TOWARDS A NEW EARTH

Sanjib Kumar Sarma

(sanjibsarmabajali@gmail.com)

New earth means an environmentally sound biosphere. The environment covers everything associated with organisms, including other organisms too and the non-living part in which life occurs- the weather, the physical and chemical composition of soil and seasonal changes of day length are all parts of an organism's environment.

Ecology, ecological imbalance, ecological disaster, ecological conservation, eco-feminism, ecotourism, eco-club etc., are these words every third person uses in day-to-day conversation. In the primitive stage man and nature co-existed, but with the advent of the steam engine and the age of science and technology, nature bore the brunt of mankind's thirst for more and more life luxuries. Today everything is done by the press of a button. Tomorrow everything can be done by mere thinking about it. Hands and feet may be deemed vestigial organs a few countries down the line. Science has made man too materialistic.

The environment is related to our economy in three ways- it is the supplier of raw materials for any production activities, it also works as a waste-sinker, and it acts as the provider of amenities of spiritual and recreational values. Like all other resources environment is also scarce. So, the excessive use of the environment by one generation reduces its availability for the next generation.

The earth is a marvellous planet, the only planet that has components necessary to support life. Astronauts Eldrin and Neil Armstrong let out a sign after experiencing the hostile desolate environment of outer space. Indeed, we live in a prolific and hospitable world unique in-universe mild temperature, supply of clean and fresh air, fresh water and fertile soil are generated endlessly and spontaneously by geological and biological cycles.

The earth is covered by life systems called ecosystems. The concept of living community and non-living environment is a functioning integral system. An ecosystem involves the transfer and circulation of matter and energy between living and non-living. There is an almost infinite variety of the magnitude of the ecosystem, from a global ecosystem that encompasses the entire biosphere to the ecosystem of a fallen log or the underside of a rock or even a drop of water. The biosphere is the biggest global ecosystem segmented by smaller ones, where plants and animals live in mutual relationships within their physical environment or habitat; a combination of soil, climate, organisms. Death is replaced by awaking of new life. Nature maintains ecological balance. But this balance is under threat from human civilization. The extinction of animals leads to the extinction of plants. With the passing of days, environmental problems are mounting. Complexities gather when people in developing countries start thinking that good life means westernization. Man in many processes of satisfying themselves motivated natural systems into artificial systems. The high productivity of this artificial system gives birth to more and more byproducts as well as waste. The enormous exploitation of natural resources in terms of the unmanageable amount of byproducts and wastes endangered our environment. And thereby, pushing not only human existence but the earth as a whole, into the darkness of destruction. What price is for progress?

What is the price for development? Politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen loot and injure the earth ripping apart its hills, loading streams with plastic garbage of its neighbours. Should not we pine for older days when the Pathsala–Guwahati highway was either sidelined with trees when trees were green and hills rounded and unlashed when rain used to come in time? Years and years have gone by, there has not been enough water received from rains. We can no longer see the trees on the hills. All we see are wounds, bleeding and dust. Dust covered hamlets on either side, dust-covered vehicles, dusty long traffic jams. We eat dust, inhale dust..., the result?

The temperature remains abnormal over the Indian sub-continent and China; North of 23 degrees North latitude, cooling and south of 23 degrees North latitude warming. The level of greenhouse gases in the environment has been increasing, the result is global warming. The chief green gases are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxide, chlorofluorocarbon, water vapour, tropospheric ozone and aerosols. These gases are emitted from the increased use of fossil fuel, destruction of natural vegetation and burning of biomass. Greenhouse gases permit radiation to strike at the earth's surface but do not permit longwave radiation from the earth to escape. Some short wave and longwave radiation are absorbed by these gases and in turn reradiate to the earth's surface, leading to additional heating known as Green House Effect. Without this phenomenon, the earth's temperature would be about 70 degrees Celcius. All oceans would be frozen under such conditions.

In the past hundred years, excessive consumption of fossil fuels like coal, petroleum, natural gas has seen carbon-dioxide levels in the atmosphere more than double, expected to raise the temperature by an average from 1.40 to 5 degrees Celcius, this century. This, of course, is an alarming increase, may cause long-term climate change.

Excessive use of cars, motor vehicles, use of plastic and non-biodegradable materials, industrial effluents and heavy smoke, along with the release of such harmful gases like CFC, methane, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide etc can increase Green House Effect. The average earth's temperature is -18 degrees Celcius compared to that of Mars -47 degrees celsius. The post-industrial period has witnessed a sharp rise in methane, CFC leading to a global temperature rise from 1.5 degrees Celcius to 4.5 degrees Celcius, the effect is disastrous on this poor planet.

Our environment knowledge needs regular up-date. We must prepare for upgrading our knowledge continuously and keep abreast of the last information about environmental disasters and tragedies.