A (belated) very happy World Environment Day !!!
So, Did ya party Today ??
Birthdays come and birthdays go, anniversaries, parties, festivals and celebrations keep us busy for a good part of the year. but, sadly many of us simply forget to celebrate the mother of all that exists around us and mother nature is not liking it one bit. Not anymore. No awards for guessing this one, today is the World Environment Day. And guess what the parties come home this time. India plays host country to all things Green this year. We have been named Global Host of World Environment Day 2011. I hope we all lived up to it…did ya ?
Every year, the efforts around the world to become environment friendly are channelized by coming up with a theme. This year the theme is ‘Forests: Nature at your Service’. The theme surprises me greatly. What surprises me is that when I was in primary school, in human history, we were taught about how the early man would ‘Worship’ the elements of nature viz ‘Fire’ , ‘Air’ , ‘Water’, ‘Earth” and ‘Trees’. But as we have progressed by leaps and bounds (have we, really ? ) we have beat the shit out of our ecosystem which actually keeps us living. Have it not been for the flexible and kind and tolerant behavior of the environment, we would dead before we count our last breaths. So much for returning a favor of amazing sights and sounds, magnificent landscapes, mind-boggling creatures, the air, water, life itself that we, as the most intelligent beings on earth were entrusted responsibility of. At times I even wonder do we even belong here ? A good part of Earth is water. There are many more creatures under the sea that we know. Also the land is shared by so many of other animals. If you look at it this way, we come in fact down the list somewhere, and haven’t realized it yet..!! I would think twice before calling myself belonging to the ‘most intelligent species’ on the planet looking at the pollution (made by us) jamming all our five senses. It should rather be the ‘most spoilt brat species’ on the planet.
Fortunately, as they say, it is never too late to do the right thing, we have finally woken up from the slumber and counting how much have we lost. How much do we owe it to the environment and how much of stink have created in our backyard. One such way is to unite and take part in various activities to reverse the damage. We can also spread awareness amongst others to do the least. Also, interestingly, there are more activities that I came to know about, from friends and the net, happening in the smaller towns and villages than in the major metros. I may be wrong, but that’s what I saw.
That’s about it. I hope some of these words ring in your head the next time you are throwing that plastic wrapper out the car window or when you run out of fresh air on your jog by the beach next time.
Some interesting links:
http://www.unep.org/wed/hostcountry/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Environment_Day
