ECOLOGICAL AWARENESS: WE NEED ACTION, NOT PLATITUDES

World Environment Day was celebrated with much fanfare across the Globe on June 5. Though the awareness of reducing carbon emissions and pollutions of all sorts is spreading among the elite as well as the poor, the grim need for collective action is still to gain momentum among each of us. Ecological plunder, pumping of poisonous effluents into rivers by factories regardless of the dire consequences to the humanity in the long run in the form of diseases such as Cholera, diahorrea, skin diseases, water scarcity, shortage of potable drinking water, rising sea-levels as a result of global warming are staring at our faces like monsters.

Much has been written about this curse for which we are to blame ourselves only and the remedy has to be taken by ourselves, otherwise the worst sufferers will be the present generation and coming generation. Nations, among developed as well as developing nations who were very reluctant or averse to listening to the valuable and timely alarming signals conveyed by the wise a few years ago have shown the willingness and enthusiasm to come round to the point of views, the most important being USA, one of the most developed nations, incidentally the worst emitter of carbon emissions didn’t care to sign the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 signed at Tokyo, Japan by refusing to be a non-signatory. Anyhow, belated enlightenment dawned upon it later and now under the regime of a new President has decided to co-operate with the next summit to be held at Copenhagen, the Danish capital, a few months from now. So far so good.

True, the environment protection is the responsibility of each of us. Each has to contribute his/her own might to the same. But how many of us care much for this? The answer is a cold “only a miniscule”.

On June 5, the day we are celebrating as World Environment Day, we could read about and watch the enthusiasm displayed by our citizens- men, women and students- throughout Kerala, throughout India, throughout our world. The planting of saplings with beaming smiles by students, environment activists, seminars organized by NGOs, government agencies and a whole lot of prominent agencies and political leaders across the spectrum vying with each other for grabbing attention of the media were watched by all of us in the visual media. What we couldn’t and didn’t notice were the simultaneous felling of trees and its stealth transportation by lorries to unknown places by forest brigands and such reckless anti-social elements. Same was the case with carbon emissions. There were no dearth of vehicles plying along the pot-holed streets of our cities emitting poisonous carbon-monoxide emissions adding to the number of patients with respiratory disorders. The pumping of poisonous effluents by factories down the rivers continued as usual.

Due to the pathetic infrastructure development our roads and transport and subsequently the travel facilities, life in cities and rural areas reminds us of a bygone era. Narrow pot-holed roads, a booming population, similarly a booming real-estate and the number of vehicles plying through our roads emitting effusions most often resulting in traffic-jams – our journey through a city is something of a nightmare (Imagine the plight of vehicles and travellers caught in the traffic-jam under scorching sun for long duration in a city!). Even lack of parking spaces create much of a hell to travellers.

Though the blame for the pathetic state of our streets and lack of parking spaces are attributed to the apathy of the authorities, the latter always make it sure to charge parking-fee, sometimes even penalties for not parking at the specified space (Where?) from the travellers. If these charges are extracted after taking care of the minimum necessities of the citizens it is worth charging the required fee. It may atleast sound plausible. As long as such facilities are non-existent or namesake what is the logic behind charging those who sweat it out through the dilapidated streets.

June 5s will come and go. So will come World Environment Day celebrations. Planting of saplings under the glaring eyes of TV cameras amid much fanfare will continue as usual. So will the wanton felling of trees. Seminars and some measures to reduce carbon emissions will be organized. So will the number of vehicles emitting poisonous emissions multiply. The streets will remain to be pot-holed and dilapidated.

Platitudes abound. But no positive action. One hand which gives doesn’t know, what the other hand takes.
However, waiting to see light at the end of the tunnel is human nature- HOPE.