The global crisis we’re experiencing today has finally started to catch our attention. There is widespread poverty and unemployment, wars are being fought over resource distribution and control, conflicts on religious and other ideological grounds have only gone up, and a devastating loss of forest cover worldwide has resulted in climate change and global warming, the last two being helped along in a significant way due to our lifestyle choices.
The roots of all these issues lie in the past. The effects, of course, are what we’re experiencing today. For some years now, governments have been hard at work trying to find solutions to these problems. Billions of dollars have been invested in studying these problems, we’ve experimented with the rate of development, the number and stringency of our laws has increased, etc.
Nothing has worked. And when it comes to finding solutions, one thing is crystal clear. Human life and lifestyle choices always get more airtime. Always.
And why is that a problem? Let’s take a closer look.
“Despite its artistic pretensions, its sophistication, and its many accomplishments, humankind owes its existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.”
~ Anonymous
The above statement says it all. All this while, we have been focusing on the effects of the problem rather than on the problem itself. Poverty, unemployment and war over resources are not our real problems; these are the inevitable outcomes of a way of life that we have chosen to invest in.
The real problem is the way we look at and understand environment.
Environment is NOT just another problem that we need to deal with eventually. All this while, we have been treating it as one of the many issues that need our attention. We tell ourselves that we need to work on issues like poverty, unemployment, religious conflict and while we’re at it, maybe the pollution of the environment as well. The reality is something else however.
Environment is not just another issue; it IS the whole context. It is the setting within which we face all issues like unemployment, poverty, resource scarcity. If it were not for the balanced living conditions that our environment has consistently provided us for thousands of years, we would be unable to do any of what we are doing today. Our culture, technological progress, development, the arts… these are merely the icing on the cake, not the cake itself. Nature (our cake) is what allows us to enjoy the icing on it… things like music, art, world cuisines, movies, etc.
Is the Earth meant only for human consumption?
When we choose to look at the environment as the vessel within which the experiment of life is taking place, we begin to see that we share this vessel with other species. We are not alone here on Earth. It becomes clear that everything is connected to everything else. An action taken at any point in this circle of life impacts every other point that is connected with it, directly or indirectly.
There are relationships in nature that we have no control over. There is no way for us to replicate these relationships in exactly the same way as they have evolved over millions of years. To assume that human technology has all the answers would be foolish, even arrogant.
Let’s take the example of a forest. A forest is a living organism in many ways. Within a forest, there are trees, shrubs, grasslands, wetlands, rivers, streams, an incredible variety of large and small animals, birds and insects. Then there is the topsoil and all that it contains; minerals, water, nutrients, microorganisms. Let’s not forget the range of varying temperatures within the forest on any given day, the moisture content in the air and the soil, the wind blowing through the forest, the storms that rage occasionally and the forest fires that break out once in a while. Each and every one of these elements interacts with and influences at least some of the other elements here. And we have no way of knowing just what these interactions are. There are numerous different relationships happening at any given point of time that help keep the forest alive.
Alive – a state of dynamic balance that allows life to flourish within nature. Nature, of course, is in a constant state of change. But still somehow, forests provide a reasonably consistent environment in which all these life forms can sustain themselves. This has been the case for thousands of years. This means that the existence of each of these myriad elements is important for nature to be the way it is. And yet we act as if environment can wait while we deal with what we think are more important problems… poverty, unemployment, etc. which are a direct result of how we treat the environment. It’s a bit like dabbling some paint on the walls of our houses to make them look good while simultaneously digging away at the foundations.
When we alter our focus to reflect this understanding… that nature contains and supports our existence… the solutions will come by themselves. We won’t need billions of dollars to solve our problems, or the colonization of the moon and other planets to accommodate our growing numbers, or to find other sources of energy to help us continue with our lifestyles.
All we need to do is to make our lifestyle choices within the context of the environment… always remembering that there are limits to growth in Nature, and that Nature provides abundantly when allowed to replenish itself continually. When we live more in tune with natural cycles, we will be able to enjoy this abundance. If we choose to squander away our natural resources thoughtlessly… our environmental ‘bank balance’ so to say… we will have to suffer the consequence of being without clean air, water, nourishing food and a peaceful environment very soon.