CONSERVATION
Conservation….. Protection….. Wildlife and Forests have become quite the trend now. Is this trend a good thing or a bad thing?
Today with so much information available at the tip of our fingers…. we can find out all the facts and figures ourselves. I don’t need to bore you with those kind details. I am more interested in it from a very basic level….. That of a human being, who is living on this Earth, the place a few billion people call home.
A very simple question….. What is the one thing we humans cant survive without? Before food, before water….. What is essential for us being alive?
OXYGEN….. And this vital ingredient comes from trees. Trees give us oxygen. We learnt this in grade 3 -4 in school as the first bit of knowledge in science class. School books used to teach us to plant trees, save water and eat fresh local food. To protect animals, to not harm nature and look after our environment. Sadly those chapters and those lessons have been over shadowed with very different messages. Not saying they have been completely gone however the importance and emphasis have become murky.
Coming back to the point of how trendy Conservation has become, unfortunately there is more bad than good happening with the powers that have the control and say, deciding that development is the better option. Talking about the situation in my country, India, we have multiple places where large acres of forests are going to be cut down to make space for various development projects….. None of which are going to be doing any good to the environment or help nature in any way. The opposite in fact. This is in addition to the already depleted forests due to agriculture or human encroachment into the forest and various other reasons.
If the destruction of forests is faster than the regrowth required…. we are basically looking at a scenario where the human race is going to have to look at artificial means to survive…. bottled oxygen….. Where people will have to buy their supply of oxygen daily along with their bread and eggs.
It might sound silly right now but is it really that far fetched?
Just take a minute to look at the world and the changes that have happened in the past decade…. literally lets look at one decade. Climate change has become so extreme that weather patterns are emerging which are completely different to its region and its altering the life cycle and disbalancing nature….. food sources are getting affected….. water shortage is already a reality in some countries….. animals are getting affected…. every year there is an ever increasing list of animals becoming extinct….. today it’s like almost every month there is news of yet another animal species being added to the list.
Tomorrow, the children of today will be showing their children pictures of birds and trees saying these used to exist in our times….. like we show our children pictures of dinosaurs and other extinct animals. But its going to be so much more severe for the future generation.
As a concerned citizen and a parent, it hurts me to think that the later generations will be struggling to survive on a dying planet…. what should be a natural part of our lives will beccome a commodity.
There are solutions of course and it will need every individual being to understand and become aware of saving our environment. The task is not insurmountable and is actually quite simple. Plant more trees anywhere and everywhere….. try to fight the destruction of forests in their areas. Stand up collectively to overturn decisions that will harm our environment. One or two random voices will get drowned out but if everyone raises their voices towards a singular goal, thats hard to ignore. Reach out and be a part of groups and organisations who are working towards conservation…. let the children take part in activities related to nature and their environment…. teach them to care about their world.
I am not wanting to be preachy however I do feel that we are running out of time and a lot more needs to be done and more people should start caring about the environment.
At the end of the day, we are actually saving ourselves so its kind of like fighting for our lives….. to stay alive and be alive.
Writing – Image –
Anupa Roy Bibek Mondal
Vice-President Project Officer
Saving Tiger Society Saving Tiger Society
