We all know God is our father but who is our mother? Good gracious we are forgetting her… Yes of course she is our Mother Earth. Day in and day out, we prostate before our Father praying “Our Father in heaven, holy be your name”.
But our Mother Earth has never been left more uncared before. Our mother has sheltered us in her bosom for eons and in gratitude we leave her battered and bruised. We have used and misused our environment enough. Any further delay in restoring it will be inviting death. Favorable environment of rivers and plains were the cradles of civilization. Beginning from man’s first discovery of fire which was of natural flint stones to the latest exploration of oil and natural gas, humanity owes it all to the nature. We may progress to any level but our basic survival needs of air, water and food cannot be met any other way except by the environment. Nature has generously given us more than we deserved. But we have stretched the generosity too far which is taking its toll on us. Our text books have been teaching us about environment, its composition, importance, sources of energy, etc since 3rd or 4th grade. Retrospect a little and you will recollect the lines that read about not polluting the water bodies, the phenomena of water cycle, the life preserving ozone layer, the snow covered mountains and not less than 10 advantages of forests. But gauging the present environmental conditions around us, you will wonder did we ever understand the gravity of these things.
Today we are WITNESSING the consequences of what we only read about. The speed at which the conservation policies are being implemented is not even half of what they ere being researched and written. News papers and journals are carrying reports on global warming, depleting ozone which has almost left a hole over Antarctica, disappearing forest covers, extinction of rare species of birds and animals, fallow land due to non degradable waste, endangered marine life, etc. There is not one element of nature that we have left pristine. It is not just about maintaining the aesthetic glory of our natural panorama but it’s a question of our very survival. Did we in our wildest imagination expect snow flakes in Dubai , heat strokes in , melting snow in Antarctica or a leopard going on a killing spree in the city of Mumbai. These incidents are not amusing; they are a wake up call from our deep insensitive slumber.
Time is of essence in restoring our dilapidated environment. All those lessons in protecting and preserving nature that we learnt through our academic life are not meant for some 50 ministers of developed/developing countries to act upon. There are international conventions and conferences held, policies and protocols made. But how successful can these turnout is contentious. If we delegate a responsibility sharable by 6 billion people on a group of 60 ministers, the effectiveness of work cannot be exemplary. And blaming the leaders alone or carping about their functioning is a very escapist attitude. We all inhabit the earth, have nurtured through it so conserving it is also a collective responsibility.
Man has been unable to use his far sighted vision to his own loss. We have mindlessly increased the consumption of non-renewable fuels that will not only be exhausted but their extensive use has caused unhealthy Greenhouse effect. Increased amount of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane in the atmosphere has caused global warming which will lead to rising sea level through melting glaciers and huge displacement problem for coastal population. The earth cannot sustain the growing population and its needs. At global level, 14 hectares of tropical forest cover is destroyed every minute. And then we complain of meager rainfalls, rising temperature and cancerous pollutants. A beautiful verse by John Keble reads,
We scatter seeds with careless hands,
And dream we ne’er shall see them more;
But for a thousand years
Their fruits appear,
In weeds that mar the land,
Or healthful shore.
Imagine throwing stones and making holes in your own house and still expecting to live cozily inside. That is not possible. Our recklessness has failed us to see that we are destructing our own home and mother. It is like collecting garbage from the living room and emptying in the garden. But once the garden begins to stink we would not be able to live even in the living room. As if dirtying the home was not enough, we wanted to divide it as well. So we partitioned the lands, divided the waters and marked the sky as our air space. Since the compilation of literature, nature’s magnificence and perfection have influenced us. Odes to nature, values and inspiration from nature, it has all been written in poetry. Like always we have been adept at writing journals and poems but our Father alone knows who must implement it.
“Peace and Brotherhood” is the first and most important way to save the environment. Had there been no wars, we would not need to maintain our war planes and war ships and could save a major chunk of fuel. If we could be more loving towards each other, more people would be sharing the same roof and could spare the separate space for individual homes, separate cars, fuel and electricity. If we were more tolerant, the riots and blasts would not destroy property and the timber, steel, coal and other resources in reconstructing them could be saved. Over a period of time we have not exposed our mind to positivism and peace. It only understands passion and passion to own more. The cupidity is insatiable. Whatever tickles the body is our target. We have lost touch to the fact that there is a divine soul that wishes to be sensitive to the Mother Earth and eventually find the Heavenly Father. Now is the time to do it. Another minute lost is another step forward to the graveyard.
