The Ailing Planet: The Green Movements

Role
By Nani Palkhivala

Introduction
More than ever the planet earth is losing its vitality and freshness. Due to
human development activities throughout the globe the earth has become
highly polluted, highly irreparable and highly damaged. We have taken out
petroleum, coal and a lot of natural resources from the earth. We have
removed more than half of world's vegetation and emitted large quantity of
carbon and a lot of other chemicals. We have destroyed marine life and made
rivers dry. Moreover our greed for more and more wealth resulted in depleting
the protective ozone layer and invited all harmful rays to the earth's surface.
Besides, we have brought out a great imbalance between humans and the
other species of the earth.

Summary in Points
1. First Nation-wide Green Party: established 1972, New Zealand
2. Worldview shifted from mechanistic to holistic and ecological
3. Realisation that the planet is a living organism in declining health due to
human impact on its natural resources
4. Sustainable development - Development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet
their needs - key to human survival and prosperity in the future
5. We, today known as the 'world's most dangerous animal', are custodians of
the future.
6. Undiscovered species exist in large numbers but we may never discover
their identity if we do not conserve their habitats
7. Lester R. Brown's book 'The Global Economic Prospect' identifies four
principal biological systems of the earth as fisheries, forests, grasslands and
croplands. They provide food supply and raw material for our survival.
8. Over-fishing and deforestation, coupled with uncontrolled population
explosion, has led to the collapse of fisheries, disappearance of forest cover,
conversion of grasslands to barren wastelands and the deterioration of crops.
9. We lose an acre and a half of forests every second and the World Bank
estimates a five-fold increase in the rate of forest planting to cope with the
demand for fuel wood.
10. Article 48 A of the Constitution - "The State shall endeavour to protect and
improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the
country". Author laments that laws are never respected or enforced in India.
11. Fertility falls as incomes rise, education spreads, and health improves.
Thus development which may ensure raised incomes, is the best
contraceptive. But development itself is not possible without a control on our
population explosion. More children mean more hungry mouths which implies
poverty as well as increased demand on our natural resources.

12. India's current population is estimated to be 1.2 billion while the world
population is about 7 billion. Hence, we hold the major chunk of the world.
The author questions whether we recognise this fact and are at least now
willing to make a change in our awareness of the human impact on
environment.
13. Era of responsibility - the awareness of our role and the need for
sustainable development
14. Author claims that the industry must join the cause and work towards
becoming eco-friendly just as Du Pont under the leadership of Mr. Edgar S
Woolard.
15. We are tenants of the planet, and are required to keep it repaired and
well-maintained for generations to come - Margaret Thatcher, Lester Brown

Summary
Our Earth is an enormous living organisman, of which we are parts. This is our planet, its
destruction will make us all homeless. We are dependent on Earth and not the other way
round. However, the thankless creature, man, is unconcerned about the dangers that pose
threats to our survival. The article by Nani Palkhivala deals with the concerns of the
environmentalists at this eleventh hour and talks about the new awareness that has dawned
upon our race. A holistic and ecological view of the world has been brought into consideration.
The Green Movement launched in 1972 has never looked back. There is a growing need of
sustainable development, which was popularised by World Commission on Environment and
Development in 1987.
Man is the most dangerous creature, as it was declared by a Zoo in Lusaka, Zambia. Human
beings are taking too much time to realise the need of the hour. One of the members of
Brandt Commission, Mr.L.K.Jha, raised a vital question, are we to leave our successors a
scorched planet of advancing deserts, impoverished landscapes and ailing environment? Mr.
Lester R. Brown expressed his worry over the fact that our four biological systems are
reaching an unsustainable level. The tropical forests, the powerhouse of evolution, as Dr.
Meyers called them, are being destroyed causing extinction of several species.
The fear hovers, what if the words, forests precede mankind and deserts follow, come true.
And the reality is that India is losing its forests at the rate of 3.7 million acres a year. The
Article 48A of the Indian Constitution provides that the State shall endeavour to protect and
improve the environment and safeguard the forest and wildlife of the country. To conserve the
environment and to bring down the population of the world, which is 5.7 billion, Palkhivala
suggests that development is the only solution. Fertility falls as the income rises, education
spreads, and health improves. Nani supports compulsory sterilisation and defends it by
saying that there is no other alternative but coercion.
The population of India today is 920 million, which is more than the entire population of Africa
and South America. What is happening today is that rich are getting richer and poor are
begetting children, which begets them to remain poor. Now the folks have realised what
endangers our race. It is not about the survival of human race but the survival of the planet
Earth.
It is an Era of Responsibility. The industrialists have to understand the present concern with
most consideration. The view of the Chairman of Du Pont, Mr. Edgar S. Woolard is much

appreciable, our continued existence as a leading manufacturer requires that we excel in

environmental performance. Let us be grateful to mother nature and keep Margaret
Thatchers felicitous words, No generation has a freehold on this earth. All we have is a life
tenancy with a full repairing lease. In the words of Mr. Lester Brown, We have not inherited
this earth from our forefathers; we have borrowed it from our children.

Short Answer Questions

Q. Why is the earth said to be an ailing planet?
Ans. Due to the insensitive exploitation by humans for his survival and
development, the earth has lost almost all its vital resources. With drying
rivers, depleted and polluted environment and deteriorated forests and
greenery, the earth is now breathing hard for its survival and thus it is an ailing
planet.
Q. What is the significance of Green Movement in the modern world?
Ans. The Green Movement that was found in New Zealand in the year 1972
brought a great awareness to the humanity. It taught us that we are just
partners on the earth having equal rights to inhabit this planet as any other
living organism has. Having learnt this, human beings worldwide stopped
large amount of destruction that it used cause upon the earth. People realized
that the earth's existence was threatened and began to do whatever was
possible by each individual and each nation.
Q. What did the most dangerous animal on the earth learn in the recent
time?
Ans. The most dangerous animal, man, has learnt in the recent years a new
lesson that he is not the master of the planet but just one among the rest of
the animals and trees, plants and insects, who should live like a partner in
survival, the safeguard, trustee of the earth.
Q. What was the question raised by the First Brandt Commission? What
does it suggest? What is the significance of this question?
Ans. The first Brandt Report raised the question, Are we going to leave
behind for our successors a scorched planet of advancing deserts,
impoverished landscapes and ailing planet? This question finds an answer in
our minds but we quite conveniently forgets this answer. It has been proved in
the recent years that the earth is becoming hotter planet every year and
another ice-age is under way. This question is still significant and will remain
significant until the only schooled animal of the earth stops his war against the
planet.

Q. "What goes under the pot now costs more than what goes inside it."
Explain.
Ans. With a growing population and the pace of the global developments
taking wings, the cost of food touched a new height, all time high. Amazingly,
the cost of cooking-gas overtook that of food-grains, fish, meat and
vegetables, thus the fuel to cook gas, firewood and electricity now costs
more than the raw-food.
Q. Why is it said that forest precedes mankind?
Ans. No animal on the planet earth ever caused damage to it but humans
have been causing serious destruction upon the earth ever since he had
evolved. By cutting down trees for his survival and development humans have
established their monopoly over the other species. Thus, with the coming of
humans, the existence of forest was threatened.
Q. What did Lester Brown mean when he said that we have not inherited
this earth from our forefathers, we have borrowed it from our children?
Ans. Lester Brown believes that the present population of the earth has no
right to think that the earth is its property. Each one has to believe that he is
having full responsibility to keep the earth protected from all kinds of misuse.
He has to feel that the earth is place that he has to return to the generations
to come. Brown further furnishes that human beings have no right to misuse
the earth because we are accountable to the new generations after us.
Q. How is human population explosion the biggest threat to the
existence of the ailing earth?
Ans. Human population is the biggest threat to the existence of the earth.
Though it reached a billion in a million years, another billion was added to the
world population in just another hundred years. Every four or five days the
world population increases by one million. The effects of this dangerous
increase in world population are endless yet the most catastrophic one is our
present struggle for existence.
Q. What does the empty cage and the board in the zoo in Lusaka mean?
Ans. In a zoo in Lusaka there is a mirror kept in one of the cages that is said
to be the cage of the most dangerous animal in the world. The visitor sees his
own face in the mirror and realizes that he is that most dangerous animal. The
message is that human beings have won the infamous other than that of a
zoo animal. The board message conveyed is a warning to the most
dangerous animal to come in terms with the earth.

Q. What was the question raised by first Brandt Commission?

Ans. The first Brandt Commission raised a very serious question to the
humanity regarding its obligations to the ailing planet. It asked if we are to
leave our successors a scorched planet of advancing deserts, impoverished
landscapes and ailing environment.
Q. Name one of the Indian based firm that initiated "No Paper Project"
by means of E-Learning to minimize the use of paper and bring down
deforestation. What is its message to students worldwide?
Ans. In 1999, an Indian based firm initiated total e-learning for students and
teachers worldwide. It aims to bring down the use of paper and trees by
encouraging students who formerly learnt bulk loads of guides and printed
materials. The firm, a free website, has now over half a million users
worldwide who have abandoned the use of printed guides. The firm is
www.kiddingtown.com and it feels proud of all its users who are taking its
name to their friends, neighbors and teachers over facebook. (Well, this went
totally out of syllabus but dont mind)
Q. What are the four principal biological systems? How are they the
foundation of the global economic system?
Ans. The four principal biological systems of the earth are fisheries, forests,
grasslands and croplands. In addition to supplying our food, these four
systems provide virtually all the raw materials for industry except minerals and
petroleum-derived synthetics.
Q. Why is tropical forest called the powerhouse of evolution?
Ans. It is in the heart of the tropical forests where newer plants and animals
evolve to more adaptable forms.
Q. How is population responsible for the environment degradation?
Ans. With rising population, space that nature assigned for forests and
animals. More population means less forests and animals. Unfortunately
mans first choice is nature and it is sadly vulnerable and an easy prey. When
cities and megacities occupy the major portion of the earth, the ecological
balance is said to be lost.
Q. What does more children mean to the poor section of people of
India?

Ans. Poverty is directly caused by illiteracy and lack of education. The illiterate
and uninformed poor people of India believe that more children is more
income. In fact more children means more responsibility and more poverty
and an unhealthy family and individual.
Q. What does Mr. Edgar S Woolard mean by assuming the post of his
company's Chief Environment Officer?
Ans. Mr. Edgar S Woolard, chairman of DuPont, an international
manufacturer, by co-assuming the post of the companys Chief Environmental
Officer (CEO), stands a model for the owners and chairpersons of all the
industries worldwide. He implies that the chief motive of an industry is to
preserve the stability and life of the earth and profit comes next.
Q. Margaret Thatcher says, "No generation has a freehold on this earth.
All we have is a life tenancy - with full repairing lease." How is this
statement significant today?
Ans. Everyone says, it is my land and that is your land. People fight for
other territories and encroach the neighbors land. It is here what British Prime
Minister, Margaret Thatchers observation gains importance. We are not
supposed to occupy the earth considering that the planet belongs to us and
that we can exploit the planet any way we like. We, on the contrary, have to
extract the resources so careful that the generation that comes after us will
have a better land and sea, a less dense forest, cleaner water and clearer
sky.
Q. What are our ethical obligation to the ailing planet?
Ans. Human beings have the greatest obligation to the earth to safeguard this
planet from all advancing deterioration and keeping it safe so that it can be
handed over to the coming generations to inhabit here peacefully and in the
midst of abundance.
Q. How do you explain the concept of sustainable development?
Ans. Sustainable development is the kind development activities that meet the
needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their needs. This kind of development is expected to be undertaken
without stripping the natural world of resources that the future generations
would need.
Q. How do fisheries, forests, grasslands and croplands form the
foundation of global economic system?

Ans. A majority of the world population depends on sea food for their survival
while forests provide firewood, raw materials for production and timber for
construction. Grasslands are the destination of cattle and herds of animals
and without them, domestic and wild animals, the global economic system
cannot survive. Each one is depending on the other while it help the other to
survive. There are nations, except the gulf countries that depend on
petroleum, that solely depend on forests and fisheries and croplands for trade
and sustenance.
Q. Is Indian constitution capable of safeguarding its forests?
Ans. So far, with all the measures adopted, the government has not been able
to safeguard its forests effectively. India's constitution is ostentatiously rich
and effective but when it comes to enforcement, it miserably fails or it is not
entirely successful.

Long Answer Questions

Q. How has the growth of world population affected the environment?
Support your answer with suitable arguments?
The author Nani Palkhivala enumerates some alarming statistics to suggest
how the growth of world population has tremendously affected the
environment. The population which took a million years to reach the first
billion took just another hundred years to reach the second billion. Another
century passed it and reached the alarming figure of 3.7 million. Presently it is
over 6 million and there is a huge demand on resources, natural or manmade. The resources worldwide are under a lot of stress and pressure. The
four principal biological systems i.e. fisheries, forests, grasslands and
croplands which form the foundation of the global economic system and
provide raw materials to the industry are facing a lot of stress. The human
demands on these systems are increasing at a rapid speed. Hence,
sustainability and productivity are both hampered. When this happens,
fisheries collapse, forests disappear, grasslands become wastelands and
croplands deteriorate. The need of the hour is to become sensitive towards
the needs of the environment to get affected; we will leave behind nothing but
an ailing planet for our future generations.
Q. We have not inherited this earth from our forefathers; we have
borrowed it from our children. Discuss.
Earths resources are limited and will not last forever. In the twentieth century,
there has been a revolutionary change in human perception. We cannot take
the planet for granted. We are mere custodians. We have to take a holistic
view of the very basis of our existence. The earth is a living organism of which
we are parts. It has its own metabolic needs to stay alive and must be
respected and preserved for the future generation. What is required is
sustainable development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the destiny of future generation. There are four biological
systems, namely fisheries, forests, grasslands and croplands. They form the
foundation of the global economic system. They supply us food and raw

materials for industry. In larger areas of the world, these systems are reaching
unsustainable levels. Their productivity is being damaged. The growth of
world population is another factor distorting the future of our children.
Development is not possible if population increases. In this era of
responsibility towards our future generation, population must be controlled.
Industries must become environmental friendly. Now many industrialists,
politicians and writers have realized their responsibility in preserving the nonrenewable natural resources for the future generation.