Man has decided that all the resources in nature, living and non living belong to him and only him and to no other creature. The fruits that grow on trees are all plucked and sold in the markets without leaving a single fruit on the tree for the birds to eat. Animals and birds are bread only to be slaughtered and consumed by humans. Is a hungry animal or bird able to go to the market and buy food when it is hungry? In the forest, food left over by one animal is consumed by some other. Nothing is wasted. It is only we humans who waste food and don’t even allow poor hungry creatures to consume the food we have wasted.
A tiger hunts only when it is hungry, but what do we do? We kill for fun sometimes. For us it is a game. We deprive animals of the wild of their freedom and keep them captive in zoos just because our children have never seen them? They are imprisoned till death with no court of appeal. We store food in our refrigerators for days together. A bird builds only one nest unlike us who build huge houses one for each of our children. A bird causes no damage to nature while building a nest. Can we imagine a house being built by us without harming nature? In pursuit of tomorrow’s happiness and in fear of tomorrow’s uncertainties, we have ruined our present and also ruined the life of our fellow creatures that inhabit the earth. All the activities performed by every other creature on earth are in harmony with nature. We celebrate days such as environment day, earth day etc. on the contrary we should have been mourning on these days for what we have done to nature.
What has happened to us? Why are we behaving like this? We proclaim to be educated and cultured. We are the same people, who maintain the most beautiful gardens at home, and look for the shade of trees while walking on the road but are least bothered when trees are cut down for reasons such as putting up hoardings. We spend thousands of rupees on our pets but are least bothered to even feed a biscuit to a hungry dog which is searching for food in the garbage bins or to carry to hospital, a stray animal that has met with an accident. We make sure to call the plumber when there is a leaking tap at home but are least bothered when precious water is flowing on the road from a broken pipeline. We keep our house and compound clean but are least bothered to maintain cleanliness on the streets.
To us all these things are not our responsibility, protecting trees is the duty of the forest department, maintaining cleanliness is the duty of the city corporation and the list goes on. We are good at fixing responsibilities. How many of us even know what our constitutional duties and responsibilities are? We stage protests for not being given our constitutional rights. We make a mountain out of it. Who is to protest against us for not fulfilling our constitutional duties and responsibilities?
It is believed that after creating the entire universe, god created man. Man was created in order to protect and beautify all that was created before him. But he has only managed to destroy. Is there any other creature on earth that has caused destruction to nature? Is there any other creature that pollutes the air, the rivers and the seas? Just imagine this “The earth is 4.6 billion years old. Let’s scale that to 46 years. We have been here for 4 hours. Our industrial revolution began 1 minute ago. In that time, we have destroyed more than 50% of the world’s forests.
For every so called ‘developmental activity’ that man performs, nature pays a price. Forests are being cut down for roads, railways, bridges, mining, industries etc. The pollution caused by vehicles and industries has polluted the air, water and soil and driven the creatures living in them to the brink of extinction. Man is just one among the thousands of creatures inhabiting the earth but he has exploited nature for his greed.” As someone has rightly said…”Nature has enough to fulfil every man’s need but not every man’s greed”
20% of the world’s population consumes 80% of the resources. The world spends 12 times more on military expenditure than on aid to developing countries. 5000 people die every day because of dirty drinking water. 1 billion people have no access to safe drinking water. Three quarters of fishing grounds are exhausted, depleted or in dangerous decline. The average temperatures of the last fifteen years have been the highest ever recorded. The ice cap is 40% thinner than 40 years ago. There may be at least 200 million climate refugees by 2050. 40% of arable land has suffered long term damage. Every year 13 million hectares of forests disappear. 1 mammal in 4, 1 bird in 8, 1 amphibian in 3, are threatened with extinction. Species are dying at a rhythm 1000 times faster than the natural rate. The stats continue.
If man had to sick to the basics like all other creatures on earth, ie food, clothing and shelter, the other creatures would not have suffered the way they have been suffering today. Man invented trade and with trade came in money and in the bargain of earning more and producing more, nature was destroyed and is still being. A hundred years ago people still lived happily without having any of the appliances and facilities that we call as necessities today. Forty years back, a car was a luxury and the same car was used at least for twenty five years. I agree that we all can’t abandon everything and go back and live in the forests like our ancestors did, but at the same time, we can’t keep exploiting nature for our selfish needs. We need to draw a line.
IT IS ABSURD TO HOPE that we can bring life on a dead planet like MARS, if we can’t sustain it on a planet teaming with life like ‘Earth’
Hubert Reeves puts it beautifully… “Man is the most insane species. He worships an invisible God and destroys a visible nature. Unaware that the nature he is destroying is this God he is worshiping” It is high time we realise that nature does not need man but man needs nature.
People don’t change when they have an option to change. People change when they do not have any other option. The choice is ours.
Author
Daniel Tauro is nature lover. He is a volunteer at Animal Care Trust, an NGO taking care of the sick and injured stray animals in mangalore. He is also an active member of The Mangalore Green Brigade (Mangalore), a group of green lovers who plant, protect and water trees in Mangalore city.
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