BKP Sinha
Covid-19 is remarkable for its universal jolt, reminding us that the wrath of nature can turn into a widespread cataclysm. The depth and sweep of climate change can be of much more severe intensity than anything known in human history. It is widely agreed that we have entered the sixth anthropogenic mass extinction.
But think of those in middle or upper-class affluent families in India and elsewhere, who are blissfully unprepared for what is about to happen due to climate change, despite all the signals around them. How would history have been different if more people throughout the world had acted and demanded their leaders to radically change the trajectory of the trodden path? But what can we do? Should we leave everything, hide in the remote places, and grow food? Yes, it is difficult. To hold the paradox in our heads that things are desperately dangerous and urgent, demanding urgent action, pressing policy for change and not mere pretence. We must act positively and be full of hope. It is an enormous test for the mind and the soul.
So, it is challenging. But what do we do? Do we run away? What would motivate us to change our lifestyle? Would it be a panacea to save our children or grandchildren?
Then, consider the argument that running away could just be a fear of failure and the opportunity for blameless escape.
So yes, it is challenging to know how to respond and what to do, personally. It is easy to see what the world should do, but what should you do? After all, the children are doing well in school and at university, things are calm on the street, apart from the present situation created by the Covid pandemic. Maybe we should wait until those ‘in office' work out what to do. Do we really think so? Will it be the right attitude?
The global economy, in which we are at present trapped, is a complicated maze of interconnectedness. A few smart people do make futile attempts to guide it here and there. We have seen similar-minded activists of great influence, power or self-interest gathering together, but I am not naïve about their power, having seen them using it, either for good or bad or no result. But we should be aware that their conviction and effort is not going to fix it. We should remain convinced that someone else will fix it. The only powerful force to fix the carbon proliferation is ordinary people like us. Recall that the Gauri Devi, a widow in a far-flung village in the Himalayas, the powerful precursor of the Chipko Movement, the organic farmers locking up carbon in the soil, the CEOs in Davos using their power to change attitudes towards the market, the mothers in India and China giving lessons to their children on how to stop wastage of natural resources like food, fibre or paper.
Now let us try to understand why it is a challenging proposition to make it obligatory for the present generation.
Consider how to specify the entities to whom it can be incorporated as a duty towards inter-generational justice. The answer is again, the individual. The question will further arise, “To which individual or group of individual, do they owe duties?” Are their responsibilities limited to next generation? Or vague answers like ‘succeeding generations'. The effect of a nuclear explosion remains for decades. So, it depends on what activity we are considering. The bottomline question now is the temporal scope of individual responsibilities. Further, it seems not feasible to apply to all whose low-standard of living is affected by his actions. The next question that arises is, what should be the baseline? Whose standard of living should we use as a base of future people? Then, we see that we are confronted with a number of questions for which we do not have ready answers. Hence, it is best left to the conscience of the individual.
By now, we should have realised that government policies are hard to implement on the ground. Actions are directly proportional to the degree of increasing effectiveness of the individual at the family or the local community level. India, being a democracy, individuals should recognise that their stated preferences make a lot of difference on the ground. At the cost of repetition, I would like to emphasise that a lot is dependent on individual choices.
In the following few paragraphs, I would like to summarise that, any conscious individual concerned about the future of his/her children or grandchildren and great-grandchildren, if he/she wishes, can and is capable of making a difference. One should remember that every drop of rain goes to make a river, and rivers when they join, make the ocean. But what can an individual or well-knit, coherent community do?
The following actions are feasible at the level of individual decisions on questions of energy, food, water, their choices in transport and opinions as a citizen. At the institutional level, this could amount to corporate choice in public-private partnership and enlightened self-interest. Similarly, at a municipal level, it could mean the opening of urban waste management to the private sector, or tutoring and encouraging the vegetable vendor to improve storage and transport and ensuring the availability of finance, investment in walking and cycling infrastructure and judicious application of parking fees, carbon tax, etc.
All these actions can be effected if individuals join hands and raise their voice in favour of such measures. Raising your voice for setting aside the remaining forest as a no-go zone for development, regulations minimising waste generation, creating recycling facilities for paper, old clothes or furniture, opposing the export of water-guzzling crops like rice, wheat or vegetables. There must be the availability of regional data for public consumption and awareness created for change of attitude, aptitude and thinking.
Now, what choices could an individual make to bring about a difference? On the question of electricity consumption, for instance, one can:
- Go for a greener source (grid to solar)
- Reduce transmission loss (solar panels and insulation for rooftops)
- Reduce power consumption by improving technology (LED lights)
Now take another individual decision by considering another resource more crucial for our survival – water. We are not far from ‘Day Zero'. In many cities in India, water deserves to take centrestage both in our minds and in our actions. We never know the value of water until the well is dry.
India, with 18% of the world population, has to survive on 3% of renewable water resources. When we were young, we used to have an oil bath every Saturday or Sunday. Our elders would rub us with oil. Then we would sit on a wooden stool and be bathed with mugs full of warm water from a bucket, using about 30-40 litres of water. The bath used to be a long and joyful one, and we emerged from it fully refreshed. Today, with three or four minutes of shower, providing little indulgence, we made a poor bargain in exchanging time for water.
Sewage water: If we use sewage water to flush our toilets, we can save a third of our water usage. This is an action that can be easily taken at an individual level. Many new housing complexes that are not connected to the municipal sewer system have readily taken to this form of disposal by designing their plumbing in such a way that the treated water goes into the garden and also flushes toilets.
Transport: Every individual has a choice from among car-pooling, mass transport, walking, cycling, maintaining the tyre correct pressure in one's personal car, driving at the correct speed using the appropriate gear, etc. There is a common myth circulating that a car is a convenience and a time-saver. If cleaner, air-conditioned mass transport with adequate frequency is available, any intelligent person would prefer to avoid the car. As conscious citizens, we should consider our social contract and play our role in propagating this and being an example. Before believing any advertisement, one should check the data from a reliable source and finally, have faith that your actions matter.
Waste disposal: According to a study, the work of ragpickers from waste dumps is worth 1.5 tonnes of garbage and saves the local body about Rs 4 crore. If we, as individuals, assure payment of Rs 200-250 per month per household, we can cover not only the management of residential waste but also provide enough biomass for production of sufficient energy for a colony/sector from the collected biomass. According to one estimate, India generates 1,50,000 tonnes of municipal waste that could create about 6,00,000 jobs with a much cleaner environment.
There are plenty of examples in the country where self-motivated persons decided to take the lead and others followed. They do encounter stumbling blocks but once they took the lead and took the initiative, the community joined. The exemplary work of Dr Rajinder Singh, often referred to as the ‘Waterman of India', is an example.
Alwar district of eastern Rajasthan is water-stressed, receiving about 637 mm of rainfall in a year. Much of the rain either runs off or evaporates, leaving the land parched for most the year. Alwar is one of the hottest regions in India. In the 80s, the situation was so bad that it looked as though the region was going to become one of India's first climate victims, falling prey to heat and drought.
But it was not always like that in past. Rainwater used to be collected in johads, or community ponds, which would help retain water through seepage. In dry areas, it is sensible to store water underground, safe from the heat. The region also had dense forests which were cut down during the World War II to help the British Navy.
A 28-year-old Rajinder Singh picked up the spade and began to create a johad in Gopalpura village in 1985. By the end of the monsoon rains, the johad was full and had also helped raise the water level in neighbouring wells. Village after village followed suit and the traditional johad returned to the region.
The past is replete with such stories where initiatives by individuals have brought about change. Another such example is Jadav Payeng, the ‘tree guardian' of Assam. At the age of 16, he took the initiative of planting trees across 550 hectares, which grew into a rich forest. With the trees, came water and grasslands, which in turn lured wildlife like deer, elephants and rhinos back to the area.
As the famous quote by poet Majruh Sultanpuri goes, “Main akela hi chala tha jaanib-a-manjil magar, Log sath aate gayai aurkarwa bantagya.”
