WED urges people to connect with nature

By Dr. Devananda Beura

An activity of drawing attention to the environment, when it is downtrodden anthropogenically, is the veracity behind observing the world environment day every year. Having enriched with potential and judicious themes since inception, it has conceived a sensitising topic ‘connecting people to nature’ for this year, which intends to dispense a significant message to mankind. Man, the later creation in the evolutionary bio-mechanism, has superiority over his ancestral life forms for availing a nature nourished habitat on the earth. The long continued overall development in the life system could have been possible in a favourable and supportive environment. But the rush and toss trend of modern life style instinctively devastates the stability and sustainability of nature. While the nature turns to degradable destination, it is obvious to receive its reactions that are getting compounded in form of disasters. Natural resources available to mankind and other living beings are gradually scarce in quantity. The distresses dare to appear due to our over exploitative attitude towards nature and having known that neither we refrain from those activities nor take aggressive preventive measures to annul the impacts. In such an atrocious circumstance where we have been disgracing the nature, people as chief culprits must be connected to the nature to revive the reciprocations. If not, can we sustain our existence sidelining nature to niche; that’s the million questions without a single assuring answer. Retrieving it to the pure state, though not impossible, is not instantaneous also.

The way, we agonized the nature in past and torment it now also, cannot be excused as mistake that committed unconsciously. Being victimised by adversity, we have tried our best to tackle the teases of degradable nature through scientific and technological developments. Man from pole to equator has been acquainting himself to survive in extreme temperatures ranging from minus 500 to 500 Celsius. You may call it as the inheritance of tolerance or human resilience, but I must opine it to be the capacity building by artificial arrangement. The changing environmental situation has turned many lifestyle practices into compulsion. As you see, now the luxury of air conditioned life has become essential and indispensable; who cares for the affordability.

The dependable nature when incapable of feeding people with required amount of resources and commodities, the situation is temporarily managed by supplementary supply through regulated market network or public welfare policy. If the productivity or supply at source point decline, attempting artificial management seems to be melancholy for sustainability. For instances, while rivers are dying, groundwater is depleting do you think to satisfy your thirst through bottled water or tanker trailed water. What would be the providence of nested living with air conditioning facility if the atmosphere temperature exceeds 500 Celsius? Can the air purifier protect us if the SPM level exceeds 500µg/m3? We must admit our non survival state in a cyclonic wind of more than 300 km/h or in earthquake above the magnitude of 8 in the Richter scale. And also, we should not hide our foolishness in proclaiming a modern life far away from the nature. Of course, in this context, many of us may not confess that they have mutilated the nature so maliciously. Had it true, the nature would have not been scratched ruthlessly. What else evidences are required while soil is invisible under concrete cover, trees are massively cut for urbanisation and industrialisation, rivers remain dry for 8 months and groundwater is getting exhausted. The polluted environment being at its height may not able to upset individuals to react to it and repair the situation. ‘Let others to take the headache and responsibility to keep our surrounding clean and we go on dirtying always’ that’s what our strained behaviour reflects. The minimum awareness and outlook on degrading nature are yet to be adhered in our mind. Much of our exposure to the seminars, workshops, sensitisation and awareness programme neither compels us to keep the hangover lasts long nor does it turns to action. The readdressal and recovery of the pure nature from overexploitation is, therefore, become nightmare.

Global warming and rise in local temperature will be two major issues for the Earth in future. The situation is not far ahead and probably by 2021 the temperature of cities may rise to 80 Celsius, the researchers said recently. Climate change may affect acutely by declining the economy of developed and developing countries. It has been predicted that the countries affected by climate change may bear an economic loss at a multiplier of 2.6 times by 2050. Worldwide average GDP may subside and stagnant at 5.6%. Deterioration health condition, food scarcity, scanty drinking water may be some other threshold consequences that the entire world has to abide by. Staying away from nature and exploiting it shamelessly is priced for that we realise but reluctant to restore. At this juncture ‘connected with nature’ is undoubtedly an appreciable endeavour appealed on the occasion of commemoration of World Environment Day.

* Dr. Devananda Beura is the Reader of P.G. Department of Geology, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar. He can be contacted at [email protected]

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