MAN-MADE CULTURE IS CAUSING ENVIRONMENTAL DEPREDATION AND ECOLOGICAL IMBALANCE

 I marveled at the monsoon, its amazing ways of bringing down heavy showers, which we badly needed for the various crops on lands. Where do these clouds come from? Where do they go? My mom explained by pointing to the globe and told us, “At the equator region the sun is very close to the earth. Due to the extreme heat, the surface water in the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea gets heated up and the water vapour from this gets transformed into clouds. This then moves west wards with the help of the winds. The Kilimanjaro Mountain ranges in Africa stops their further movement to the west and therefore they reach the Gulf region. The North-west winds bring them back to Kerala, where the ‘Sahyadri Mountains and hills’ and their rich flora stop them and with the help of cool breeze it starts to rain. Some portion of the rain water would be drawn down to the earth, which forms the underground water and the rest joins to form small streams and then rivers and reaches the lagoons or Lake, which ultimately reaches the ocean, the region of its origin.” How correct is the idiom, “Little drops of water make a mighty ocean.” It is a cyclic movement. If that is so, the cultural evolution of conserving the whole year’s rainfall in dams breaks the cyclic movement of water. Isn’t it one of the major reasons for depletion of icebergs and hills in the Arctic region to replenish the loss?

Kalidasa, a great epic writer of Ramayana, cut the branch of a tree on which he was sitting. It is considered to be one of the greatest blunders ever known. What are we doing? The tectonic-plates are the foundation of the surface of the land mass on the earth where the fauna and flora lives. The surface of the earth is as significant as air, water, fire and sky or space, which are essential for the existence of life. Ignoring this, the government issued licenses for granite mining. These granite miners flagrantly violate the laws of Mother Nature and this environmental degradation in the forms of abuse and overuse of nature, and create ecological imbalance. Man alone   among other living beings, has done damage of gigantic magnitude and diversities on the environment.

Spraying of poison under the garb of medicine: The Agriculture Assistant, Grama Sevak, was a frequent visitor at our house. He appreciated our vegetable garden. One day when he came, my mom complained about the pests which were a menace in our vegetable garden. He advised her to spray a medicine on the leaves to get rid of them. He supplied her with two packets of a particular powder and directed her to mix it in water and spray it on our vegetation.

When she opened the packet I gazed at the dull yellow powder had a strong and unpleasant whiff. Her reflex was to cover her nose with a towel. She mixed the powder in water and sprayed it on our vegetable gardens. Miraculously, the pests had all disappeared in a day. This medicine namely D.D.T. was given a warm welcome in many such vegetable gardens which were infested with pests. After a few years this too became ineffective because the pests became immune to it. Subsequently   B.H.C was introduced into the market as a pesticide.  The result proved to be the same.  Years later the media revealed that the government fraudulently used the agricultural department and its officers to promote D.D.T. as a medicine although this pesticide was banned in the United States of America much earlier. By doing so, the government was jeopardizing the health of the population and was causing serious damage to the environment as well. It was an unpardonable mistake.

Another banned item, Aluminum phosphate in round tablet form, was used in ware houses to control pests which badly affect the health of the people.

After all these calamities it is shameful to note that the government is again promoting  the spraying of  another banned poison, “Endosulphan” on cashew, tea, coffee and other plantations. The spraying of “Endosulphan” in certain    cashew plantations caused mental abnormalities to people living in three villages of Kasargod Taluk, in the State of Kerala. It is a grave mistake.

However, “Firamon trap,” vend by the Krishi Vigyan Kerala and the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute jointly at Ernakulam, is very effective; lots of beetles were trapped and killed and we got lots of nice mangoes during this season.

In comparison to the vastness of the universe, our planet is very minute. In comparison to the size of earth, the human being too is minuscule. Beyond his limitations, man tries to create a new order in nature thinking that he is the Master. He never realizes the fact that his culture is causing a grave ecological imbalance. Construction of dams and mining of large quantity of granite in Sahyadri Mountains and hills and spraying poison on vegetation are blatant examples. This has resulted in deforestation, erosion of soil, generation of Carbon dioxide, which contributes to the global warming. The result of these has brought about severe ground-water shortage in the hills, and floods and famines in the planes. A lot of forest regions were submerged in the catchment areas of the dams. This resulted in the extinction of varied flora and fauna. The ancient civilization of Mexico and Peru are historic examples of the entire civilization becoming extinct with the destruction of forests.

Human beings have to live in harmony with nature. We should focus our attention to the urgent need for the conservation of our flora and fauna and forest wealth, and for the preservation of the environment. The gifts of nature should be enjoyed; if one tries to control or break the chain of events it may create a calamity. “Man maligns but nature is benign.”

Excerpts from

MEMOIRS

By

Joseph J. Thayamkeril,

Lawyer, Cochin

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