Who wasn’t happy to hear the news of the clean water of the River Yamuna? Especially after seeing the nerve-wracking picture of the River Yamuna from the Chhath Puja!
Who wasn’t happy to see the clean skies of Delhi? Who wasn’t happy to see the footage of two pandas mating in a zoo in Hong Kong after 10 years, after getting privacy because of the lockdown?
Who wasn’t happy to know that the river which is considered as the holiest river in India, the Ganga River is now healing? What the approximately ₹28,000 crores (around $4 billion) project, Namami Gange, couldn’t do, the lockdown was able to do. At least now, people will not think that it is impossible to clean the pollution of River Ganga, because she was cursed by Goddess Parvati!
It feels like the whole world is balanced, Everything is moving in the right direction. But, is it so? Obviously not! But, most of the people are celebrating this process of environment healing, as if the environment will not revert to its previous condition once we manage to successfully combat COVID-19.
As has been rightly pointed out by Peter Gleick, a climate scientist and founder of the Pacific Institute in Berkeley, California, “The pandemic is fast, shining a spotlight on our ability or inability to respond to urgent threats. But like pandemics, climate change can be planned for in advance, if politicians pay attention to the warnings of scientists who are sounding the alarm.” He also said, “But it would be nice if we could improve our environment without having to cripple our economy.”
We must not cherish the novel Coronavirus in exchange for environment healing. That virus, with which comes the mandatory lockdown, is responsible for the death of thousands of poor people who have been worst affected because of the unplanned lockdown, for the vulnerable condition of our economy, for the gloomy condition of animals on the street and what not!
Let me ask you a question: Is CoVID-19 responsible for environmental degradation and climate change?
If not, then think, what is the point of celebrating this temporary thing when the actual cause is still there!
It is like celebrating temporary rain on a battlefield. It may give you protection for some time, but if you are not ready to fight the opposite party, you are surely going to lose as soon as the rain will stop. Similarly, CoVID19 can be said to be just a temporary ‘relief’. As soon as the lockdown will be relaxed, our environment will revert to its earlier condition, because we will not change! We are so superior that we don’t fear climate change, melting glaciers, vanishing flora and fauna!
A few days back, I saw a post, which said, “Corona is not the virus, we are the virus.”
No, we are not the virus but our lifestyle is, our greed is, our insensitivity is the virus. For thousands of years, tribals have been guarding the environment in a beautiful way. Are they not humans? Yes, they are! And, that is how everyone should be.
Have you ever wondered, what makes us the destroyers and tribal communities, the guardians? It is the way we look at the environment. Tribals look at it as a family member, they look at it as someone who has feelings and emotion. Tribals have been using it for their need, not for their greed.
But, how we look at it? We just want to take from the environment. We don’t care about the quantity or our approach.
In our ‘collective process’ of destroying the environment, leaders are at the forefront. Look at all the permits that were given illegally, resources that were compromised without any mercy for development works, activists who were harassed and met with draconian laws, and more. In each of them, whose involvement do you find? It is the government.
Recently, the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh uploaded his video as part of the #HandWashChallenge in which, while washing hands, he kept the tap open throughout the challenge.
मित्रों, #COVID19 एक वैश्विक समस्या बन चुका है!
संक्रमण से हमें स्वयं को बचाना है, अपने परिवार को बचाना है और भारत को बचाना है।
छींकते-खाँसते समय अपना चेहरा ढँकें, सबसे एक निश्चित दूरी बना कर रखें।
दिन में बार-बार साबुन से अच्छी तरह हाथ धोएँ।#HandWashChallenge @UNICEFIndia pic.twitter.com/drmyFaiKfo
— Shivraj Singh Chouhan (मोदी का परिवार ) (@ChouhanShivraj) March 21, 2020
If this is the approach of our leaders, what should we expect from anyone else?
In the end, it all comes down to our awareness towards the environment, our sensibility towards it, and the way we treat our environment. Until and unless, this is done, all the big projects will only go in vain.
So, we need to act collectively and we need to spread awareness in our community. Next time, whenever you see anyone wasting water, keeping lights on unnecessarily, cutting trees mercilessly, do not keep silent but speak up!