‘Nature is precious’, ‘Save Environment Save the World’, ‘Green Living’, ‘Energy Efficiency’, ‘Conservation’….

These words do their usual rounds around the world, found mostly in school books, the internet, social media on special occasions and some very unimportant sections of Government agendas. Of course, there have been sporadic presences in certain individual or community or voluntary activities but those are as scattered as the bubbles on the ocean waves. 

Let’s cut off the theoretical part and concentrate on some questions. Some of which may be answered and some whose answers are being sought. 

Q. What is nature conservation?

A. It is the preservation of natural resources and species from degeneration and extinction thus protecting ecosystem and biological diversity

Q. What is meant by the sustainability of the environment?

A. It is a responsible interaction with the environment where the natural resources of the world can be utilized, reused and renewed for an indefinite period to avoid diminution of the resources, lessening pollution and generating a healthy biosphere with lesser carbon content.

Q. What is energy management?

A. It is the process of reducing the consumption of energy to reserve the natural resource, encouraging renewable energy usage, controlling carbon assimilation and emission in the atmosphere to the optimum extent

We all, more or less, knew these and if take the help of internet we can write essays on each of the topics soon.

Now, comes the questions whose answers we do not know nor could they be found through any sources…

• Why we still tend to ignore environment-related matters assuming that there are other people to think about it?

• Why do we still go to the market and argue with the shopkeeper for that extra plastic?

• Why the road seems to be the best dustbin in the world and conveniently we or our children throw empty potato chips packets, plastic bottles, plastic carry bags, wraps and any kind of wastes wherever we wish to on the road itself?

• Why do we spit on the road even when we knew the spread of the pandemic may be through droplets?

• Why do we send our children to big schools and then do not stop them littering the road from the car while they return from the science project with subject air pollution?

• We love to travel but leave our toxic wastes in the place which we loved visiting. Why?

• We love mountains. Still, yearly more than 11000 tons of wastes found in Mount Everest only, that too, which could be collected. Can anybody imagine the accumulation on the entire mountain range?

• River water, ponds, water bodies are being contaminated with the most toxic wastes of human, domestic and industrial. Don’t we worship the river as the holy, pure and motherly form?

• Amazon Forest, considered as the Lungs of the world, was on fire. Does it really concern us?

• World’s largest iceberg A-76 broke off from the coast of Antarctica and floating on the Weddell Sea. So what? Antarctica is quite far from us; how does it affect us?

• Core areas of forests rich in flora and fauna are sold without the batting of eyelids to industry biggies for coal mining therein endangering wildlife and indigenous tribes are being ousted. Is this the advancement of civilization?

• Cloudbursts, glacier melts, Cyclones and super cyclones, Viral and fungal Pandemics – wreaking havoc over habitats. We cannot stop them even if we try so, is there any point in thinking about them?

This time we will not give any explanation, no do’s & don’ts, no directives at all. Instead, we will place only a few facts to ponder upon(sources UNEP):

1/5th of global black Carbon emission in the environment comes from the transport sector

30% of natural freshwater ecosystems have disappeared since 1970

Climate change, Unplanned farming and land degradation will cause around 700 million people to leave their homeland and migrate by 2050

Half of the world’s GDP depends on Nature

Forests provide drinking water to one-third of the world’s largest cities, however, the world is losing on 10 million hectares of forests every year on an average. 

Ecosystem degradation increases contact between human and wildlife leading to the outbreak of killer diseases.

World Environment Day is celebrated on 5th June every year. United Nations Environment Programme had launched the event in 1974 and since then it is carrying forward various responsibilities and had been able to generate global agendas and activities relating to the protection, conservation and regeneration of the Environment, Wildlife, sustainable consumption, avert the harm of pollution, global warming, carbon assimilation and energy inefficacy.

5th June 2021, the motto is even bigger. With an aim to generate a global inspiration for initiating positive changes, the day will mark the beginning of ‘UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration’, with the motto, ‘Reimagine, Recreate, Restore’. The Council defined “Ecosystem Restoration means preventing, halting and reversing this damage – to go from exploiting nature to healing it”.

Kothabriksha has taken this special Environment Awareness initiative which will include writings related to this subject exploring various facets, a talk show with experts and activists and wildlife enthusiast, an interview of a person of the soil. But the entire endeavour is incomplete without you. We would request your active participation wherein send us your initiatives, however menial it may seem, that you have undertaken from the concern towards Nature, Environment, Wildlife in any form (Bengali/English in 100-150 words). We will try to compile and publish them which may, in turn, motivate others to act thereupon. 

We would request your active participation wherein send us your initiatives, however menial it may seem, that you have undertaken from the concern towards Nature, Environment, Wildlife in any form (Bengali/English in 100-150 words). We will try to compile and publish them which may, in turn, motivate others to act there upon

It is quite clear and evident that we have no time to sit back and think. Let’s join hands together for a safer future, else, already mask has become our daily wear now, the day will not be far when the future generations will have to carry oxygen cylinders in place of school bags on their shoulders.

Tell us how much did you like this article.

Copyright © Kothabriksha 2021, All Rights Reserved

Adhunik Bangla Gan Ambika Ghosh benaras Bengal bengali short story coronavirus Dakshinee dreams Durga Puja Emotions folk culture Himalaya History of Indian Music India indian politics Kashmir Kobita kolkata kothabriksha kothabriksha editorial lockdown Music Nature nilimesh ray Pratyay Pratyay Raha pritam chowdhury pujo shonkhya Rabindranath Rabindranath Tagore Rabindrasangeet Religion Sayandeep Paul sharodiya shonkhya shortstory society Srabanti Sen Stories Subha Guha Thakurta Sustainable Travel Suvo Guha Thakurta Theatre travel west bengal World Environment Day