I was though never insensitive to the critical and burning issue of environmental hazards, but the subject didn’t merit enough attention to put an extra effort in creative awareness. I used to really get agitated when I would see long processions of school children jamming the road. The scene was never a soothing one to my eyes when I would see students shouting slogans against those pollute the environment. The activity would further congest roads, ( be it of any city ) leading to unnecessary delays.
My views on subject drastically changed when recently I had a chance to watch an amazing environmental film, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ that showed how man mercilessly cuts the tree that provides him shade in the scorching heat.
The film daringly showed how the industrial cities of the world have contributed in badly polluting the environment, depleting ozone layer and increasing toxicants in the air. It showed how the limited resource of fresh water has become unfit for consumption. It showed how the global warming has gradually affected glaciers and ice caps, raising the level of ocean waters and posing a great threat to the coastal cities. The scenes in the film predicted that within four to five decades the Earth would no longer be able to sustain life and that the end was far nearer than it seemed. The stark reality really jolted me out of the deep slumber I was in.
The knowledge of this grave truth calmed me down to a great extent that I actually began to admire those school children who walked miles to create awareness about our deteriorating environment. Today I don’t mind if I have to wait for a procession to pass, and I feel sorry for those who lose patience because they do not understand the gravity of the situation. The ignorance about the subject is too much and we have very little time left to reverse the process of self-annihilation. These school children are doing a great service to humanity and we must support them. After all, it is our own existence which is at stake…
Jai Hind: Proud to be an Indian 
The reality is that the model of development that India and China are increasingly adopting is one that is copied from the west – and is not sustainable for us as well as the world.
Instead of making intelligent choices and avoiding the pit falls and experiences of the west – we are in the “monkey see – monkey do” mode.
And already the signs are pretty clear; China’s roads are grid locked despite having great infrastructure – and India’s roads were always screwed up anyways – they are getting worse everyday. Besides we are snuffing our own lives out by consuming at an alarming rate and polluting the environment.
Actually Indians should be the biggest environmentalists – because the protection of nature is part of our religious and cultural heritage – rives, lakes, the earth, trees, animals are sacred for us. Earth is our mother for those of us who understand religion beyond being just ritualistic – how then can we pollute it? Our ancient people as well as ancient people elsewhere lived in harmony with nature – thats why they endured for so long.
We are far too greedy and selfish and arrogant to do the right thing because we have lost the connection to nature and we don’t even understand or care to understand how it works – so we go along destroying it at an alarming rate.
Global warming is happening very rapidly – and for India it portends chaos as glacier fed rivers like the Ganga and many other rivers originating in the Himalayas will run dry once the glaciers are all gone.
For starters, start using cloth/canvas bags when you go out to shop – at least you can stop the plastic waste from clogging up everything.
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