An Introspection in view of the World Environment Day

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By the term environment we mean the existence of the space around us wherever we live on this Earth and this space is filled with all natural things such as the air, water, sunlight, flora, fauna, the valleys, terrains, mountains, rivers, oceans, lakes and so on and all the man-made things such as the buildings, bridges, dams, communication facilities and so on. In physical terms these are our environment in which we all have to live without choice, without choice because this is our only Earth. The healthy existence of all this is essential for the wellbeing of every creature. However, some of the activities of man which is claimed to be part of the development needed for a civilized society have been responsible for degrading the health of our environment, the degradation happening in the form of not only the pollution of air, water, sound, etc., but also the ecological imbalance created due to the slow extinction of many species, both plant and animal, and the endangering of their natural habitat. This is probably the reason for us to take necessary and adequate corrective and preventive measure to restore the health of the environment. Global warming seems to be one such alarming situation for which definite actions have been put in place by some key nations. But, it seems to be a gigantic task given the inevitability to continue with the developmental work for some time and the prolonged time it may require to bring back the healthy balance and also the lack of resolve to implement the plans on a war footing.

?The purpose of writing this is not to delve into the physical aspects of the environment and its health, which would have been discussed by many scholars and environmental scientists already for decades and hence I do not see any value in discussing about it here. The main intention is to highlight many other aspects in the psychological domain, which are essential factors for the overall development of mankind. In my opinion, these psychological factors may become more important than the physical factors if we really want to lead a harmonious and peaceful life on Earth.

?For instance, all over the world there has been one or more conflicts among individuals, groups, communities and nations happening almost regularly every year and this phenomenon is not new at all as our history may speak. Man has relentlessly fought against man without really caring for the destruction caused by it to the environment as well as to the peaceful existence of every living being. One must ask why at all we have continued to lead such a horrible life in spite of nurturing faith in our religions and societal moralities. Why generation after generation there has been a repetition of the degradation in human values and ethos in spite of the flourishing civilization? How are we bringing up our new generation and what kind of living standards are we creating for them? What should be our responsibility, both at family level and national level, to create an environment of mutual cooperation, mutual trust and respect and a sense of sacrifice for the better cause? How should we maintain a cordial relationship at all levels, because, living means to be in a relationship? Why human relations are getting broken at every levels and why we seem to have disregarded this aspect? We seem to be busy in formulating and legislating laws in order to deal with such situations but where are we really concerned with preventing them? What we have been witnessing for centuries is the disconnect between the rulers of the state, scientific community and business tycoons on one side and the ordinary citizens on the other side because, the former seems to have taken for granted the legitimate interests of the latter for peaceful existence and hence has been exploiting them for their selfish motives. Ironically, the controller may form a mere 1% of the total population and the remaining 99% has remained helpless and exploited. The gap between the rich and the poor has kept on increasing and a large percentage of the population has continued to remain deprived of basic necessities for living. On top of all this there is a constant threat of global war, which has the potential to become lethal.

?Is this the kind of environment that we have created and continued to nurture? Can there be a different and unique day to celebrate this as another environment day so that we can really pay attention individually to human relationships and our relationship with nature? I think we may not need any kind of laws and regulations to be framed in order to control and monitor it because it is not something to be controlled by an external entity. It is really to be understood and embraced at individual level with passion, seriousness and sensitivity. That means, we should be able to create an environment of freedom to every individual so that one can think and act in right direction without fear, compulsion or pressure.

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