Becoming a Green Rebel – the need of the hour

Samarjit Kambam *

Rice Field at the foot of the Cheirao Ching in October 2008 :: Pix - Marc

For those who are environment conscious, green is the new blue, green is the new red, green is the new colour of all colours. It is a matter of great concern that the diabolic change in the earth’s environment is quite palpable.

Global warming caused by green-house effect has affected mother earth to such an extent that the biosphere of the earth after a millennium or so may not be fit or too harsh for human survival if the present trend of pillaging the earth’s biosphere continues. It is a well known fact that the sea level is rising due to melting glaciers and this process is going on unabated.

After a few decades, most of the coastlines will be receding rendering many near the coastlines homeless. The most intrinsic example was the proposal by the President of Maldives, a small independent nation comprising of group of small islands to the Indian government for purchasing some portion of India ’s landscape as Maldives would be totally engulfed by the Arabian Sea after a few decades or so.

This shows how much we have drained, battered, scorched and bled our mother earth. The Kyoto Protocol, Montreal Protocol, UNFCCC, Paris Agreement, Rio Conference (Earth Summit) and numerous summits and treaties on preservation of earth’s biosphere have so far failed to produce any tangible result.

As the summits on environmental development are usually held under the aegis of the developed and powerful countries, the voices of the poor under-developed and developing nations are suppressed or muffled. The decision of the powerful nations becomes final binding. They pelt blames to the developing nations stating that use of fossil fuels is the numero uno cause of emission of green-house gases while in reality the developed and powerful nations are the real culprits behind this pathetic environmental scenario.

The true to the bone fact is that the resources in the form of fossil fuels, ores and other elements from the earth by a billionaire in a month is equivalent to one year’s extraction of earth’s resources by a third world country. The billionaires own five to six private jetliners for their private conveyance causing grave harm to the earth’s atmosphere while common people and environmentalists are opting for car-pool, cycling and public transport.

The developed and powerful countries are manipulating the poorer nations in almost all spheres. Even though we are living in the 21st century, the jungle rule of “Might is Right” still prevails. The simplest example is the protocol set up by the powerful and developed nations viz, USA, UK, China, France & Canada where they can produce nuclear warheads without any ceiling while talking of deterrence and coming up of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty towards the developing nations. Very unruly, unjustified and top-rated histrionic coated with hypocrisy.

Here, I would like to bring forth North Korea’s agenda. In fact, North Korea scores abysmally low in human rights and their President Kim Jong-un is the most reclusive leader on planet earth . Of late, North Korea has tested many nuclear warheads and has piled up enormous number of nuclear warheads with carrier missiles that can reach every nook and corner of the earth.

Amidst all the sanctions imposed on the country and out casted by other developed nations as a rogue nation, North Korea though known for its notoriety is carrying a valid message i. e . making known to the world the double standards of the powerful nations with US as the protagonist dictating terms on other less developed or weaker nations. In fact, North Korea may be considered as a rebel nation but its rebellion is against the gross injustice meted out by the powerful nations with US in particular.

Even though the aims and policies of North Korea don’t blend with the tide of globalisation where the world is becoming a global village and is virtually shrinking by unmarking the boundaries of race, caste, creed, religion et al, it totally distastes the idea of being prodded or pulled by the strings by any Godfather nation or group of nations.

Even though it is looked down as a monster in a dark alley, the uniqueness about North Korea is that it wants to retain its uniqueness of a true Korean. Like North Korea being a rogue and rebel nation, our country too can be a rebel in one sphere i.e. a Green Rebel.

Our nation can jump out from the fray of all the hypocrisies and double standard norms set up by the powerful group of countries on environmental protection and set our own agenda in making our country a greener one. Like “Clean India Campaign” and “Digital India”, its high time for the leadership of our nation to carve a “Green India Campaign” not just for namesake but in letter and spirit.

It should be made mandatory for the billionaires and mammoth corporate to shed an acceptable amount from their annual turnover as a corporate social responsibility to strive for an eco-friendly India by adopting green villages, setting up infrastructures such as solar roofing to the houses of the common people, hydro-electricity projects, electric generating wind mills, sea wave electricity generation, green urban landscape, setting up institutes on Green Architecture, Earth Sciences and the likes.

The various celebrities of India need to set examples to the younger generations by carrying out tree plantation drives and other eco-friendly measures on a regular basis. The Information and Broadcasting Minister with the approval from the government of India should make it mandatory to include at least one advertisement a day on every channel of electronic media on environmental consciousness and protection of earth’s biosphere.

The purpose of education is to make a better society and a better world. And a better world is not limited to development of infrastructure and making the earth a concrete jungle. So far, the education system throughout the world fails to bring a radical change in protection of the earth’s biosphere.

A fast and furious change in the school curriculum on a greener earth is the need of the hour. Socially Useful Productive Works must be green-oriented and made a compulsory mark-oriented part of the school curricula.

Students right from primary classes should be inculcated on greener earth through hands-on projects such as planting of saplings in the school ambience and the locality. A Green India definitely will make a Clean India. It’s tantamount to hitting two birds with one stone.