MillenniumPost
Editorial

Protect Nature at all costs

There cannot be any truth greater than the fact that man simply cannot do without nature. Sadly, though, for all the climate control summits held, man keeps meddling into and disturbing Nature for all the wrong reasons. And if most nations sign on the Paris Climate Control treaty, a superpower like the US just walks out. Since the previous Administration was a signatory remains the flimsy ground for the present dispensation to call it quits. The consequences of global warming have been spelt out time and again but, sadly, in vain. Yes, the glaciers are melting, water levels are rising, and carbon emissions are taking their toll. The problem may have started as early as the Industrial Revolution but now, matters seem to have reached a point of no return. However, man takes matters for granted and refuses to awaken to the fact that if and when Nature strikes back with all its fury, that will be the end. We have been irresponsible, say, in the Third World countries by cutting down trees mercilessly, filling up water bodies in the name of "development" with a could-not-care-less attitude about immediate consequences that include rising temperatures. New diseases and infections are now doing the rounds. In any federal set-up, the Centre has a Ministry of Environment and individual States, too, have Departments to that effect. But, where is the urgency to ensure that prevention is better than cure? It is now a child's knowledge that during daytime trees let out oxygen. So conservation is absolutely essential. Totalitarian regimes and even democratic setups indulge in dangerous games and experiments, including nuclear tests, that can only cause imbalance in Nature. But only when tsunamis strike, earthquakes cause irreparable harm, floods wreak havoc, draughts cause untold misery, "dormant" volcanoes suddenly erupt and depleted water sources spell disaster, does man seem lost and helpless. When there is some respite, howsoever brief, man is back to the usual ways. Indeed, there is far too much hatred, bitterness and vengeful games to pay heed to the major priorities. No wonder that when the brilliant, young Wordsworth and his contemporaries returned dismayed and distressed from the horrors of the Reign of Terror in France, it was a case of "Man losing faith in Man". Hence, they turned to Nature. If man does not rise above himself and all the pettiness that consume and waste so much time, if he does not get over the obsession to do harm to both his fellow beings and Nature and if the homo sapien species do not unite to ensure the best for environment, the planet is doomed! There is, therefore, just no time to be lost in tackling the perils to ensure a sustainable and healthy environment.
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