Man’s avarice is burgeoning day by day and it is tearing our planet, our abode, precisely, into pieces. The mess man makes eventually hurting our Earth. And what do we do? Just sit lazily watching TV, go shopping, build houses, buy umpteen cars and what not. Doesn’t mean that you should not do it, but the question is do we take a stand?
Our planet Earth has given a wonderful place to reside in but all we do is take everything for granted. Earth is our home and we have a duty towards it- simply put- we need to clean the mess we make. We cut a tree, but do we plant a dozen later? That seems to be the important question today. Because our Earth will be on the verge of destruction if it goes on like this.
Mahatma Gandhi said, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.” True. What is the use of houses, automobiles, mobiles, and other stuff, if the next generation can’t get the privilege of seeing the magnificent nature? All will become oblivion or in nothingness. Well, man has to live a better life, but that doesn’t mean that man can terminate myriad forests to do so.
Life on the Earth runs like a cycle and if in the perfect cycle, man becomes the center then everything one has put together with full power will be obliterated.
It seems that in all things man has taken the controlling power and this has created chaos all around. Today, we hear more car noises rather than birds chirping. A child from its birth knows about mobiles better than the natural world. I bet it was a different story for our grandparents. Life has changed so rapidly.
We won’t know how much damage we have done to this Earth until it’s too late, so we better be prepared. Chris Maser in Forest Primeval: The Natural History of an Ancient Forest says, “What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and one another.” Yeah, everything we do will hit back on us with double force.
The dire need today is protecting the environment we breathe in. Otherwise, our future generation will breathe only toxic gasses. In cities, we see how pollution is creating havoc. People can’t even breathe fresh air in the morning. Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people. ”
I guess, if this annihilation of forests continues, then one day we will be buying fresh oxygen for money. Don’t we get free oxygen now? Do we want to change this wonderful Earth, into a pathetic wasteland? Obviously not.
“It is horrifying that we have to fight our government to save the environment” (Ansel Adams). It is appalling. Who knows one day we might not even be here to fight because everything will be gone by then. Sustainable development is the only key for our future to survive. If we don’t follow it then we won’t know about tomorrow.
There are two kinds of ecology that we need to comprehend:
Shallow Ecology:
It tends to find technological solutions for nature.
Deep Ecology:
It tends to understand the deep meaning of life. It realizes that nature and humans are equal and one cannot take over the other. This term was given by the Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess. He gives eight basic principles for this, the seventh point in it is: “The ideological change is mainly that of appreciating life quality (dwelling in situations of intrinsic value) rather than adhering to a high standard of living. There will be a profound awareness of the difference between big and great.”
Thus, one need to have a deep ecological concern for nature and it can be done by ‘self- realization’, that is, realizing our self in the living things around. When we see ourselves on others, then only things will change for the better. After all, “Everything is connected with everything else.” And when it is so, our lives will also be smashed as the forests. We, thus, need to be aware of this and take the greed away from our hearts and live in harmony with nature.
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A good environment is more essential as its necessary for a healthy life and survival. We can only increase our living standard only if we survive