Ecological Considerations And Development Must Go Together

Ecological Considerations And Development Must Go Together

Developmental processes of the world today are often blamed for the destruction of ecology, as it causes pollution through the smoke being belched out by chimneys in the various factories etc., and through effluents being constantly dumped into the rivers and underground. The result is, no doubt, disastrous. The big cities have become dens of pollution, despite all the facilities of modern civilized societies available there and the life is still almost impossible there on the global level the development has damaged the biological and physical quality of the globe as a whole, as the pollutants have spread beyond the limits of safer limits of emission.

No doubt, industrial growth has long been considered desirable because of its contribution to health and happiness, for the creation of wealth or simply for its own sake. Until recent times, progress was indeed identified with such quantitative growth. In contrast, modern societies have begun to question the desirability of certain innovations that are technologically feasible and economically profitable, but that have undesirable social aspects. The evaluation of potential, long-range dangers for human being and for the environment is becoming one of the crucial factors in the formation of technological policies.

During all period of history, there have been people who believed that their time was out of joint, that all coherence was gone. Contemporary pessimism, however, goes far beyond this traditional worry about the state of affairs. Its new aspect is the assumption that our descendants will be even worse off than we are, because the world will have become too complex for comprehension by the human brain. These developments, together with the recklessly wasteful use of world’s limited resources by the advanced market economies, even at the cost of damaging the eco-system and denying the poor countries the succor they need desperately, and the disconcerting experience of half-baked modernization plans, which have distorted both priorities of development and living mores in large parts of the Third world, have many intellectuals lose heart. Somehow poor countries can save their soul. A few have been provoked into looking far more critically at the whole course of development and feel that the Gandhian legacy offers the best hope. Mahatma Gandhi’s saying that the future of India is not a mass production but in production by the masses may definitely have meaning for Western world as well. The human tragedies resulting from unemployment may lead industrial societies to reconsider that, except for the dullest, most repetitive and painful tasks, human beings are better than machines --- and certainly more creative.

Pure environment, no doubt, means long-time survival, but the fact is that the humanity has travelled a long way towards development. Our day to day life has become smoother, more comfortable and more efficient. The world has shrunk into a small entity owing to efficient communication system. The whole life is very specialized today. Things quite unimaginable a few decades ago, have become the fact of daily life. For all this, the humanity has to pay a price. It is put to some amount of risk which is bound to be borne with. Unless some precautions and cars are taken, that which is good for humanity can sound a death knell for it. Industries so vital for the health and well-being of man also posses the potential of causing irretrievable damage to our greatest assets land, air and water. The millions of vehicles and automobiles travelling on roads and the aero planes travelling through air, are making conveyance convenient, but along with that, a few accidents that happen day in and day out, cannot stop people using these modes of transport. As such, there can be no reason that the development goals and environment must consequently go hand in hand. 

There is a sweeping statement that “All development is destructive”. It seeks to convey that ecology cannot be maintained unless the development is turned down. Biosphere is in chemical terms the cover of water and air that ensures our earth, besides the green cover and the wild life, which sustain life on this planet. Man cannot take for granted these bounties of nature as he has been taking so far. These resources are not inexhaustible and do not get renewed automatically. So the attempts are required to be accelerated for their preservation and adequate renewal. The reckless destruction of our precious environment has to be checked. The present situation has reached because the human being was not generally aware about the implications of the developments that have been talking place briskly for the last couple of centuries.

The economists stress upon the fact that the process of modernization cannot be slowed down because of the increasing population and the consequent increasing employment. The scientific development and expansion of urban areas has become a must to cater to the increasing needs of increasing number of people capable to be benefitted by the modern standards of living. The atmosphere has to be affected more and more by the productions of more and more consumer goods along with the capital goods. The other infrastructure like roads, buildings, railroads and the like are to be made available despite the hazards these are creating for the environment. More and more trees are to be cut and the forests cleared to make roads through them, to make the remote areas approachable and to carry developmental process for the people living there. These people cannot be denied the fruits of development on the plea that it would harm the ecological considerations. As such, there is none to agree to this argument of the environmentalists that the development process has to be stopped to save this Earth. This is no answer to the problem. But that does not mean that we will go on ignoring the fact that if the present state of affairs goes on and no caution and care is taken, and we continue with our reckless destruction of our environment until we return to the dreaded Ice-age, as is warned by the scientists. This state of affairs is bound to come if proper measures are not taken by the humanity on priority basis. The genius of man is capable enough to stop this disaster to come, but such means cannot be in the form of a discovery or a scientific invention. It has to be in the form of a discovery or a scientific invention. It has to be in the form of a mass-movement world-wide involving everyone, big and small high and low. Alongside the developmental process, a general awareness needs to be grown that the environmental consecrations are equally important. Stringent laws and regulations need to be formulated worldwide to make sure that each damage to the environment in any case is more that equally compensated by the new actions and steps. If we are to cut ten trees to make a road, it should be imperative to raise twenty around to compensate the loss. Regarding the expansion of urban areas equally comprehensive planning needs to be adopted. Sufficient number of trees and green belts should be developed to give enough good look and compensate for the damage in environment. The industrial areas should never be unplanned and no factory should be allowed to set up without sufficient arrangement of proper disposal of the factory wastes and smokes coming out. Sufficient number of recycling plants for factory and human wastes should be set up outside cities to cope us with the problem of pollution created by the expansion of factories. There is also need for a uniform civil code to look after the violation of rules and regulations and any discrepancy is to be severely dealt with.

The main and essential step towards making globe a safer place for our future generations also, is to make our people aware about the hazards of neglecting the ecological considerations. The people cannot afford to be selfish in this regard, just to make way for their own lives and not to think about the aftereffects of the activities of the present generation. The electronic and print media has to play an important role in making people aware about the impending dangers of neglecting this aspect of our life. The modern educational system should make our children aware about the safety norms towards a better and safer future.

The present Indian Society presents a very dismal picture in this regard. Reckless urbanization is causing havoc in the areas around them. Industrialization, procurement of wood and other produce, harnessing of water resources are disturbing the ecological balance. The ultimate beneficiaries of this activity are not the masses but the affluent few living in posh localities where the ecological considerations have been looked after properly. The suffers are the poor masses, the villagers, factory workers, farmers and the life, who have to bear the brunt of the poor environmental conditions, created by the industrialization and urbanization. The poor inhabitants of the areas living around there are left with no life-support systems which are being destroyed in the name of developmental process, the conditions and policies need to be improved very immediately otherwise we will have to pay a heavy price as the day will not be far when the immediate drastic effects in the shape of change of atmospheric conditions, increase in heat and scarcity of pure water and damage of crops will be seen and then more and more aftereffects are bound to follow the show sharper teeth of environment degradation.