Love your Planet, Don't abuse it

Love your Planet, don’t abuse it

One of the impending challenges facing mankind today with the ever increasing human activities in the form of economic, industrial and technological progress is to safeguard and nurture the very existence of our being, Planet Earth. Growth is vital if a nation has to thrive and compete in the global era. At the same time a fine balance has to be struck between advancement and environment protection in order to maintain nature in its purest form. Over the years, this basic principle has been consistently overlooked by all of us. This has resulted in a myriad of environmental issues for which there are no rapid remedies but nonetheless are issues of grave concern.

Global warming is one of the most critical threats to our planet. In simple terms, this phenomenon can be defined as a “gradual warming of the Earth’s atmosphere caused by the burning of fossil fuels and industrial pollutants”(web definition). Human activities have altered the chemical composition of the atmosphere through the build up of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. This has disturbed the “natural greenhouse effect” balance required for the normal survival of the species.

Deforestation has rendered our planet almost barren. This is also one of the significant causes of global warming since it increases the presence of carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere. As per the NASA Earth Observatory report the plants and soil of tropical forests hold approx 460 to 575 billion metric tons of carbon worldwide, with each acre of tropical forest containing about 180 metric tons of carbon. Wood has about 50% carbon and when trees are chopped, burnt and processed, the carbon thus released combines with oxygen and forms carbon dioxide. Considering the rate at which our trees are mercilessly chopped it is feared that tropical forests might be a thing of the past in next few decades. In this fight for survival, it is being little realized that plants having medicinal value are lost for good.

Deforestation poses a huge threat to animal life, as well. Many species of wild life face extinction. Plants and animals constitute the bio diversity of our planet. More than over half of these species thrive due to the tropical rainforests. As deforestation occurs, millions of these wild life species are diminishing at an alarming rate. Estimates reveal that almost 137 species are vanishing every day, globally.

Our oceans have not been spared by the human race, either. In the 1960’s only five per cent of marine fisheries were categorized as fished to capacity. Today that number has risen to an astronomical seventy per cent, as reported by the United Nations Environment Programme. Further, twenty five percent of the world’s shallow coral reefs have vanished and it is estimated that in the next half a century, as much as seventy per cent of the remnants might be lost. Take a look at any garbage dump and one cannot miss the plastics galore. These are grossly choking up our ecological system. Approximately forty million tons of toxic trash trades globally, every year.

All these forms of human activities are having a negative impact on the health of the perpetrator. Development and progress is being achieved, but at a huge cost which cannot be measured in monetary terms.

As one of the measures to combat this issue of global warming, Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty on climate change, has been signed and ratified by several nations of the developed world. By this, leading participants have committed to reduce the emission levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The treaty is a little ambiguous regarding the extent to which developing nations should participate in the effort to limit global emissions. This is because the per capita emissions of developing nations are much lower than that of the developed countries. This however does not absolve any of the developing nations of their primary responsibility in protecting the global climate.

The developing countries are also coming up with Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects. The developed countries which are committed to emission reduction targets contribute to the funding of these CDM projects and thus earn carbon credits resulting out of the joint venture. The United States for example though has still not ratified the Kyoto protocol, is under obligation to reduce their greenhouse gas emission levels. This can be achieved either by shutting down their factories or investing money in more expensive pollution control equipment or by getting carbon credit from other countries for aiding a CDM project. It is worthwhile to note that online carbon trading is well on its way. This is a big step that is being taken by several countries towards mitigating the global warming concern.

Coming to the brass-tacks, the solution to this environment illness syndrome is not easy, and humans will have to struggle for a long time to grapple with this issue. There is no single solution to resolve any of these multiple problems. It is going to take more number of years to mitigate the climate ills than the time taken to create them.

It is time one starts thinking of ways to positively contribute towards the environment so as to save the planet. As the old saying goes “Charity begins at home”, one should consciously become aware that little things such as conserving energy resources, curtailing wastage of all sorts with special regard to those made out of rainforests, use of recycled papers and products, help in planting more trees, refrain from buying products or accessories where animals have been sacrificed. All these will go a long way in tackling this mammoth challenge facing mankind today. At the same time, international organizations like WWF, UNO; NGO’s; environmentalists and scientists are leaving no stone unturned in coping up with this issue. It requires a worldwide network of commitment and discipline. Even a single human being howsoever miniscule it may seem, can and should feel morally responsible and be more empathetic about the environment. After all, mankind is trying to save his planet from his own clutches.