As we go past yet another new year,
yet another winter, the news is again splashed with articles on Pollution… just
the same as last year. While this year, realization is wider, happily – but the
changes are insufficient, given the scale of the issue. As Humans and their
Science progresses, as Population grows, as consumption grows and needs grow –
these and similar problems will continue. There are no easy solutions; no easy
answers. Solutions will have to be a combination of kneejerk & planned;
these will partially alleviate, while leaving the core problems untouched,
leaving a scope for future isssues to
arise. A circular circle… one that needs to be broken!
THE CORE
To understand these issues from the
core requires an acceptance that it is we Humans, our Science, and our
Consumption that lies at the core. This is a hard thing for people to grant –
especially the last 2 points. Our Scientific Progress is held in high esteem by most; and it is this progress which
is responsible. The unrestrained consumption of ever-newer items of production
& consumption created by our scientific advance lies at the core of this
harsh reality, this is evident in the proofs {links provided at the end of the series} we shall look at in the paragraphs below.
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For sure we have progressed; this
cannot be debated. Equally, Science has given us the progress; that is also
pretty much inarguable. But – and this is a very big but – is this growth,
these benefits we now enjoy, are they sustainable over the longer term, are
these improvements in humanity which Scientific Advance has got for us truly
long term? Does our Environment have the capacity, the capability and the
resources to sustain? If so, for how much longer? Further, if this growth is
happening at significant environmental loss {also raised earlier in my writings
many times on various issues} - is this truly right & proper?
Are we entitled to destroy all but ourselves? And if so – will we ourselves
survive? There are many a scientific, practical, ethical and even survival
issues at stake. These questions don’t
have answers yet; only indications. I can only hope and pray the indications
and my reading is wrong!
THE START, AND THE ROAD FORWARD FROM
THERE
Unless we go to the beginning, it is
impossible to fully appreciate what we have done to the Planet. The beginning –
from the much-vaunted Industrial Revolution, the discovery of Fossil Fuels, and
continuous rise of material progress giving rise to ever increasing
consumption, as material inventions made life easier. But this has happened at
a cost; the increased consumption has had an impact on the entire Ecosystem,
and all its components – Air, Water, Soil, Plants, Animals, Micro-Organisms, Temperature,
in short, everything about the Ecosystem; fundamentally changing the
composition of the Planet Earth in ways that is only now being understood.
Prior to this phase – undoubtedly
the most destructive phase for the planet – things were, in environmental
terms, much better off. People had clean air, water, there were trees, and the
Flora & Fauna of the planet was prospering. But in a few centuries we
humans have undone all the good Nature did in the past several Millennia. The
landscape, the air, water are all changed beyond recognition – and all for
what? Are the advantages large enough to justify the wholesale destruction that
development has wrought on the lovely planet Earth? Worst of all – is this
lifestyle of ours Sustainable?
Sure, we now have electricity,
comforts – but what is the price we have paid for it? That price is evident for
all to see; this is the curse of modernity, which has deprived the planet of so
much, while giving us so much. The balance of the trade has not been equal; can
we honeslty state that we have given back to the planet as much as we have
taken from it? Sadly, the answer to that is no, we haven’t. While the comforts provided
by modernity are beyond debate, what is equally beyond debate that the planet
is now much worse than it has ever been; and it is we Humans who are solely
responsible for this.
At the period we – or rather I, call
the Start, the situation was not as problematic; the balance of nature, though
under increasing pressure, was not as dire as it now is. Be it pollution, or be
it temperature – in all parameters we can assess, the situation was decidedly
superior to the current situation. In our blind chase for scientific
advancement & consumerism driven greedy consumption, we have left a near-Impossilble-to-delete
footprint upon the environment.
The
question we need to ask is could we have opted for a model of development that
was more friendly to the nature around us?
I don’t say development is bad; my point in going back to the start is that it
was feasible for us to have taken a much better, a softer approach to this
matter, rather than the greed we now display. The Marathi word “haavratpanaa”
comes to mind. What we see around us – the indications of drastic change,
pollution, climate change is a mere reflection of our mindless rampant greed.
This is the curse of Science, one that has come built in with its boon. And, I
am afraid, we now have to change – it is no longer an option… but does anyone
care? Very few. But more of this in later articles on this matter as I go
deeper into the Environment and the Ecosystem…
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