Tuesday 28 January 2014

Ecological Literacy to Learn Nature’s Lessons of Sustainability



In the era of globalization we are connected to the nook and corner of the world with the backing of sophisticated technology. Information technology has revolutionized the ways and means of communication, formation of associations and transactions in all spheres of life. However vast majority of the population is disconnected with the nature to learn valuable lessons of sustainability and network. We often forget the fact that nature is not only to extract resources but to learn lessons of sustainability too.

We tend to forget the fact that despite all globalised phenomenon, we are at first connected with the atmosphere (soil, air, water and ecosystem at large that includes living and nonliving things) where our real life rests up on.  It is true that there are voluntary and involuntary activities in our life. Unfortunately the vital transactions that should have been performed with our conscious mind have become involuntary in our fast life. That is why we are least bothered about the valuable resources of life. The Latin root of the wordresource’ is ‘to rise again’. But for us nature is measured as a collection of resources to be extracted, not as a mentor to support throughout our life. The origin of man made disaster is our failure to understand nature and its role in our life. We have no time to understand the technology of resources of earth; instead we are eager to become masters to challenge nature and its own unique technology. The biotechnology has grown to make genetic modification but fails to recognize how much irrevocable damage it can cause to the whole ecosystem. The common man, on the other hand are destined to follow the corporate organization’s formula in life. Farmers believe Genetically Modified seeds and chemical farming would solve all the issues and bring food security. There are organizations that work to convince the people of the disastrous impact of such actions. The fact remains that till now the damage of green revolution has not been accepted by the state. Our political system does not want to accept such harsh realities and question the legacy of the revolution that ‘ended’ famine and decreased poverty.

It is essential for every member of the society to become ‘ecologically literate’. In the coming decades the survival of the humanity will depend on ecological literacy-our ability to understand the basic principles of ecology and to live accordingly. It should be an essential ingredient of education at all levels. Thus lessons from nature should be practiced by people from every sphere of life; politicians, bureaucrats, industrialists, businessmen, architects, scientists and in all other sectors, principles of nature should be the principal force of thought and action.

A generation that is uprooted from soil is doomed to end up in disaster. It is vital to know/experience the nature around us. The rhythm of nature, the changes that occurs in its course, the lessons to be learnt from nature, to consider nature as our mentor not human being as masters and ultimately to be connected with nature has increasingly become the need of the hour.  The water we drink, the food we eat and air we breathe in should be renewable with our constructive act for the sake of generations to come. It is not only the job of the farmers to work in the field and few environmentalists and organizations to conserve nature. From the status of consumers we must transform ourselves to the agents of conservationists for the sustainable development of our society. Urban-rural dichotomy does not need to be considered for its inhabitants’ constructive response towards such an objective. This response can range from planting a tree, using water carefully, and disposing waste in the proper way and to mobilizing community to transform an arid land to a fertile area for local cultivation through organic farming. Whatever vocation you pursue, there is time and space for action that can contribute for the sustainable utilization of the natural resources. When you are connected with nature, spend time with its web of life, our life becomes robust with joy and creativity. Thus deprivations end and abundance become a social reality. No other development can offer us well-being unless we have organic soil, pure water, clean air and uncontaminated food.

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