The Sick Environment:Can We Be The Doctors?
Our Environment.
We all know how important our environment is to us.But what actually is our environment. Most you know what it is, it is the total planetary inheritance and the totality of all resources. our environment performs four main functions.
1.provides us with resources
2.assimilates wastes
3.sustains life &
4.provides aesthetic services
Our environment can only perform these functions as long as the demands are below the carrying capacity of the environment. This implies that the rate of extraction of resources and the waste generated are within the assimilating capacity of the environment. When this is not so the environment fails to perform its vital function of sustaining life.
The Condition Of Our Environment Now.
Our environment has been performing all its functions for a very long time. But now it seems to have changed a lot. The environment is degrading faster than we can imagine. Most the developed and the developing nations have attained there goals at the cost of our environment. This growth that took place without any concerns to our environment has resulted in many serious problems like Global Warming, Ozone layer Depletion etc. The forests are depleting at rates which is way faster that we can imagine. The land is degrading, the waste generated is increasing& the quality of our air is decreasing. But was our environment like this before.
Pollution:When & Why?
Was this pollution there two centuries ago?If not , Why? The reason is crystal clear. Modernisation. I am not blaming Modernisatoin because it necessary for our development. But the modenisation has resulted in the increase of the wants. The demand on our resources increased rapidly. The demand on the environment increased rapidly and grew beyond the carrying capacity of the environment and that triggered the degradation of our environment.
How Can We Treat It?
We know that if the degradation is to continue at the current rate then the environment, as mentioned earlier, won't be able to perform its vital function of sustaining life. So its necessary for us to make our move towards securing our future.
So the most important step to treat our environment is to move on to the path of sustainable development. Sustainable development is the development that meets the need of the present without compromising with the ability of the future generations to meet their needs. This statement has got every thing that is necessary for improving our environment. But most of us reserve this duty to the governments. We think of it as the duty of the government to protect our environment. But this is not so. It is we who have to take the steps to protect our environment.
