The ecological responsibility and sustainability discourse has been floating around for quite some time now. Rachel Carson’s portent book ‘Silent Spring’ (1962) and former US Vice President Al Gore’s documentary ‘An inconvenient Truth (2006) notwithstanding, the perpetrator of this planetary degradation and arguably the most intelligent species dominating the earth today is closeted in its cocoon wrappings of comfort and convenience, arrogantly oblivious of scale of damage it has caused, and urgency of intervention that it merits.
Despite the assumed appreciation of ‘earth stewardship’ by the global stakeholder entities; the ‘black-and-blue victim of our anthropocene carnage’- the planet that we reside upon and extort all our life support system from, has hardly benefitted. The weather is incrementally erratic and hostile, green landscapes are expeditiously turning gray with urban concrete, our crystal blue waterscapes are turning black with sewage, skies are turning hazy with toxic gaseous cocktails, tranquil of our serene countryside is resonating with noise, and diversity of living beings on the earth is fast depleting.
Frankly there is clear evidence out there of this calamitous situation, if we choose to activate our sensory faculties, step out of our comfort zones without our politically tutored ‘all is well’ chant. Such ‘feel good factor’ doesn’t work with environment and what matters is that we reason and contemplate action to at least slow down this ‘human catalyzed apocalypse’.
Fancy lexicon and catchy phrases can create brief euphoria; but falls short of action in absence of sincere purpose, clear direction, sustained efforts and uncompromised accountability. Empirical data on environmental action is a convenient and convincing tool of the smart administrators; and they can make records bulge like balloon frogs, statistics gallop faster than thoroughbred horses and graphs rise higher than kites flown during Uttarayan!
The calibre and worth of an earth-friendly intervention cannot be gauged by the venue of the conference of parties, neither by pledging funds nor by the coverage of the politicians at press briefings.
These commitments stay firmly on paper entrapped in the ink flowing through pen-nibs of the signatories, with little take away from these events of international extravagance, except for a sense of participation and recognition on international stage. ‘Big boys of advanced market democracies’, soon start sermonizing those standing behind and on sides at photo-sessions, circumventing the agreement they’ve just signed in a brazen demonstration of exemptionalism.
The empty rhetoric then resonates through the world fostering a cult of pretence and feigning earth care, until they meet again with renewed agenda to delay action and escape the responsibility. The fear and also the fact that such voluntary moratorium and delisting of harmful endeavours may require tradeoff with their cravings for economic expansionism, looms large.
As humanity faces an environmental emergency, the global polity and think-tank is regrettably addressing this disaster only in a desultory manner. Despite our diverse geography, demography, cultures, political systems and economies, mankind has just but one earth, that has to be shared equitably and sustainably. Our presence and action has tilted the planetary balance heavily, and to set that right we desperately need more than supercilious rhetoric from national and global leadership.
India as vast landmass holding diverse spectrum of ecosystem, climate regimes and biodiversity, its rich legacy of respect towards earth and all natural elements, its celebratory culture witnessed in our ethnic communities, our traditional knowledge systems as well as penchant of our techno-savvy youth for assimilating new knowledge is a perfect matrix for global environmental leadership role that it can shoulder naturally and effectively.
Our collective effort and aspiration cannot be just to figure in the top ranking of global economies, but also to increasingly adopt and practice ‘ecological realism’ that mandates integrity of earth and its systems as a precondition for anything and everything that mankind hopes to accomplish ever !
Of course this mindset shall require a paradigm shift in the way governments, their foreign policy and international relationships function. Countries shall have to review their conventional understanding of national interest and international security, revisit their sovereign obligations and evolve a novel scale of assessment for their national wealth, as a part of earth’s natural capital assets. Ecological realism does not denigrate security threats and the need to invest and strengthen our military, political, economic, or technological power. But it recognizes and puts ecological integrity alongside these key areas of national interest.
As for India, in a volatile geo-political arena we have steadfastly resisted attempts from our neighbours to challenge our territorial integrity, and this surely is an issue of top priority concerning national security. But equally crucial is the need to address ecological security of our region given the rising per capita ecological footprint and exploding demography.
Foreign policy in present times may not engage only in ‘high politics’, but also be bothered about the fate of the living planet! Foreign policy needn’t just be the minutiae of international diplomacy, but must also focus on the big picture and a longer time-line concerning the earth. As Jessica Mathews the American International Affairs expert with focus on climate and energy says “…any definition of security that does not consider Earth’s long-term habitability is inherently suspected.”
Honestly we don’t require an invasion by an extraterrestrial alien from outer space; we humans, its regular inhabitants have already invaded and dominated this planet inflicting more damage. What we desperately require is ‘planetary politics’ involving authorities of all nations to adopt a new ethic of environmental stewardship, and practice a resolute responsibility for protecting the global commons. The governments, businesses, and communities must value and account for Earth’s natural capital assets, instead of exploiting them to depletion.
