Environment Ke Mann ki Baat
This is great news for Bangloreans…is it? We do suffer from pollution and will benefit from air purifier so what if we are handing our lives to the hands of air-purifier businesses. In future when this will backfire there will emerge some another innovation based business who will handle our lives for some more time. These are the “Vulture Businesses”, which comes out of human misery. Is this a life we had thought of? Should we adjust to it and keep on doing the usual? We will find a scapegoat (read as plastic, fossil fuel etc.) and start blaming, then buy air purifier and start searching for another scapegoat for the next generation.
Why did we arrive at such a situation? One can go ahead and blame all he/she wants for harming the environment but there is only one cause –“Humans and more humans”. Without trying to look for the cause treatments of symptoms-only never work.
High reproduction rate, advances in medical treatments, increase in life expectancy, and social status all cannot grow together. More humans mean more space required to live, more facilities needed. Blaming only the tree fellers or builders or fuel consumers will not do. No matter how many ecofriendly steps we include in our lives, this will not stop unless we slow down on the reproduction.
There were natural checks and balances in the past. Some randomly selected couple would not be able to have children. What did society do then? Instead of support they were tortured so much that people started seeing a business opportunity in fertility industry. I call this as the main “Vulture Business”. It also has other serious environmental impacts besides over population. You can read all about them on internet. Visiting my dentist which is opposite to “Assisted Reproduction” department in a big chain of hospitals, I see women having one child too coming in for want of another one.
I hate it so much when I see educated women asking in forums about planning second third kid. Even more irritating is when people reply that one can have as many as they can feed and support. Does having money give you the right to consume more of natural (limited) resources? Having extra kid means you are taking someone else’s kid’s air, water and food.
It’s a popular myth that siblings will look after each other later. Do they really think siblings will be do so in today’s materialistic society? Imagine your single child living a healthy clean life or living a deficient, diseased life with many brothers and sisters. Saved money for future will not be be sufficient for multiple kids because the vulture businesses will keep on increasing the cost according to the demand.
What is then our moral responsibility?
Stop propagating misconceptions about single child, sibling love, and salvation/moksha.
Stop harassing childless couples.
Promote and simplify adoption.
Invest in clean environment.
Think beyond own family .
How relevant is “Hum Do Hamare Do”slogan in today’s context. It no longer holds true. With people living well into their eighties, human number will steadily go on increasing if this is followed. We will be overtaking China shortly. Great to share and admire Greta Thunberg on social media but not do anything about future generation !!!!
