The Environment & Us: Some Reflections… Some Learnings

Last month, I had the chance to participate in 2 Environment conferences. One in capital New Delhi, and the other right on banks of Ganga, in my hometown of Haridwar.?

Around the world, the modern education system has taught us to see nature more as a ‘resource’, and less as ‘the source of life’. Additionally, we are conditioned to believe only what is externally measurable or has ‘evidence’, and not rely on anything else, even keeping basic common sense & intuition at bay.

There is no question that natural habitats & environs around us are breaking down in a spiral of chaos. Especially in the last couple of decades, the pace of destruction has accelerated. Around the world, numerous decisions taken by people are tremendously outright vicious to nature, being taken knowingly for very short-term gains. What’s worse is, often these decisions or projects are packaged nicely & gifted to us, which we gobble up feeling smug & successful.

To truly support environment conservation, it is essential to understand the environment and our place in it. The 3 anchors of this understanding are:?

Everyone and everything in this Universe are intricately connected to each other and are in an eternal equilibrium.

Our minds & bodies are the most sensitive, advanced instruments, capable of sensing even the slightest variation in this equilibrium.

The conflict to save or destroy the natural surroundings is an external manifestation of inner pursuit of man’s search for Truth.?

True to Newton’s Third Law, around the world the yet small but solid voice of nature crusaders is gaining strength too. More & more people in every field, Spiritual, Scientific, Legal, Academic, Engineers, Social workers, Non-profits… across boundaries of age, gender, or any other status, are becoming convinced that we all need to join minds & hands together if we want to make even the tiniest bit of impact towards safe-guarding our rivers, lands, trees, air and wildlife.

Not surprisingly, this understanding came naturally to our ancestors, who have practiced true harmonious co-existence for millennia. Indigenous people in all parts of the world have their own rituals of treating the different bodies of Nature as their Gods & Goddesses, entities to be revered or even feared, but taking from them only the needful and never more. It was eye-opening to hear from Jay Naidoo and Rutendo Ngara on the deep relationship with nature as practiced by the people of South Africa, a philosophy very similar to what we in India have known for centuries too. This is an example of Ethnoscience as Dr Ravi Chopra explained (Lok Vigyaan) – the common knowledge, transcended over centuries through generations. Our ancestors intuitively knew how much to take and how much to leave, and there was never a crisis of resources! Even without modern equipment, people were sensitive & hence in touch with nuances of nature, taking corrective action then & there where needed!

Today, when things are not going so well for #PlanetEarth, and we are looking for answers, it is a good idea to go back to our roots & see the original perspective. There is immense practical knowledge in our history. For example, #Atharvaveda has a full section comprising of 63 Mantras, called as “Bhoomi Sookta”. They bring home the truth the Earth is indeed the Mother of all living beings, and are very prescriptive towards how we should be treating the 5 elements of land, water, air, fire & sky. Quoting 1 :

????????? ??????? ?????????????? ???????? ?????????

?? ?? ?????????????? ??? ??????? ?????? ??????

i.e.?The land where water (from rivers) is free to flow continuously, without obstacles, day & night, will give us the elixir of life.

In simple words, let the rivers flow as they are! Only the flowing water will remain fresh & pure, and will give life.

Now, is this a revelation? Not at all. It appears as common sense. Stagnant water stinks, fresh water doesn’t. Fishes and aquatic life thrive only in flowing water.

?Let’s take #Ganga for instance. The Ganga river, worshipped in India as a Goddess since time immemorial, also gets exploited the most. In fact, the well observed datum that Ganga water kept in a closed bottle does not putrefy even after years, was scientifically proven by multitude of modern researches, including several from NEERI, when high concentration of bacteriophages (a prokaryotic virus which kills bacteria) was discovered in Ganga sediments, especially in the upper Himalaya region. Unfortunately, the large number of dams, barrages & hydroelectric power projects constructed in our Mountains have led to a humungous deterioration in the quality of water, sediments and nutrients in the Ganga River network. While it might check off the economic point of view, this line of thinking completely side steps on the detrimental environmental impact. NEERI’s research indicated that Ganga loses 90% of her healing and antibacterial properties downstream of Tehri Dam. In the last 20 years, the river which has always thrived with life of all kinds, now looks miserable. The fishes are mostly dead. As a native of Haridwar, I am a personal witness to this painful reality, which is only becoming worse with each passing day.

The lessons are many, and we could go on. The modern life-style today doesn’t encourage many of us to think about environment and nature in totality, and more importantly the role that we could, as individual private citizens of this World could play.

And what I found immensely useful were a few takeaways-

1. Let them be : Reviving rivers and forests does not need fancy budgets – only the right intention. Just let the rivers flow, unobstructed and don’t cut green, old trees. Feeble newly planted plants do not compensate for cutting thousands of acres of old forests.
2. Be friends with the 5 natural elements : One cannot stress this enough! A Doctor spoke about the immense healing power that exposure to Sun & Trees has on our mental & physical well-being. We have shunned the Sun with fear of tanning, but the entire life system on this planet is regulated by the Sun. We look down (literally) upon good old mud and replace it with concrete. Witness the sunrises or sunsets, wherever you are! Walk barefoot on the grass! Look to the sky & feel the vastness of Universe.
3. Never thinking we are alone, or worse, weak : Find like-minded people who are passionate towards saving #planetEarth, not consuming her. But if you don’t, even a single voice of truth & act of reason with the right intention has the power to ring across the world.??

Sharing my favourite photograph from the World Environment Conference at Matri Sadan, Haridwar –?

Views are personal.