It's now 3 months since a booming economy that 'rocked' tumbled headlong, and pulled with it more giants in more countries, such that the faultless also have to bear the brunt. A few pundits foresaw the route that US financial system was following. It turns out now that not only were the pundits too few in number, any bleating that they attempted was drowned in the din and tom-tom of suited and booted executives' laughter as they frequently refreshed their bank balances, which repeatedly mocked at any cautionary post-scripts or notes-below.
No great wisdom or intelligence is required to realize that environmental issues are headed the same way. We've had years of proof of environmental disasters that we brought upon ourselevs. It is past time for mankind to shelve current definitions of progress and development.
- You are progressive if you have grown another tree, reduced pollution, NOT because you added digits to your net worth, bought another car and gifted a 'stony' trinket.
- You are not progressive if you contribute to page 3 news. You are progressive if you reduce you resource usage.
- You may think that you are progressive if you buy eco-friendly things - green this, green that, green and more green luxury, but you are definitely showing progress if you reduce your consumption and morphed yourself into an anti- or non-consumer.
- Your local economy has developed if all members of the community have equal access to sanitation, health and other resources. Not because you have added an industry here and created a monstrous mall there.
- You are leading the good life if you believe in 'moderation in everything, everything in moderation', and not if you party your way through life.
- You know what progress is if you have started 'thinking small' and thinking local. The only meaningful 'big thought' is that of universal brotherhood living in harmony with the environment.
It took a mammoth collapse of giant financial institutions, cascading recession, depression, and extreme heartache for millions who have lost jobs before hindsight shows that the writing on the wall was no idle graffiti.
Let us not wait for a catastrophe of equivalent proportions on the climate front. The melting of the arctic ice and loss of glaciers should by now have moved Governments to take affirmative action.
What affliction is this that paralyses the collective mind from recognizing the symptoms and renders it incapable of the right action. Day in and day out, Nobel laureates in both the fields write and speak about ethics, and the course of action, but they remain paper exercises. I read Paul Krugman's columns regularly, and follow what Dr Pachauri (of IPCC) extols in invited talks.
Do we want an environmental catastrophe before Governments wake up - as they seem to be doing after the economic mishaps?
Methinks the catastrophe is already on us - not only in the Arctic and in the Himalayas, but also in your local weather, local food supply, and neighbourhood health.
Wake up!
Related Reading:
The Hot Spot
Growing Lush Landscapes and New Behavior
