For eons, the earth and its ecosystems have changed multiple times to give birth to new species, while bringing the lives of old ones to their conclusion, thus proving the old saying- change is the only constant- right. But the aforementioned change is the one brought about by natural occurrences. The earth is still changing but with a greater speed than before and the reason behind it is external interference from humans. By far, humans are the only species constantly working towards their own extermination. The sped-up change, our earth is going through, is worsening its condition, which is imposing a direct threat to its ecosystems. Since we, humans, are an integral part of the ecosystem, this change, moulded by ourselves, is a threat to us too.
We are well aware of this change as we are seeing it around us in form of polluted air, contaminated water, climate change, and drastic increase in global warming, etc. But even after witnessing it first-hand, we have been shutting our eyes to it. We, humans, are so consumed in acquiring everything, to make life easier, in any possible way that we always end up taking no notice of the devastating impact our never-ending demands have been imposing on the environment. This ignorance towards the environment can also be seen in our poorly designed education system.
Education is the principal element in human development, and it plays a vital role in shaping people from the age when the brain is still set to learn at an unmatched speed to the age when curiosity is still flourishing. By teaching about the environment at such young age, more understanding can be spread among people around the world, but the poor quality of education system has always been a hinderance to this. Environment education in India was made compulsory in formal education in schools through a Supreme Court judgement in 2003, while the environment becoming a concern date back to 1960s. Even if we optimistically thing about it as progress, there is yet another thing to worry about. In most of the educational institution environmental education is only considered a high scoring subject to improve grades and learning and application are given no importance.
Flawed education system is just a small part of the big picture. In today’s world environmental change has become a major issue. But the issue that should be discussed amongst families and friends is not even being treated as a topic of concern in the parliaments of the world. That being said, economists like Nicolas Stern, consider the climate crisis a result of multiple market failures, which in turn is a result of poor governance. They believe and have urged policymakers for years to increase the price of activities that emit greenhouse gases, one of our biggest environmental problems, for example through carbon taxes, which will stimulate innovations in low-carbon technologies. The government needs to cut its support and funding from fossil fuels and technologies involving greenhouse gases, and direct it towards green innovation to bring down the costs of low-carbon energy sources. A national carbon tax is currently implemented in 25 countries around the world, including various countries in the EU, Canada, Singapore, Japan, Ukraine and Argentina. However, according to the 2019 OECD Tax Energy Use report, current tax structures are not adequately aligned with the pollution profile of energy sources. For example, the OECD suggests that carbon taxes are not harsh enough on coal production.
But to treat government as scapegoat by blaming it for everything will be a terrible mistake. As an individual, almost everyone around the world is equally responsible for the terrible condition our earth is left in. One of the biggest threats to environment, plastic waste, is a result of ignorance at the basic level. Plastic takes almost 450 years to decompose and when burned, it releases dangerous chemicals such as hydrochloric acid, sulphur dioxide, dioxins, furans and heavy metals, as well as particulates. Over 380 million tons of plastic is produced every year. This massive amount of plastic is menacing to animals and birds and possess even greater threat to aquatic ecosystem. A report by science journal, Nature, determined that currently, roughly 11 million tons of plastic make its way into the oceans every year, harming wildlife habitats and the animals that live in them. According to another report by UNESCO Facts & Figures on Marine Pollution, over 1 million marine animals are killed each year due to plastic debris in the ocean. This humongous figure is the result of our ignorant behaviour towards environment and our severe dependency on plastic as an individual.
Like plastic, fossil fuels are also the reason behind environmental crises and another thing we, humans, are too much dependent on. Fossil fuels are the major contributors of global warming, which is a well-known fact, but are still being extracted and used for producing energy. There are many alternatives sources to fossil fuels, but the machineries used to produce energy using these alternatives are very expensive. This is another result of poor governance. The big powers of the world are entirely dependent on fossil fuels, as it gives them power over other countries, so they are hellbent in keeping it rolling. People being too much dependent on fossil fuels even in the presence of better alternatives are example of both, failure as an individual and failure of the education system.
But as the seriousness of environmental crisis is increasing, there are many individuals who have already started making a move to save environment. Big industrialists have started manufacturing environment friendly technologies that costs less. Even government of many countries have started helping their citizens financially to help them afford a renewable energy generator at low rates. Many NGO’s around the world work towards spreading awareness of the natural environment and helping them in making choices that benefit the world. The most recent examples were the online workshops being conducted around the world, to spread environmental awareness, amid corona crises. There are many environmental movements conducted and advocated every year around the world, with a single aim of saving environment. These measures to save the environment were present even in the past but the massive support from the world’s population, that was required to make these things work, has just surfaced. Thankfully humans have started moving from the darkness, named ignorance, towards the light of knowledge and awareness. Afterall, as Martin Luther king Jr. quoted- Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
Solar Energy10 months ago