Editorial:-
Tomorrow is World Environment Day. Like every year, there will be plantation drives, workshops and seminars held all over the world. Sikkim will be joining the process, and given that this is an El Nino year, talks on climate change can be expected as well. Then, like every year, once the people are done with the routine of observing the Day, they will return to their concrete homes driving fossil fuel guzzling and noxious fume releasing vehicles, their headlights powered by batteries that turn the earth sour and leaving behind venues littered with Styrofoam cups and plastic wrappers. This routine plays out every year not necessarily because we are hypocrites by nature, but more probably because although we realise that the environment has been keeping poor health, as urban-dwellers we do not understand what environment really is. We want the city air to be cleaner, but cannot connect with the need to keep green belts alive for this to happen. The city-bred idea of environment protection is riddled with cliches, is impractical, and for all the high-sounding ideals, shallow in concern. This is the trap that even Sikkim has worked itself into. Even though a majority of the population is rural, and thus closer to nature, the generation which will take decisions in the future is being groomed in urban pockets where Environment has become a subject in school and speaks of things they can neither associate with nor have reason to strike a connection with. There is an obvious disconnect which is unfortunate in light of the fact that 82% of the landmass here is under forest cover of some sort or the other. And yet, it is not rare to find children growing up without having seen a cow get milked or paddy being sown, or for that matter, cardamom being harvested and dried. A generation is growing up familiar with the various functions of the various keys of a mobile phone, but ask them to recognize one tree by name and they are stumped. They know the months of the year and days of the week, and the names of the seasons, but have no need to notice [or miss] seasons, or know where the water in the taps is sourced from. This is not the curse of modernity, it is a reflection of the previous generation’s uncaring attitude not only towards their young, but also towards the society and its collective future. A generation so uninitiated in the ways of nature cannot, even if it wants to, take care of the environment. On World Environment Day, we should perhaps introduce the young to environment first. Once they get to know each other, they will also take care of each other…
Tomorrow is World Environment Day. Like every year, there will be plantation drives, workshops and seminars held all over the world. Sikkim will be joining the process, and given that this is an El Nino year, talks on climate change can be expected as well. Then, like every year, once the people are done with the routine of observing the Day, they will return to their concrete homes driving fossil fuel guzzling and noxious fume releasing vehicles, their headlights powered by batteries that turn the earth sour and leaving behind venues littered with Styrofoam cups and plastic wrappers. This routine plays out every year not necessarily because we are hypocrites by nature, but more probably because although we realise that the environment has been keeping poor health, as urban-dwellers we do not understand what environment really is. We want the city air to be cleaner, but cannot connect with the need to keep green belts alive for this to happen. The city-bred idea of environment protection is riddled with cliches, is impractical, and for all the high-sounding ideals, shallow in concern. This is the trap that even Sikkim has worked itself into. Even though a majority of the population is rural, and thus closer to nature, the generation which will take decisions in the future is being groomed in urban pockets where Environment has become a subject in school and speaks of things they can neither associate with nor have reason to strike a connection with. There is an obvious disconnect which is unfortunate in light of the fact that 82% of the landmass here is under forest cover of some sort or the other. And yet, it is not rare to find children growing up without having seen a cow get milked or paddy being sown, or for that matter, cardamom being harvested and dried. A generation is growing up familiar with the various functions of the various keys of a mobile phone, but ask them to recognize one tree by name and they are stumped. They know the months of the year and days of the week, and the names of the seasons, but have no need to notice [or miss] seasons, or know where the water in the taps is sourced from. This is not the curse of modernity, it is a reflection of the previous generation’s uncaring attitude not only towards their young, but also towards the society and its collective future. A generation so uninitiated in the ways of nature cannot, even if it wants to, take care of the environment. On World Environment Day, we should perhaps introduce the young to environment first. Once they get to know each other, they will also take care of each other…
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