By S K Agarwal.
With almost 8 billion people living on this earth, we are reliant upon a precisely perfect
ecosystem, designed by nature, which provides us food, water, clean air, and energy in
different forms. None of these are infinite. We are not only reliant on this ecosystem,
rather we are an integral part of it.
With declining levels of biodiversity to over-dependence on these finite natural resources for the development of overextended infrastructure and supply chains, these stressed systems have already reached a breaking point. The natural ecosystem has lost almost half of its area. And a million species are at risk of extinction, all because of human actions.
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Ironically COVID 19 has delivered, unusual environmental benefits. As if Mother Nature
has heaved a sigh of relief. There is a significant change in the environment in the form
of clean air, lower carbon emissions, cleaning of rivers, and respite for wildlife. Here is
the brief detail of what humans have been doing for long, not only for themselves, rather
for the next generations to come.
Human now extracts, consume, or waste 60 billion tons of natural resource every year.
It’s almost twice the amount of the 1980 level. More than 80 % of wastewater is pumped
into streams, lakes, rivers, and ocean without treatment. It carries with it 300 to 400
million tons of heavy metals, toxic slurry, and other hazardous industrial discharge.
Plastic waste has risen 15 times since 1980 levels.
This in turn affects more than 85 % of marine turtles, 45 % of sea birds, and 44 % of marine mammals. Overconsumption of chemical fertilizers has created 400 dead zones. We have sent the planet in a position of no return. So, in the name of development, what we have created, are bad air, polluted water, unhygienic food, unpredictable climatic conditions, and turbulent living habitat.
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Read Also : Case study: Mandi system of Punjab v/s Bihar, amidst the ongoing protest
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Exploitation at all levels has become the name of the development. We have put the whole ecosystem at stake for the sake of pseudo-religious, social, cultural, and national values. Life on this planet has become uncertain and difficult.
We will have to resort to SUSTAINABLE LIVING, which can be achieved by reducing
the demand for natural resources to a maximum of paying it back at the same level. Our
aim should be to live in a way where people and nature bloom within their fair share of
what is available. We must not be working on economic growth and infrastructural
development at the cost of environmental damage.
It’s imperative to recognize the value of Nature to our society. We must promote the awareness of people’s exposure to the vital importance of the environment and encourage the business they invest in to align with a sustainable, circular, and green economy.
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By 2050, the world’s population is projected to be 10 billion. It will lead to accelerated
adverse impacts on already depleting natural resources. If we don’t change the way we
think and stay on today’s path of business as usual, we are risking at intensifying the
vicious cycle of scarcity.
Only by making innovative and comprehensive changes to our production, supply chain and consumption systems, we can achieve a more sustainable future, which will be able to support 10 billion people and millions of other life forms. For this we require CONCERN AND COOPERATION in place of COMPETITION.
Tags: #cleanair, #earth, #energy, #environmental, #food, #future, #getgreengetgrowing, #gngagritech, #greenstories, #life, #nature, #waste, #water, #wildlife
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