The Need to Protect, Preserve and Restore Our Environment

Earth is home to different non-living as well as living species and we are all dependent on the environment for food, air, water and other needs. We therefore need to co-operate with nature instead of destroying it. Unfortunately, humans have not been very good stewards of the earth over the years.

Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment against various human activities that degrade, destroy or otherwise reduce its quality for future generations. But most of us are ignorant and oblivious to environmental responsibility, which makes environmental degradation a profound challenge.

The modern world and its lack of connections with nature have also made it difficult to understand and care for our environment. There is also a growing sense of apathy among our people towards protecting our environment. As a result, our irresponsible actions and inactions are continuously harming and degrading nature which, if allowed to continue unchecked, may lead us towards a future with serious consequences.

Today, if we look at the level of pollution and environmental degradation in our state, almost all of us have failed our state and made it to look like an “Ownerles State” as we have shown least care for protection or restoration of the environment. We need to realise that environment degradation ‘after affect’ is going to affect us all – the poor, rich, educated and uneducated. Most of us may also not be aware, but it is learnt that if we don’t care for the environment, it also has its ways to fight back if we push it too far.

Environmental protection ought to be the responsibility of all the people and not simply that of government. Let us all, as stakeholders of our state, rise up and start to take care of our environment before it’s too late. Humans can alter and mould the environment. The inactions or anti-environment ways of reasoning should be done away with and we need to reconnect with the natural world by re-greening our lands, start to manage our wastes effectively, prevent further environment damage to our land, air, water sources/bodies, etc.

A high level of activism is the need of the hour to get effective responses to the environment challenges our state faces. We need to collectively make transformative change and move towards a sustainable environment. Younger generations, as inheritors of our state, should come forward and take pro-active roles as they have more informed opinions based on improved knowledge, recent technologies and better strategies.

While commemorating this year’s World Environment Day, let us all resolve to change our “damn care”, “not my responsibility” and “nothing will happen” attitudes towards our environment and start to care and move along with the rest of the world in an effort to protect and restore the earth, which is humanity’s lone home.

Kelhousesi Rino          

Member, Kuda Village Waste Management Committee