The youth in Delhi often ask adults in their family this important question because they are living in the worlds most polluted city. Also, they are curious because they see nobody in their family making a conscious effort to protect the environment for their own children. Majority of adults can only think of responding to this burning question with answers like “I was busy earning money”, “I attended many social gatherings”, “I did a lot of Shopping and traveling”, “I wanted an expensive vehicle” but not many adults would be able to say something like “I tried my best to protect the environment”, “I saved many trees or animals”, “I helped many people to become proactive for saving the earth” or “I raised my voice, protested, took environment matters to the court”
Which side of history would you rather be on, the people who destroyed the planet or the ones who worked hard to protect it?
We are already facing global scale extinction, so this is an emergency. The youth of today are on their way to become the final human generation to survive on this planet. The only ones to blame is the adults and the leaders who are not doing enough to keep this planet habitable. Your choices and your lifestyles have a large positive/negative impact on the future of mankind. Human greed of the past few generations have led our civilisation to the brink of extinction.
The air is fully saturated with pollution and it is unsafe to breathe, killing millions of humans every year. The oceans are filled with garbage, killing millions of marine life. Forests are being destroyed to prioritise the economy, earths non-human inhabitants are losing their homes and lives with the unsustainable behaviour of mankind. Millions of people from all ages are dying because the environment is now uninhabitable due to human activities and poor decisions.
Rohan, age 11, said, “I don’t want to live in a polluted environment, clearly the leaders are not making the right decisions.”
Sarah, age 13, said, “If the forests are destroyed, the animals will die, and soon the humans will also die.”
Ankit, age 14, says, “I wish my parents generation would have done something to fix this world, they have enjoyed the earths beauty and destroyed it all, now they are handing it to us in this condition and the children have to clean up the mess”
Kavita, age 16, says, ”Many adults are so selfish that they don’t think about saving the environment for the children’s future. They only think about money, work and shopping. They should spend some time to protect the environment.”
You must have indulged or seen somebody else indulging in littering non-biodegradable waste at least once in your life, or you may have even burnt some garbage at some time in your life, perhaps you were even involved with the excessive use of fossil fuels instead of using renewable energy. These are some of the kind of behaviours which have led to the devastation of life on earth because it is repeated by millions of people all over the globe everyday. Our demands and unsustainable choices have played a major role in the destruction of our future. Also the rat-race which prioritises monetary profits is directly and indirectly destructive to our planet.
Right now with the condition we live in, humans probably take out time once a year to do something environmentally friendly while the rest of the year all our choices are bad for the health of the environment and our own health as well. Ideally, it should be the other way around, where you spend all your time devoted to protect the planet which keeps you and your family alive, which has sustained all your ancestors from the beginning of time, and then later maybe a little bit of that time or resources could be used to enjoy man-made experiences.
The way a knife can be used to save a persons life or to kill somebody, science and technology can either do good or bad for us. With human species reaching the end of the line, it is crucial that we consider the children who have just come into this world and who need to live healthy happy long lives plus their children and their grandchildren as well. The way we are going on with “business as usual” has brought us to this terrible crossroad and will lead us down the path of total devastation and no return.
Some parents are directly responsible for making decisions to destroy the environment to help some company for business. Imagine how guilty their children feel around so many people who know the truth. The question we need to think about right now is, where does each one of us draw the line for environmental destruction? When will you say, “this is enough”? You can not have unlimited use of non renewable resources on a limited planet.
Some wealthy people around the world are donating their life savings to fix this planet. While many others are using their wealth to exhaust the entire planets resources within their own lifetime. People who do not have much wealth are also making crucial decisions. These choices will either extend the duration of human civilisation on this planet or they will ensure that your children are the last generation of mankind on this planet.
Recently India's environment has been brutally destroyed by the rulers.
Mumbai Vadodra Delhi Expressway – 30,786 Trees
Dwarka Expressway – 13,690 Trees
Chennai Port – 4,797 Trese
Mumbai Nagpur Expressway – 1,00,000 Trees
Highway Widening in Goa – 3,500 Trees
Mangaluru Chitradurga Expressway – 50,000 Trees
Chennai Salem Expressways – 4,00,000 Trees
Bangalore Chennai Expressway – 1,35,000 Trees
Upper Ganga Canal Expressway – 1,00,000 Trees
Char Dham Expressway – 43,000 Trees
Karnataka Western Ghats Projects – 21,55,000 Trees
Sohna Road – 10,000 Trees
Goa Airport – 55,000 Trees
Mumbai Aarey – 3,184 Trees
Bullet train – 80,000 Trees
M.P Mining – 10,00,000 Trees
Chattisgarh Mining – 1,70,000 Hectares of Forests
7 GPRA Colonies in Delhi – 16,500 Trees
After all this, they expect you to believe that the forest cover has increased, because they think you are idiots.
(These are not even the actual numbers since they always chop down much more than what is on paper.)
Your leaders expect you to believe that everything is ok. They are leading you towards a country and planet with no trees and no wildlife, because they can only think about acquiring maximum wealth before the end of their human experience on earth. Even though they will not be able to carry their financial earnings into the after life.
Majority of the worlds most polluted cities are in India. Only the insane would destroy Trees (which reduce pollution) to accommodate more concrete and more vehicles in the worlds most polluted places.
Really well written article. Its time we all take responsibility for our planet!
Excellent article