Our all bare necessities of roti, kapra and makan were eco friendly. Meals used to be organic right from cereals to vegetables, vegetarian or non- vegetarian in unison with season and festivals. Clothing from cotton, wool and leather used to be from local materials. Now the sad part is that western countries are following us and our younger generation is after them. As a result, western culture are damaging our environment in a big way as heaps of non- biodegradable materials are found scattered here and there, choking the streams and riverbeds all around, lot of concrete jungles are coming up in unplanned way thus shrinking the habitat of so many animals and birds. Peepal trees have been considered worth worship since time immemorial in our Vedas. Now it has been proved scientifically that it emits oxygen day and night throughout its life.
Due to this change in our attitude towards nature the germs of animals and birds are also making us their host of so many diseases, there are so many, Corona and Bird Flu viruses being the latest one. Corona is just a beginning and has just given an alarm to be cautious or get ready to face the consequences as there are viruses which could be more deadly by being air born. Now, we have also put our environmental oxygen under stress, as the oxygen cylinders for Corona Pandemic are being filled up from atmospheric back up of environment, created by forests and green cover of earth, resulting in imbalance of gases around us. How long our earth can sustain the depletion of such resources which are life saving?
Recently, spread of corona has been reported in Singapore and two more variants reported in U.S., which needs through investigation and precautions. Personally, I have a feeling of a culprit while driving or travelling in a vehicle which is adding obnoxious gases to the environment but then find myself helpless with a hope that some eco- friendly alternative would be there. While attending the rescue operation of birds, animals and snakes, I thank the community for showing their gesture towards saving nature’s creations whose coexistence is vital for our survival and also tell them that the place belongs to them and we are the intruders having displaced them, so must respect and live in harmony with them. Similarly we have destroyed the habits and habitat of monkeys, there are no wild fruits trees and bushes left in forests otherwise they wouldn’t have ventures out for begging commercial food from us which is not good for them.
If all of us look at our faces in mirror in this context, we would find culprits having abused Mother Nature in every possible way, so much so, even after death we wouldn’t be judicious but ensure felling of so many trees and add smoke and heat to environment and pollute rivers and streams or keep lying buried encroaching upon earth, may appear unavoidable, but then what are we doing while alive, would shake our souls! All of us have to introspect and reach the masses to make them aware as why our country has fallen down from a high pedestal so that a country like Bangla Desh is offering us help! Let’s all join hands, take pledge to give our denuded mother earth a green cover by planting more and more trees not leaving even an inch bare, live in harmony with fellow creatures and fight the climate change. There is no need to look for heaven afterwards, let’s make it here on earth by following all guidelines to prevent and be thankful to Corona for waking us up from a deep slumber.
Dr (Mrs) Jatinder Kishtwaria
Director, ICAR-Central Institute for Women in Agriculture ICAR-CIWA), (Retd.) Bhubaneswar