right any historic
blunders.
We all must realize that our relationship with the
environment matter more than anything else especially in an era when there are ready made justifications available
on the net for all types of actions, reactions and inactions.
René Jules Dubos a
French-born American microbiologist, in one
of his interviews said long back how a single man in the arid lands of Midi of
France used to plant some trees every day and that has become a big forest. Incidentally
his book ‘A God within” portrays many probable positive values in man's relation to nature and offers many
simple solutions to enhance such a relationship.
Recently in India, Jadav
"Molai" Payeng (Assamese born in 1963), a Mishing tribe environmental
activist and forestry worker from Jorhat, India, planted and tended trees on a
sandbar of the river Brahmaputra over several decades and literally created a forest reserve, called Molai forest after
him and is located near Kokilamukh of
Jorhat, Assam, India and encompasses an area of about 1,360 acres / 550
hectares and this year [in 2015] he was honoured with Padma Shri, the fourth
highest civilian award in India.
Jaggi Vasudev’s Isha Foundation
makes huge and significant contributions to preserving forests and environment.
I reproduce this piece from an article I wrote in the early
90s as to why and how God created Hell.
“In the beginning God created heaven and earth. Quickly god
faced a class action suit for failure to file an environmental impact
statement. God was granted a temporary permit for the project, but was stymid
with cease and desist order for the earthly part. Then God said let there be
light’ immediately the official s demanded to know how the light would be
created. Would there be strip mining? What about thermal pollution? God
explained that the light would come from a large ball of fire .God was granted
provisional permission to make light on the condition that no smoke would
result from the ball of fire and that he
would obtain building and conserve
energy. He would have the light out half the time. God agreed and offered to
call the light day and darkness night. The god said let the earth put forth
vegetation, plant the yielding seeds and fruit trees. The environmental
protection agency agreed so long only as native seeds were used. Then god said
let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above
the earth. The official pointed out that this would require approval from the department
of game coordinated with heavenly wildlife federation. Everything was fine
until god said the project would be completed in six days. The officials said
that it would take at least 200 days to review the applications and the impact assessment.
After that there would be public hearing, then there would be 10 to 12 months
before… at this point God created hell.”
UNIVERSAL
DECLARATION of the RIGHTS of POSTERITY
Which was
drafted by the UK council for posterity initially by a gentleman called Professor
Scorer and a group of other concerned people like ecologist Herbie Girardet,
Tanya Schwarz of the Forest Peoples’ Support Group, Guy Dauncey environmental
consultant and Nicolas Albery of the Institute of Social Inventions.
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF
POSTERITY
(DRAFT, JULY 1989)
Whereas our
descendants’ generations, although likely to prove far more numerous than
ourselves, have no voice or vote in any of our political systems, we therefore
declare that all the generations yet to come, for as far into the future as
human life survives on this planet, are entitled by natural justice to the
following rights, which those alive today have a duty to respect and uphold:
1. The right
to inherit a planet that has been treated by its human occupants with the
utmost respect. And more particularly:
2. The right
to inherit a planet with oceans, lakes and atmosphere undamaged by human
activity, with safeguards for planet’s climate, such as rainforests, still
intact.
3. The right to inherit a planet with an
undiminished diversity of species.
4. The right to inherit adequately
maintained reserves of fossil fuel and other mineral resources.
5. The right to be born into world of
human-scale societies, unravaged by population excess.
6. The right to inherit a world unmarred
by nuclear or chemical wars, incidents or wastes.
7. The right
to expect that previous generations will have cleaned up their pollution,
repaired their damaged environments, on
land, sea and in the air (including outer space), and protected places of
natural beauty.
8. The right
to inherit political, legal, technological and social systems that respect
individual human dignity, such as those laid out in the UN Declaration of Human
Rights.
9. The right
to inherit the full uncensored cultural heritage bequeathed by former
generations, as expressed, for instance, in their art, history, literature,
libraries and museums.
10.The right
of future generations to have their interests considered and, where
appropriate, represented by a competent advocate, in any present day tribunal
or assembly that is deciding courses of action that might have harmful log-term
consequences.
Some of my old write ups on
environmental issues.
LIFE WILL CONTINUE ALWAYS NO DOOMSDAY
URBANISATION MANIA CAUSES EL NINO
2 comments:
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