Sunday, July 25, 2010

Environment..green or no green

Schools kids all over Europe and United States are drilled in their heads about being a good environmentalist, the merits of recycling, the evils of plastic and the need to protect everything green.  Many nations have stringent laws around this. The debate about how humans have irrevocably shaped the future of the planet rages on. 

One thing is clear: our output has reshaped the fragile climate, and the nature will respond back in its own way, it always comes back a full circle. The temperatures of the planet is going up, whether the bleeded conservatists want to believe it or not. It is causing certain life to end and other to begin. Less than 1% of all water in the planet is usable and billions need it every day, it is only getting sparser. Then why is there such a debate and the resistance to do something about it?

Well, we only care about us.

China argues, inspite of it now being the largest energy consumer, that US "polluted" its way to prosperity and wants everyone else to stop doing so, from a different economic perch. A similar view is shared by all developing nations.  US lawmakers themselves think onerous taxes are only going to make this recovery stunted and so no restrictions should be put of any sort, and would use anything to debunk scientific research to the contrary. We as citizens only want to do the part that is convenient. In other words, we may want to throw a bottle of plastic away, but in a developing world you may not be able to find a trash bin of recyclables, or trash bin, period. So what do we do? We throw it on the wayside just like anybody else. And there in lies the rub. We only do what we can, not what we should. And so do nations, industries and communities.

Take the oil spill from the Gulf.  At one point the economic and ecological devastation will last for decades. But still we want the drilling to continue, inspite of the risks. Hunger trumps environment.

At this stage, all can do is watch events unfold and shake our heads. We hope it doesn't effect us in anyway, our livelihoods and the like. In fifty years, earth would a far more difficult place to live in - there is no debate on that. Technological advances may help, but the golden years of "balance" is just about ending, and period of "excesses" about to begin. Till then, we hope our air conditioning continues to work in the heat, and our refrigerators keep the beverges cold, irrespective of how much freon is bad for the "environment".  After all, we come first.

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