food for thought

The battle to protect our environment should be a year-round effort, involving each and every one of us. Just as it is the responsibility of each person to maintain a clean home, the same responsibility should extend to our planet Earth, the only home of mankind. We should appreciate how inhospitable most other planets are to human beings or any kind of life. Even Earth was not always hospitable to life in the past, and we may be living in a particularly gentle period before our mother planet becomes inhospitable again. But if human beings continue to live as they are doing without any thought for the planet’s as well as their own future, it is certain that the Earth will not be fit to live upon before very long. The United tions celebrated the World Environment Day this year with the theme: ‘Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care’. It is a clarion call to all us inhabitants of Earth to leave it a better place for our descendents. To live in harmony with our environment, we must appreciate how much we owe to it to live comfortably and well. When we are called upon to consume with care, we only need to recall the words of wisdom of Mahatma Gandhi: ‘The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.’ Certainly we will not be deprived or diminished if we consume less energy, less water, and less of other tural resources. Rather, we are consuming much more than we need at present, which spoils our habits and makes us vulnerable to all sorts of diseases, while puting huge pressure upon our environment. Union Environment minister Prakash Javadekar has called upon industries and society to adopt the ‘Three Rs’ of ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’. Our country will soon overtake Chi as the world’s most populous, but already 13 of our cities are among the 20 most polluted cities in the world. Ganga and Yamu are ranked among the world’s 10 most polluted rivers. Large parts of our countryside and fields are now degraded. By 2050, there will be 9.6 billion people living on Earth, threatening to push many other species of living beings into extinction. If we continue to consume excessively and waste as we are doing now, it is estimated that Earth will need three other planets to sustain it. Surely this is not a lifestyle we can sustain for long.

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