Saving Planet Earth

         “What is Earth Day all about, Mom?” Shubha was curious one day, when she saw me read about Conservation and Earth Day. I tried to explain to her, in simple terms, about Global Warming, Climatic Changes, and how “Earth Day” was meant to create awareness about it all. Her expressions changed, from that of inquisitiveness to terror, while we discussed about rising sea levels. I wondered if a child of 9 yrs would find this too much to digest. “Will we be faced with another tsunami??” she wanted to know. Seizing the opportunity to educate her a bit more, I went on about how Earth is in danger of many such natural calamities if we don’t take action NOW! By the end of our discussion, I convinced her that there were steps we all have to take to help Planet Earth.

         Happy that I had instilled in my daughter a thing or two about caring for the Environment, I went ahead with my tasks. She continued her quest on the subject with the help of her “National Geographic”. She was back in another 10 minutes. “Can there be life on any other planet other than Earth?” Now in a hurry to finish my work, I brushed it off with a “No dear, we don’t know yet. But maybe one day we will find life somewhere on some other planet.” Nothing could prepare me for the horror of her next question. “Mom, if something very bad were to happen to our planet Earth, will we be able to live on any other planet?” Somehow I managed to overcome the big lump in my throat and tried to sound as calm as possible. “Hmm…Scientists are looking for a planet which may contain or support life, but have not found one yet. Don’t worry; we won’t face such a bad situation so soon!!”

She then made me an appeal.
“Please Mom, can you do something to save Planet Earth?” Her innocent eyes looked at me with great expectations.

“Yes dear, we all have to do something. If we try, we can all help save Planet Earth, even you”.

“But I am too small to do anything. How can I help?”

“Why, you can avoid litter in your school, your surroundings and public places. Plastic bags choke the drainage lines and have to be burnt to destroy them. All this causes such a lot of pollution, which in turn causes warming. Avoid them. You can save electricity, water, paper, trees. Learn not to waste food. These are some measures even kids like you can adopt to help our mother, Mother Earth. Will you remember to follow all this?”

That day we made each other a solemn promise to take all possible measures towards this goal.

         This incident made me wonder what legacy we intend to pass on to our children. What will our next generations do with all the technology, abundance and wealth we create, if they don’t have a safe planet to live on? Humankind has exploited Mother Earth so much that she probably cannot bear the brunt any longer. Our religious texts mention a “Doomsday” or {/i}Mahapralay{/i} whenever evil exceeds the good. Nature is said to destroy everything whenever this imbalance occurs. Scientists have also corroborated this theory. According to one theory, the mighty dinosaurs apparently perished because they were too overbearing on other plant and animal species. They either ate or destroyed all other species thus resulting in a horrible imbalance, which also meant a shortage of food! Are we humans repeating the same mistake? Are we imposing our vulgar display of strength on the very plant and animal species we need to maintain the balance in nature? Could the mahapralay, which apparently involves the flooding of the entire world, be any different from the Rising water levels, the tsunami, climatic changes and cyclones that the world is now facing?

         It is time we take action for our Mother (Earth), our children and the generations to come. We cannot wait for the government to make rules and regulations, or to take any measures. One Indian politician blames changing food patterns in certain parts of India for the inflation in food prices. Another leader of a superpower blames the Indian middle-class for the food and economy crisis! How effective can such leaders be in solving any crisis? Instead of looking for solutions they will only pass the blame on someone else. They will only attack or wage war on some unsuspecting nations, with some petty excuse, to make up for shortage of energy reserves. We, the people, need to do something for ourselves, for all for us. Some of the measures we need to take:

· Bring environmentally damaging activities under control.
· Design buildings and houses to have maximum natural light and ventilation. Give more emphasis on environment friendly construction methods and materials, and ‘intelligent’ buildings.
· Move away from fossil fuels to more benign, inexhaustible energy sources to cut greenhouse gas emissions and the pollution of our air and water.
· Give priority to the development of energy sources matched to third world needs-small scale and relatively easy to implement.
· Halt deforestation, injury to and loss of agricultural land, and the loss of terrestrial and marine plant and animal species.
· Manage resources crucial to human welfare more effectively.
· Give high priority to efficient use of energy, water, and other materials, including expansion of conservation and recycling.
· Stabilize population. Adopt effective, voluntary family planning.
· Teach children to be intolerant to any kind of waste.
· Reduce and eventually eliminate poverty.
· Ensure sexual equality, and guarantee women control over their own reproductive decisions.

         Let us not forget that the crisis looking us in the eye will not distinguish between developed or developing countries. Everyone has to take responsibility in the endeavor against this grave threat. With our expanding population, our unending energy consumption, we have exploited Earth beyond her capacity. If we don’t stop the irreversible damage we are inflicting on our own home, our planet, soon the entire world will have to pay.