Rev. Dr. S.M. John Kennedy,
St. Xavier’s College, Palayamkottai,
S.India – 267 002,
ABSTRACT
Ever since
humans appeared on the earth, they have been interacting with the environment
for fulfilling their subsistence needs. But this interaction reached
unsustainable proportions after the industrial revolution, an offshoot of the
mechanical world-view, which impoverished the earth and with it, a vast
majority of the people. Humans have devastated and destroyed the earth to the
point of no return. Thus ecological crisis has its roots in man, in his vision
of himself, of the whole of creation and their interrelationships, in his value
system and priorities, all of which relate to the religion-moral dimensions of
the crisis. So our response to the ecological crisis must find a social
expression that impinges on structures as well as values in our society.
Solutions need not only
be technological but demands a change of our mindset, attitude, approach and
lifestyle. This demands proactive interventions and strict policies and plans
at the international and national levels which are sustainable and far-sighted.
There is an urgent need for making people aware of this environmental
responsibility. In short, there is an urgent need for a paradigm shift from
anthropocentrism to cosmocentrism.
Keywords: environmental crisis, social crisis,
paradigm shift, eco ethics, cosmocentrism
1.
Introduction
Till
about three decades ago, the resources of the world were thought to be
unlimited and if at all there was a depletion of one mineral or fuel, it was
assumed that scientific advancement would certainly discover a substitute or
even something better. However, in 1972 a report entitled, “The Limits to
Growth’ shook the world into awareness that all was not well. On the basis of
the trends observed at that time, the report forecast impending disaster1.
E.F. Schumacher in 1973 popularised the unpalatable truth that continuous
growth and finite resources were incompatible. He observed that as fossil fuels
are not made by men and that they cannot be re-cycled; once they are gone they
are gone forever. He asserted that the folly of the modern industrial system. It
destroys the very basis on which it is built and depends on irreplaceable
resources2. Human have caused an irreparable damage to the earth by
their irresponsible way of life.
Pope
John Paul IV in 1971 made a reference to the ecological crisis as a ‘tragic
result’ of uncontrolled human activities: “Due to an ill-considered
exploitation of nature, humanity runs the risk of destroying it and becoming in
turn a victim of this degradation”3. This one crisis that underlies
both the social and environmental crises arises from the way in which human
beings use and abuse, the peoples and goods of the earth. Poverty, social
exclusion, and marginalization are liked with environmental degradation. These
are not separate crises but one crisis that is s symptom of something much
deeper; the flowed way societies and economies are organized. This paper
analysis the roots of this crisis and comes out with practical solutions.
We
have only one earth to live in, to care for and to share with others,
especially with our future generations.
But because of the unrestrained exploitation and destruction of the rare
resources of Mother earth for quick profits, the unchecked life of luxury and
consumerism especially in the developed countries, causing the emission of
enormous chemical wastes and industrial toxins, and the disproportionate use of
chemical fertilizers and pesticides, unethical experiments to produce
genetically modified vegetables, fowls and animals to flood the consumer
markets, our earth and its environment are terribly polluted. Air, water and
food on which we depend for our sustenance and subsistence are all tampered
with. The earth is dangerously deformed
and becoming increasingly unfit for the sustenance and continuance of life.
2.
Crisis in our environment and society
2.1. The historical roots of the ecological crisis
This planet evolved around 15 to 20
billion years ago. First life came about around 4.5 billion years ago. Humans
are the latest arrival on this earth. The first human beings must have appeared
some 20 million years ago but the earliest fossil of Homo sapiens is
only 70,000 years old. Within a short span of time, they got multiplied and would
reach seven billion by 20104.
If we reduce the age of the earth
into the life span of a person 46 years old, modern man appeared just four
hours ago, agriculture was discovered during the last hour and the industrial
revolution began a minute ago. In this one minute, human beings have exploited
and damaged the planet and its resources to the point of no return5.
Ever since humans appeared on the
earth, they have been interacting with the environment for fulfilling their
subsistence needs. But this interaction reached unsustainable proportions after
the industrial revolution, an offshoot of the mechanical world-view, which
impoverished the earth and with it, a
vast majority of the people.
Looking back into the past 400 years
of Western civilization, we come up with six basic factors that fundamentally
shaped our present social and economic structures6.
· the worldview of ‘world as a machine’
· the rise of secular materialistic values
· the advent of subject/object dualism
· the industrial revolution
· the creation of free market capitalism
· Globalization, liberalization and the resultant
consumerism
2.2.
The humans solely responsible
Humans have destroyed the entire ecological community
altogether because of the crisis of human society, its set of values and ethos.
Thus ecological crisis has its roots in man, in his vision of himself, of the
whole of creation and their interrelationships, in his value system and
priorities, all of which relate to the religion-moral dimensions of the crisis7.
So our response to the ecological crisis must find a social expression that
impinges on structures as well as values in our society.
The mode of development, being followed and blindly
enforced is at the heart of today’s ecological crisis. This is intimately
linked to science and technology as instruments to dominate over and exploit
nature8. A capitalist, consumerist economy, industry and social
organization promoted by the affluent countries and the powerful elite in the
Third World countries determine the quality of environment we create. Consumerism
ends up with accumulation of wealth and this drastically affects the poor and
the earth. Today 82.7% of the world’s income goes to the richest 20% of the
people (the affluent consumers). By contrast, the poorest 20% get only 1.4% of
the world’s income.
Modernization, mechanization, industrialization,
capital-intensive and labour saving techniques of production, hyper consumption
of luxurious items etc. are the hallmarks of the modern concept of development.
Commodity production and capital consistently values self-interest (greed)
above social interest and environmental interest. The ethics of autonomy, which
centre on the individual, ignore the essential relationality of a human person
in community and the integral relationality to nature. Coupled with narrow
anthropocentrism and androcentrism it supported an ethos of individualism and
enthroned man as master of all creation and as superior to women.
2.3. The technocratic paradigm controls everything
Modern
anthropocentrism has paradoxically ended up prizing technical thought over
reality, since ‘the technology mind sees nature as an object to be exploited,
as a cold body of facts, as a mere given, as an object of utility, as raw
material to be hammered into useful shape; it views the cosmos similarly as a
mere space into which objects can be thrown with complete callousness9.
When human beings place themselves at the centre, they give absolute priority
to immediate convenience and all else becomes relative. Technology severed from
ethics will not easily be able to limit its own power.
Ethical
and cultural decline have accompanied the deterioration of the environment. Men
and women of our postmodern world run the risk of rampant individualism, and
many problems of society are connected with today’s self centred culture of
instant gratification.
2.4. Our common home in great peril
a.
climate change and pollution: The modern throw away culture and the resultant
accumulation of waste and pollution result in health perils for the poor and
cause millions of premature deaths. Thus our earth has become an immense pile
of filth. We waste a lot of paper. Our development model is mainly based on the
use of fossil fuels. Tropical forests which can mitigate this pollution are
also destroyed at a rapid scale. Change of our climate is a global problem. It
causes crisis in the environmental, economic, social and political fields. This
results in environmental refugees – both animals and humans. The habit of
wasting and discarding by developed countries and wealthier sections of society
has reached unprecedented levels.
b.
Water contamination and scarcity: Many people do not have access to safe
drinking water. Frequent droughts affect agricultural production. Corporates
try to privatize water and have made it a commercial commodity, controlled by
market laws. To get safe water is a universal human right. Cost of food will
escalate due to water scarcity. Multinationals have started controlling our
water bodies and water resources. This will soon become a major cause of
conflict.
Greater scarcity of water will lead to an
increase in the cost of food and the various products which depend on its use. Control
of water by large multinational business may become a major source of conflict10.
Although
India receives an average rainfall of 1170 mm per year, it is estimated that
only 6% of rainwater is stored. Micro irrigation practices like drip and
sprinkler systems have to be promoted in a big way for efficient use of water
for agriculture. Both in urban and rural areas, digging of rainwater harvesting
pits must be made mandatory for all types of buildings11.
C.
Loss of biodiversity:
There
is an uncontrolled and unchecked plundering of the resources of the earth. This
results in the disappearance and annihilation of several species which our
science even has not discovered so far. Human activity is the main cause for
these extinctions.
“Who turned the wonder world of the seas into
underwater cemeteries bereft of colour and life?”12 The end point of
all pollution due to deforestation, agricultural runoff with fertilizers and
pesticide residues and industrial effluents is the ocean. Wrong fishing methods
and techniques using cyanide and dynamite too deplete the resources of the sea.
The rise in sea temperature due to global warming also aggravates this. This
results in the rise in sea level and increase in extreme weather events.
D.
Decline in the quality of human life and the breakdown of society:
Environmental
degradation has several social dangers as manifested in displacement of people,
migration, unemployment, unequal distribution and consumption of natural resources, energy and
other services, social exclusion, increase in violence and emergence in new
forms of social aggression.
Environmental
degradation and deterioration of the human environment are both related.
Environmental crises and issues cannot be adequately addressed without taking
into consideration the human and social degradation. All these finally affect
the most vulnerable people on this planet.
“Both
everyday experience and scientific research show that the gravest effects of
all attacks on the environment are suffered by the poorest”13. The
North has unjustly exploited and looted the wealth and resources of the South
for their selfish gains and development. Most of the countries in the South are
rich in natural resources. The growth of the North is mainly built on the
resources of the South. Hence, there is an ecological debt between the North
and South.
3. Towards proactive solutions:
Response
to ecological crisis is eminently an ethical task. The unjust division of human
society and rupture of eco-wholeness point to the degradation (chaos) of the
universe (cosmos), the home (oikos) common to human and all other living
beings. We confront a dual crisis today: degradation of the natural environment
and impoverishment of a vast majority of the voiceless people. The response can
only be the restoration of earth community by securing the well-being of
humankind on a thriving earth. Ecological integrity and social equity are thus
two sides of the same coin. Ecological health and economic justice constitute eco
justice. Development can only be truly sustainable, when equity is made its leading edge. Sound ecological development
must at least meet the challenges of basic needs, sustainability and equity and
other technological challenges of increasing the resource use efficiency and
the productivity of nature and man-made processes14.
3.1. The need for a change of mind
Solutions
for the ecological crisis, besides being technological should start with the
change in human mindset, worldview, attitude, lifestyle, behaviour and patters
of consumption.
There
is no better future without environmental protection including sustainable and
integral development. Accordingly, we need to change our lifestyle, means of
production and ways of consumption. Human beings, having intelligence should
respect the laws and limits of nature and nurture the equilibria existing in
the world. Our production must be less polluting. Humans have to adopt a
non-consumerist life style.
“Everyone’s
talents and involvement are needed to redress the damage caused by human abuse
of God’s creation”15. Thus, we need to move from anthropocentrism
(more from androcentrism) to cosmocentrism.
3.2. Wealth for the future is a healthy earth:
All
our resources are limited. They belong to not only this generation but to all
generations – past, present and future. Our earth is for all generations.
We
have inherited a safe and sound earth and environment; thanks to our previous
generation. We have the duty and responsibility to hand over this earth, unpolluted,
uncontaminated and resource filled to our next generation. More than economic
resources, ecologically safe earth and environment is the only wealth we need
to pass on to the coming generation.
“The
environment is part of a logic of receptivity. It is on loan to each
generation, which must then hand it on to the next.”16 We should not
be leaving to the coming generations, debris and filth.
3.3. Eco justice includes social justice:
Cry
of the earth and cry of the poor are both interlinked. One cannot be addressed
without the other. Ecological protection begins with safeguarding the resources
on which the poor people depend for the sustenance and survival. The worst
victims of today’s ecological crisis are the dalits, tribals, women and the
poor. Their life and lifestyle are closely associated with nature and natural
resources. Any effect on the environment immediately and fully affects them.
Ecological restoration begins with the protection of the lives of the poor.
Thus eco justice includes social justice.
“Whatever is fragile, like the environment, is
defenceless before the interests of a deified market, which become the only
rule”17 Concern for the environment needs to be joined to a sincere
love for our fellow human beings and an unwavering commitment to resolving the
problems of society. Every act of cruelty towards any creature is ‘contrary to
human dignity’18 A sense of deep communion with the rest of nature
cannot be real if our hearts lack tenderness, compassion and concern for our
fellow human beings. Peace, justice and the preservation of creation are three
absolutely interconnected themes, which cannot be separated and treated
individually without once again falling into reductionism19.
The
protection of the environment is in fact ‘an integral part of the development
process and cannot be considered in isolation from it”20 In this, it
is essential to show special care for indigenous communities and their cultural
traditions.
3.4.
Inter-relationship
and the intrinsic value of nature
Berry Commoner’s first law says, “Everything is
connected to everything else”21. In nature everything is related to
everything else by the ecological concept of food chain and food web. Human
beings are also part of this interconnected, interrelated and interdependent
cosmic reality. To be is to be related. To be human is to be interhuman and to
be related to every being in this cosmos. Nature is a web of relations. Denial
of relationality is denial of being in this cosmos. Nature is a web of
relations. Denial of relationality is denial of being.
Ecological relatedness of every being is a value for
itself and for others. Each reality has its own unique value, irrespective of
its usefulness to human beings and as such it must be respected. The cosmos is
a geo-physical and biospiritual reality to which human beings must learn to
relate in its totality. Human beings reach their full stature in relation to
the entire cosmic process. There is a comprehensive interdependence and
communion which binds all reality and every phase of the story together. In a
relational perspective the purposive nature of every being in relationality is
recognized. It is respect for the integrity of nature which rebounds to the
well-being of man. A sound liberative eco-ethic can be built only on the value
of the intrinsic relationality of humans and nature. Our reverence for life is
part of a perspective which recognizes both the intrinsic and inalienable
dignity of the human and the intrinsic value of nature within the greater
relationality and interdependence of all beings.
Any human choice, decision, economic activity,
technological discovery which does not respect this fundamental
inter-relatedness of the entire cosmic whole and which violates the total
integrity of the whole is morally wrong. It results in disastrous consequences
for man as well as for nature. Human beings should always act and behave with
the consciousness of being part of this interrelated and interconnected cosmic
reality.
A human fellowship, not just between us, the human
community, but extended to the entire ecological one as well, should include
the biotic and even the entire cosmic community. For this, we must deal with
nature as a ‘subject’ with intrinsic value, not as an ‘object’ for merely
instrumental use; our relationship with her must be an ‘I-thou’ not an ‘I-it’
one22.
“Each creature possesses its
own particular goodness and perfection... Each of the various creatures, willed
in its own being, reflects in its own way a ray of God’s infinite wisdom and
goodness. Human beings must therefore respect the particular goodness of every
creature to avoid any distorted use of things”23
3.5. Lines of approach and action:
1.
Actions at the global level: Our earth is common to all people. Our atmosphere,
air, water, land and sea have no boundaries and dividing walls. So any
ecological action should have a global perspective. Initiatives have to be
global and restorative actions begin from the local level.
Recent
world summits on environment have not lived up to expectations because, due to
lack of political will, they were unable to reach truly meaningful and
effective global agreements on the environment. The principles in the 1992
Earth Summit, proclaimed in Rio still await an efficient and flexible means of
practical implementation. Rio +20 in 2012 had a wide ranging but ineffectual
outcome document. National interests are placed above the global common good. Enforceable
international agreements are urgently needed. Global regulatory norms are
needed to improve obligations and prevent unacceptable actions. An agreement is
immediately needed on systems of governance for the whole range of so called
‘global commons’. There is a need to devise stronger and more efficiently
organized international institutions, with functionaries who are appointed
fairly by agreements among national governments and empowered to impose
sanctions.
2.
Dialogue for new national and local policies:
People
should mobilize themselves and urge the government to act. Local legislation
can be more effective.
3.
Transparency in decision making: Any developmental project has to be
transparently discussed with the stakeholders with the results of an eco-audit.
Decisions on implementation have to be taken in transparent consultation with
the people especially with the victims.
4.
The need of the hour is the politics which has integral and far-sighted
approach and is capable of handling the crisis effectively.
5.
From consumerism to conservation: Today’s market is built on uncontrolled and
extreme consumerism. Market can survive only if consumerism flourishes and is
actively promoted. It is built on needless buying and spending. Human lifestyle
has to be need and subsistence based and not luxury based. Hence, there is a
need to move from consumerism to conservation.
6.
Environmental education should be incorporated into not only school curricula
but in all places and aspects. Students and people have to be conscientized on
how human actions and behaviour cause environmental degradation and must be
trained to lead a simple and healthy life in tune with nature. Reduce, reuse
and recycle must be the watchwords for ecological conservation.
4. Conclusion:
We need to protect our Mother Earth,
atleast from the selfish motive of safeguarding ourselves and our future. This
demands a paradigm shift from anthropocentrism to cosmocentrism. This is need
of the hour. This demands a change in our mindset, values and lifestyle.
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