Photo: Supriya Biswas
Third Prize HP Climate Change Photography Contest / Sanctuary Photolibrary

You can make a difference

The steps listed above are not some kind of magic bullet that will suddenly solve climate change. And nor does an individuals have to do ALL these things. But these choices we make WILL make a difference.

Almost in the blink of an eye, today's teenagers will be asked to put their hands on the wheel of development and at that point, surely they must have a functioning planet in which to live? In the long run one thing is clear - what is good for nature is good for us, our economy, our health and our happiness. Rather than using GDP levels, stock markets and other commercial gauges, perhaps, it is time for us to evolve new ways to measure our 'progress'. Are people happier? Are our children safer on the streets? Can we drink water from our rivers and streams? Is our air pure?

In any event, whether young persons realize it or not, the writing is on the wall. Water is going to be the Achilles Heel of those who imagine they can continue to tamper with the life-support systems of our planet. Its bad enough that ignorance, avarice and arrogance are combining to poison our rivers, lakes, coasts and aquifers, but what makes it acutely worse is the fact that climate change has begun to turn water, the most vital survival commodity on earth after air, into a weapon with which to lay us low. With every small temperature rise what we are seeing is too much rain, or too little rain, rain that comes too early or too late and, to add insult to injury, rain that is often so acidic that it does not nurture any longer, it destroys.

Ironically, the rich imagine that water is not a real problem because they can pay for bottled water, and they can coerce municipalities, or divert river away from the poor without let or hindrance. Of course they are wrong. This is untrue, but the companies that enrich themselves by selling packaged drinking water, flavoured or unflavoured, in plastic bottles thrive on this misconception. In fact they are themselves significant contributors to global climate change! The amount of energy used in manufacturing the plastic raw material, moulding the bottle, processing and filling the content, transporting it to the market and then dealing with the waste is best visualised by imagining you are throwing away something like a quarter bottle of fossil-fuel-sourced oil each time you buy and throw a plastic beverage bottle away.

India Naturally

The good thing is that the moment we stop mistreating our environment, it starts to repair itself. While this is generally true of any environment anywhere, it is more true of India because we have been blessed by fertile soils, an extravagant river system, moderate climate and attitudes that have evolved over time to appreciate all these gifts.

At another level, the very identity of India is linked to its biodiversity. Apart from tigers, elephants, orchids and birds, our wetlands, forests, mountains and shores have produced rich and varied societies, ranging from fisherfolk and nomads to forest dwellers and hill folk. These communities evolved to live with and wisely exploit the resources nature conferred upon our subcontinent. We should be proud of this heritage and should protect it zealously. It is this ecological and cultural foundation, after all, that makes India a viable nation. Our ability to show that we care for our environment and thus the well-being of our people is likely to earn us more respect and admiration from the world community (and our own people) that our military or economic plans.

At the start of a complicated new century, we are thus confronted by crucial questions that have not thus far been adequately addressed. In which direction does our development destiny lie? How should we balance the needs of people with the imperatives of nature protection? Will economists and planners recognise the financial and social contribution of our sanctuaries and national parks in time to prevent their permanent destruction? We may never achieve perfect unanimity, but we must at least strive to achieve a common minimum environmental agenda for the country. Our survival, and not just that of the tiger, depends on the outcome of this national objective.