Environment Gasping for Breath in the Blind Race of Development
By Yogesh Kumar Goyal
Environmental pollution is the biggest global problem of the present time. For the last three decades, it has been felt that the biggest problem at the global level is related to the environment itself. Due to continuous human interference in nature, many natural resources on Earth have been destroyed. Due to reasons such as modern lifestyle, lack of trees and plants on Earth, the monstrous form of environmental pollution, and the ruthless exploitation of nature by humans, a terrifying chasm of imbalance is being created between man and nature. We are now continuously experiencing the rising threats of climate change and a polluted environment. That is why, with the objective of protecting and conserving the environment, 'World Environment Day' is celebrated every year on June 5 across the whole world. This day was declared by the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on June 16, 1972, in Stockholm, to bring political and social awareness towards the environment at a global level, and the first World Environment Day was celebrated on June 5, 1974. The theme of World Environment Day for the year 2026 is ‘Inspired by Nature. For Climate. For Our Future.’
Although agreements regarding the protection of the environment and the proper exploitation of nature had started in Europe, America, and African countries since the 1910s, in recent decades, many countries around the world have signed several multinational agreements like the Kyoto Protocol, Montreal Protocol, and the Rio Conference. Governments of most countries do appear concerned about the environment, but amidst this environmental concern, some countries keep changing their environmental conservation policies keeping their own interests in mind. The brunt of a polluted environment has to be borne not only by humans but by every living being existing on Earth. It is due to tampering with nature on a large scale that the giant forests of the world have started burning every year, which, apart from causing losses of trillions of rupees to the global economy, also reduces many species of rare animals and flora to ashes in fierce fires. During the lockdown in the Corona period, an improvement in the state of the environment was observed worldwide, which showed that if we want, the state of the environment can be improved to a great extent, but due to a lack of strong willpower, the expected steps are not taken regarding environmental conservation. Continuous rise in temperature and the constantly deteriorating mood of the weather, not only in India but at the global level, has become a matter of deep concern.
There is a lot of discussion and concern about dealing with climate change, and various kinds of resolutions are also repeated, but due to the blind desire for comforts and resources, growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), uncontrolled industrial development, and the pressure to create more and more employment opportunities, such discussions and concerns end up becoming meaningless. In my book 'Pr प्रदूषण मुक्त सांसें' (Pollution-Free Breaths), I have explained in detail how crucial it is to understand the signs and the silent language of nature hidden behind the natural events of upheaval occurring on Earth from time to time. In the race of modernization and industrialization, we have violated the moral boundaries of nature at every moment, and all this is the result of man's atrocities against nature, the horrific consequences of which are before us.
It is due to human activities that the mixture of pollution from carbon monoxide, nitrogen, ozone, and particulate matter in the atmosphere has reached such a dangerous level that we are receiving incurable diseases as a gift through breathing. Whether it is the matter of discharging sewage filth into clean water sources, or flushing the acidic waste of industrial units into rivers, or the poison dissolving into the atmosphere from long queues of vehicles crawling on the roads, or the thousands and millions of tons of smoke dissolving into the air from stubble burning in fields despite strict court orders, our eyes do not open until a major wrath of nature breaks upon us. The smoke generated from petrol and diesel has increased the amount of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to a dangerous level. Trees and plants have been playing an important role in maintaining environmental balance by absorbing carbon dioxide, but in the last few decades, forest areas have been converted into concrete jungles on a large scale. The temperature of the Earth is rising continuously, as a result of which ice is melting in polar regions, raising fears of several cities in the world being submerged due to rising sea levels.
Nature has been continuously warning us by showing its fierce form sometimes as cyclones, sometimes earthquakes, sometimes drought, and sometimes famine, about what the picture of our future is going to be if we continue to exploit nature's resources in this manner. But despite witnessing the fierce form of nature every time, we are inviting our own destruction by ignoring these warnings of nature. If we look at the monstrous global problem of environmental pollution worldwide, it is clear that we perhaps do not want to do anything beyond expressing global concern in the name of dealing with climate change. It has been stated in the book 'Pollution-Free Breaths' that due to the faltering balance of the environment, people worldwide are getting trapped in the web of various dreadful diseases, their reproductive capacity is being adversely affected, and their working efficiency is also getting impacted. A major part of people's earnings is spent only on the treatment of diseases. Nature is like our mother, who provides us with plenty of valuable things from her natural treasure, but if, due to our selfishness, we start making the mistake of considering ourselves the master of nature, then how can we blame nature for natural devastation?
(The author is a senior journalist active in journalism for 36 years, environmental expert and the author of several acclaimed books, including ‘Pradushan Mukt Saansein' on environment)
