Ozone depletion, glaciers melting, sea levels rising, temperatures rising, climate changes — one is probably sick of hearing these. We’ve heard a lot on these statistics and what we have in store for us. Initially it was a bit scary, but then we’ve got used to it. Whatever happens, it’s for the entire world, not exclusively for me, or perhaps you. When we believe that ‘two is a company’ and ‘three is a crowd’, we certainly needn’t worry over something, which is troubling the entire earth. When the world gets prepared for that uncertain future, you and I would definitely oblige too, to do what is required of us, at that time.
Having acknowledged that we have reached a critical stage, maybe the crossroads to existence, several fundamental questions now arise; has human civilization tread the right path? Why did we need development if it would land us here in the long run? What is the kind of life we lead today? And even if this is a desired one, was this anticipated when man first set forth? Questions arise endlessly; solutions to which rests not only on science and economics, but also the psyche and compulsions of man. The truth is that we have seriously tampered with the earth, polluted its soil, water and air. However the earth for certain would remain forever, while our presence on it is uncertain.
The path that didn’t lead to sustained development
Having been convinced that we are at the crossroads to existence, we now realize that development is indeed harmful. Everything around us today looks very obvious and necessary for our life. Restaurants, movies, sports, education, profession, healthcare etc. have become intricately woven to our lives of today and that of tomorrow. Our present view on all these, our dependence on them and the development of these institutions only facilitates the destruction of our future, in the long run. All our social institutions have developed without a larger consideration of continued existence. We need to understand these fundamentals of our civilization, to realize what would be in store for us later. If one were able to perceive human existence in a way it would continue to exist forever, he or she would see insanity reigning among mankind today. Perceiving a world of continued, unchallenged human existence is not difficult. After all, aren’t there a few indigenous tribes out there today who have remained the same for centuries and would probably remain forever, except for our misadventure?
Our wrong fundamentals
If one believes that living like the tribes is no life at all, then he or she has been perfectly tuned and addicted to the uncertain world of today. For only the life of certainty like that of the tribes, enshrines universal birthrights of all individuals on the face of the earth. Every man on earth has been bestowed with such basic fundamental rights, which have been overridden and forgotten by our civilization, despite having its own exhaustive list today. The basic birthrights, which have been infringed, include:
a) The compulsion of man to work for his food
b) De-valuing manual work against intellectual work
The above two issues are fundamental breaches of the birthrights of man (See Views and Perspectives), which form the foundation of modern societies today. We can’t expect to go a long way when our foundations and fundamentals are wrong.
When we succeed in convincing ourselves that the world of today is not what it should have actually been; we see everything around us, being too odd. For instance when we see Presidents and Prime Ministers, we wonder what those bodyguards behind them are doing there, when they should have actually been protecting their family, or hunting food for them. Why has civilization brought us to such a state where man needs man to protect him from another man? The existence of these uncontacted tribes today, prove that there was a possibility for man to have lived on the surface of the earth forever, without a threat. However we have treaded away from it, to a point where we have an uncertain future.
How far can we go on the same path
With our basic fundamentals gone wrong, every development realized by our civilization only backfires on us in the long run. The scale of development has only getting bigger and bigger. The population has been increasing, with a squabble for resources. The inhabited land area has also been increasing continuously. The laws of physics reiterate that mater cannot be created or destroyed, but only changed from one form to another. In other terms the amount of resources will be the same forever. It is surprising that most of use believe the world population to keep increasing and progressing forever. No one seems to realize that there should somewhere be a threshold, beyond which the situation would deteriorate or at least change.
The ancient South Indian philosopher and poet, Thrivalluvar had clearly emphasized the effects of limits in his philosophy. He demonstrates his view by saying that the lightest cotton is seemingly weightless; however it can only be loaded to a certain point on a cart. When that threshold is breached, the iron axle of the cart breaks. Thus the resources; land area, water bodies shall commutatively remain the same while population and demand for these would keep increasing at a rising rate. With such a scenario encapsulating mankind; it is without logic that we think we can go on like this forever. People take it for granted that solutions would come automatically as and when problems crop up. When there are no solutions or when solutions fail, or even when they don’t reach in time, problems develop and dominate.
The last lap
Future of man on the face of earth is anyone’s guess. The global environmental problems of today have a more ethical aspect to it too. Global environmental problems created due to certain sections of the world cause immense hardship and damage to certain other sections of the world, although they may be separated by time and distance from the problem makers.
While people of a country can request their governments to ensure environmental safeguards for them, there is no such government at the global level, only cooperation of all the governments. As there is a difference of opinions and interests among the countries, coinciding with their economic and industrial requirements, the common efforts lack the will and drive. They therefore even try to delay or avoid such regulations. However this attitude would soon change, when the impending dangers become more evident. The will to fight all environmental problems jointedly would one day become genuine and desperate; but then that day would most likely be too late.
