Man was endowed with all essentials for free. He had water aplenty from glacial rivers and lakes, salt from the seas and oxygen that we breathe from the trees. Nature is abound with which mankind now has an apparent disconnect, utterly disregarding the challenges that we face, now and that loom before us in the future.
The bees and the butterflies that act as cross-pollinators, the deer that munch the grass and help in its growth, the carnivores that keep the deer population in check and the elephants that eat the fruits and excrete the seeds in different parts of the forests helping new trees to grow, the birds that feed on insects, the snakes that feed on rodents, the various animals that act as the guardians of the forests, the insects and the birds, the plant and the trees all have a role in the preservation of nature and the environment.
The nature connect has to begin in the tender age of the children, by taking them for nature walks, to parks and zoos, to the lakes and the hills, to the seas and the forests. We must endeavor to teach them the enjoyment and appreciation of every creation of God, and everything so diverse yet so close to us and around us.
At the high school levels, there can be debates, quiz and programs like tree plantation, cleaning up of water bodies and parks etc. Particularly of importance is to highlight man’s interference with nature in deforestation, abuse of fossil fuels and dumping of non-bio degradable plastics on the environment. Ideas can be sought and can be suitably recognized and rewarded.
I grew up enjoying nature of every kind, travelling to all nature spots, learning to love the seas and the skies, climbing the hills and the mountains, riding the camels on the deserts and camping in the forests, watching the insects, birds and the animals in the parks and the dense jungles.
I travel several times to many forests spread all over India, photographing the forests and its animals in various moods, trying to understand them, or merely watching them quietly, thoroughly enjoying every moment of life.
Man was a content being, hunting for his food and living in caves. His intellectual part began, when he tamed animals and had farms of sheep and goat to meet his food needs. His mastery over the world began with felling of trees to build lasting dwellings, clearing forests for raising crops, digging mountains to mine minerals, indiscriminate use of fossil fuels for industrialization that have resulted in steep change in climate. Man’s quest has resulted in steep changes in ocean currents, shrinking of polar caps and creation of greenhouse gases and creating a hole in the ozone layer.
Realization and meetings between world leaders have often ended with trading charges between developed western nations and the developing as well as poor nations on cutting of greenhouse gases and limiting use of fossil fuels.
The adverse impact has been telling in the last few years, with repeated lashing of cyclones, typhoons, fast depletion of the polar ice and melting of glaciers. The rising sea levels pose grave dangers to many fragile areas of the planet.
The two most important ways in which man can help attain better environmental standards are:
- By planting trees in their vicinity, which can be done by all in their vicinity. A greener world would help reduction of the green-house gases, and make the air that we breathe purer and reverse the fall in the environmental standards.
- All can participate in more prudent use of plastics, as this is non-biodegradable and cause long term adverse impact on the atmosphere.
Nature connect has to be inculcated in the minds like scripts chiseled in rock. Nature is God.
