Let us redeem ourselves in the year to come

It is time once again to bid adieu to the old and usher-in the New Year. We cannot casually say “another year ends”, for the year 2020 will be leaving behind a trail of natural calamities—count Covid as one too— destruction, devastation and subsequent need for much-needed introspection on our part, and on the part of the governments across the world, whether our over-exploitation of the nature’s bounty has brought us to this! Of-course it has! The ‘civilized’ human being is a slave to his senses and can go to any lengths to appease them. Nothing can come between him and his sensual delights— if the exotic provides him that satisfaction, he is not averse to bringing species to the point of extinction; if the luxuriously concretized and mechanized lifestyle is his heart’s desire, he will get green stretches and stretches of forests plundered and killed; he will tame the oceans and bleach the corals, and vow to build castles on the moon! Yes, he has a demand and the means to get it fulfilled. He has the power to dictate the governments and bend the rules; he has the money to buy conscience—and, in any case, when it comes to environmental and biosphere-related consciousness, the political leaders and law-makers have little. Politics is not a philanthropic hobby or a mission to serve the Nation (don’t believe any leader who claims otherwise), it is the most profitable ‘profession’ or ‘business’ that can turn a ‘nobody into a millionaire within years. What then do you expect from such a lot? Don’t even believe all the international pledges taken to combat climate change and environmental degradation. They are just that: Fake promises focusing on vague future with no real effort in that direction (Some exceptions do exist here and there though, with that country’s governments taking proactive measures, the success is still left on the time to come). And, Covid has been a spoiler too, with most governments making hasty decisions at the risk on environment, existing green cover and wildlife to speed up the economy without thinking of the outcome. Here, again, we have not been able to realize or learn what Mother Nature is trying to signal.

Now, in such a scenario, we are ready to welcome 2021 with the hope that a miracle will happen that will cure us from the curses of 2020. Gullible we! As I write the last edit of ‘the 2020’ I wonder how suddenly can we get rid of all forms of illnesses including Covid - or corona as is generally termed, mutating viruses, all forms of pollutions, rising climates, dwindling greenery, suffocating cities, dying bio-diversity and dying human sensitivity towards Mother Earth! I watch exited anchors on TV channels and keen writers in print media talking positively about the Year 21. I think twice as hard as I come to know how we are going to wag a magic wand and make everything right, including environmental blunders; how we will use ‘technology’ and ‘laboratory’ to create and reshape Nature; how we will industrialize fertile lands and make the farmers grow twice/thrice on a small patch with GMO seeds and technology. Then, is the organic movement a myth or a luxury to appease the senses and maintain the health of the rich and mighty? Ah, you- the ‘civilized man’! Will you leave nothing for us? Year 2020 was the ‘Year of the Nature’ and 2021 should be the ‘Year of Penitence’ or the ‘Year of Redemption’. But, will you let it be so, ‘The Man’?