The Catastrophes that confront Humanity and the World.- By Noor Rahim
As the human race becomes wiser; with the advancement of technology and related “know-how”, one would expect to live a life sans the catastrophes that we are faced with currently; on such a regular and devastating basis. The result of such disasters are inconceivable; and appear to be threatening humanity and Mother Earth with such deadly impact and so regularly, as the days go by. Not a day goes by without one hearing of such disasters occurring in some part of the World today – Be it environment, diseases, spiritual or moral decay.
The question that one must ask or seek answers to is – “Are we individually or collectively responsible or subscribing to these debacles/mayhem that we face today?” In addition we should ask ourselves – “What are the causes and what makes these ravaging debacles happen; and how best can we circumvent or totally prevent these catastrophes!”
The warning was written on the wall since man started questioning and researching into the various catastrophes that they were faced with, from times of yore. At that time we only faced the wrath of nature in Natural disasters of earthquakes, erupting volcanoes, tidal waves, floods, hurricanes & tornadoes. All attributed to Nature and natural causes. Diseases too took its toll among the Homo sapiens. And of course the battles and fighting amongst them too had its fatalities; that wreaked mayhem amongst them.
Does Man-kinds’ contribution to this phenomena of Natural Disasters be an enhancement/hidden aggravation to the catastrophes on its own or does it trigger-off/magnify/”add fuel” to the Natural disaster?
Mankind in his/her infinite wisdom sought out solutions for these catastrophes. He is now able to predict most of the natural disasters; with fore warning systems. Furthermore Governments in each and every country has voiced their concerns for the environmental disasters that are raging unabated. Yet only Worldly conferences are being held and the actions taken very negligible indeed. He created the League of Nations which is now the United Nations Organization to deal with such catastrophes. However its effectiveness leaves much to be desired. They spend hours in debating issues; but with no tangible solutions that one can hear of – except the rhetoric. One can only think of this Organization as a NATO Organization/Association (No Action Talk Only – sorry! no offence meant to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization); which brings to mind of the famous saying of – “Nero fiddled whilst Rome was aflame”.
I ask myself as to why there appears to be a drastic turn in the well-established and predictable worldwide weather patterns that we experienced and which we followed throughout our lives before. As always my mind strays back to the yester years for the reason as to why?
It was in the early 1950s that I was studying a subject called “Civics”. There was a chapter dedicated to “Chena Cultivation in Sri Lanka”, by the poor farmers. It entailed what was called “slash, burn, grow and move-on” of the forested areas. The areas so destroyed were very limited and small; it enabled the poor farmer and his family to eke out a meager living. “Living off the land” to say. But it did give the authorities room for concern in the long run; at that time. But control of this activity we didn’t. In later years the corporate sector got on the Band Wagon with huge profit making targets; and acquired much of the forested areas from the Government. Their mandate being to create jobs and make the forests “gardens of agriculture”. Furthermore it was done in the name of “economic growth of the country”. They profited from the downed trees and vegetation. The first few crops were from the topsoil that existed. I really do not know where the present situation lies. The poor “Chena Cultivator” is no more; with him went the concept of “Living off the Land”; perhaps to be filled in by the concept of “Living off hand outs and Welfare”, while the corporate sector “rakes in the shekels”. But more importantly the canopy of forest is gone; thereby changing the ecology of the land and with that comes the weather phenomena; that seems to have changed for the worse, as witnessed Worldwide today. Deforestation has become a World/Global cry and grave/serious concern for all; but deforestation is known to be ongoing unabated. Trees that took aeons of years are replaced with seeds, seedlings and small young plants/saplings. One wonders if by the time these trees reach its prime that Mother Nature will return the weather to what it was? Just imagine having to live an aeon of years to get back to the old status quo. One can only in hindsight think back and question this fallacy as per the age old saying – “Have we closed the stable door after the horse has bolted?”
When one thinks of the ecological changes one will no doubt have to think back of the days of Colonialism in the years following the early 1700s until the days of liberation from the Colonial Masters. They did not only invade or conquer a land to plunder their immediate wealth; they did so with improving their economy by planting “cash crops” (that was alien to the indigenous population) and robbing the “mineral wealth from the “soil” that were conducive to the economy of their own Motherland. Thereby creating much ecological damage to the country of occupation and changing the life style of the very people they ruled.
It was late in the year 1958 that I got to know the seriousness of “Man killing Nature & of Nature Killing Man”, which was often taught us in school in the late forties and early fifties; when I read an article from a Leading Meteorologist. He stated that if we did not control the use of the following attribute in day to day uses and abuses; we would one day have a disastrous change in the world’s weather patterns and we will only have ourselves to be blamed:
- Deforestation
- Over-population
- Burning of synthetic materials
- Excessive use of “aerosol” cans
- High flying Jets. At that time the only commercial jet airliner flying the skies was the British De Havilland Comet 4C.
It is already known of how deforestation has taken a toll on the weather patterns of Mother Earth; and is now almost at the point of no return. The remedial actions taken appear to be too little and far too late. One can only hope it will not end in a scorched Earth situation; which in turn may end in the areas affected turning into desserts and ultimate desolation.
Population increase was also a concern; and there is no need to elaborate as we know the increase is worldwide and this has the detrimental effect on the available food & water supplies/resources and other consumer requirements of Mankind. We are now genetically modifying and increasing the yield on crops, livestock and poultry. The clothing and building materials too are made mostly of synthetics and after their uses fill landfill sites which are accessible to animals and birds; that ingest these materials and meet their demise. It is also known to end up in the waterways and oceans causing irreparable damage to the ecology and depletion of the aquatic life that gives us sustenance.
Every Government talks about the catastrophes that is facing our Planet Earth at every turn; however have you ever heard of anyone talking of the damage to the atmosphere caused by the thousands and thousands of high-flying jets that criss- crosses the skies on each and every day and night? Especially the flights that uses the so-called “Polar Route” with thousands of flights that fly through or almost through the stratosphere (ozone layers, perhaps). Yet we are very concerned about the melting of the Polar Cap. Not being a Meteorological or scientific expert, one is prompted to ask the question – Do these high flying Jet Aircraft have a detrimental effect on the atmosphere and in particular the melting of the ice cap? I often watch at the blue skies above and see the condensation trails left by these Jet aircraft and keep asking myself this question.
It is also worthwhile to just mention the “human catastrophes” that are ravaging worldwide with people “butchering” each other randomly and in fierce fighting with each other in the never ending wars; with so much collateral damage done to the environment and Earth’s ecology; and needless to say innocent human lives. The “medical catastrophes” too that are ravaging mankind without remedial solutions, which remain still unsolved. Of course some of these medical problems are commonly attributed to some immoral activities in unguarded moments – virtually self-inflicted; so to say.
In retrospect one cannot but think of the old adage – “Necessity is the Mother of Invention”. But where does necessity end and when does greed overcome necessity? One can only surmise that in terms of current “Global Economy” concepts – it is the greed factor that comes to the fore; in ones’ mind.
So dear Readers pause for a moment and give some thought to this very important aspect of our lives and that of the future generation. Are we selling Mother Nature for our own current gain; and at the expense of the future generations? So please think “environment” at all times. For when we wake up in the morning we would sure like to see another pleasant and stress less day; without having to face or hear of a catastrophe. Preserve what we have and if possible try to clean up our act; for every little bit will no doubt help in a large way. As the saying goes –“it is the tiny drops of water that make a mighty ocean”.
Noor Rahim
July 03 2017
