Abhijit Naskar's Blog - Posts Tagged "environmentalism"

Earth and Mars, what is the difference,
Mars is barren, Earth isn't much behind!
Mars is barren for there's no advanced species,
Earth is made barren by its native intelligent kind.
We haven't yet learnt to take care of Earth,
Yet we are now headed for Mars as colonizer.
With the money it'll take to get to Mars,
We can literally end world hunger.
Mark you, I am not against space exploration,
But there's what I call existential priority.
I guess robots who vacation at high altitude,
Are least likely to fathom what’s humanity.
Advancement that ignores human suffering,
After a brief flight, eventually brings universal ruin.

With superior sentience, come superior screw-ups. And this holds particularly true for industrialization. Even if we put aside carbon emission, in the year 2020 alone humankind has produced over 2 billion tonnes of trash, which is expected to rise over 70% by the year 2050.

Thus, in the name of progress we the gadget-mad gargoyles keep acting as the true eco-terrorists of the glorious dumping ground, called the planet earth. 2% of all our waste is e-waste. And the alarming bit here is that, that 2% e-waste comprises over 70% of our overall toxic waste.

So, what can you do, you ask? Simple – reject less, repair more. Try to make things last as long as possible, or pass them on to those who have need for them. Don’t let things go to waste, just because you can afford new ones.

For example, my kid cousin’s laptop has been acting up for some time now. But instead of buying them a new pc, I ordered the replacement for the faulty part and repaired the laptop myself. This way, we not only reduce our e-waste footprint on the planet, but in the process, we teach kids to value things.

The point is, whether you do it yourself or get it done by a professional, by practicing repair, you are actively participating in the making of a greener, cleaner and healthier world.

It’s not enough to be just a consumer, you gotta be a conscious consumer, otherwise there is no difference between a consumer and a slave. That is why, right-to-repair is not only a human rights issue, it is also an environmental issue. Repairing and recycling are the bedrock of sustainability. So I say again – reject less, repair more.

My skin is the color of soil,
My covers are the color of soil.
My heart is the color of soil,
My blood is the color of soil.

Species that forgets the soil,
Is a lifeform abandoned by nature.
Species that values sales over soil,
Will soon be vaporized or drowned by nature.

If we have no place for soil in our heart,
How can we expect the soil to replenish us!
If we have no place for nature in our heart,
How can we expect nature to have a place for us!

Only soil is real, all else is delusion.
Advancement that has no regard for the soil,
is but aneurysm destined for degeneration.

Earth has abundant resources to suffice our need,
but no planet has enough to suffice our greed.
Earth is rich, earth is bountiful, like a doting
mother, she provides for all her kids.

There is no economic depression,
only addiction of power and money.
There is no population explosion,
only outbreak of egocentricity.

What’s the point of your architecture or engineering
degree, if you can’t build a human habitat without
destroying entire ecosystems of other living things!
And you call yourself an engineer, an architect –
a sparrow has more sense than a stupid earthling.

Reach for the stars all you want,
but anchor your soul in the soil.
Human blood deficient of salt from earth,
leads to a history of mental turmoil.

The Earth may be full of skyscrapers,
but the soil is without home –
streets may be full of electric cars,
yet the mind hasn’t moved an inch –

the skies may be full of rockets,
but the heart is buried in the jungle –
outer space may be full of telescopes,
yet the eyes are blind with hate.

No nation is holy, till its streets
are built for walking, not to starve on.
No society is advanced, till no one
is marginal, no matter the innovation.

Innovation is important, but what kind of
a moronic species races to put a man on the moon,
before it takes its homeless off the streets!

How come power hungry algorithms get endowed
with trillions of dollars in investment, yet
starving children dream of leftovers as feast!

Mother Earth is a living organism,
forests are the lungs of the planet,
soil is the womb, oceans are blood –
climate change is the planet having fever,
in response to the human virus.

Economy rooted in greed is not growth,
religion rooted in dogma is not holy,
innovation rooted in vanity is not science,
abundance without wholeness ruins the society.

Earth doesn’t need our consent to wipe us out,
any more than we asked permission from corona virus.
Cosmos carries no fury like a mother done wrong –
Mother brings us into the world, mother can take us out.