By Dr AP Maheshwari
Life is all about awareness! An awareness till it becomes a conviction that comes to govern our choices in life. We have now almost reached a stage of a ‘DO or DIE’ in so far as the threats of climate change are concerned. It is not only changing the bio-conglomerations that sustain a healthy human life but is also destroying the very core elemental base that is so essential for our survival. All the developed countries in this world have undergone this ordeal in some form or the other over different timelines. Now the developing countries while on their path to higher strata of development are also encountering their own set of challenges. The cumulative effect has been drastic. It has resulted in upwardly moving the temperature level by a minimum of 1.5 degree Celsius. Climate change has pushed us towards so many uncertainties and imbalances such that the very agro-patterns and the bio-life around us have received an irretrievable setback.
The experts are constantly bringing out their reports. It is now no longer just a matter of it being a conflict between the developed and developing countries. Even within the nation’s internal scheme of things, their political parties in their urgency to prove their worthiness are frantically vying to prove their concern for development, without first carefully ascertaining what would actually be the correct formats.
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Consequently, the side effects of such sub-optimal moves soon bring home their redundancy. Surprisingly, someone even commented, “one generation will have to suffer, if real development has to happen during our regime”. The present era now needs to redefine the new vectors for a desired eco-friendly development. Amidst oscillating poverty lines and income disparities, the choices available could be mutually dichotomous in themselves if the vision remains limited to gaining success in the short run.
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Can we afford to on the other hand, forget that out of the 7 million deaths in the world that happened owing to severe air pollution, 2.5 million actually took place in India alone which amounts to 30% of these total unnatural deaths. The same proportionate impact is observed when we consider varied health issues.
Experts even go to the extent of clearly pointing out the reduction of 6-12 years of life expectancy only due to this air pollution. 140 million people in the world breathe 10 times more polluted air when compared to the WHO standards. So, the states like UP breathe 13 times more polluted air. In NCAP they have fixed a target of 30% reduction per annum, against the existing 22% yearly enhancement of the particulate pollution in the country. The reduction is yet to be fully observed at the ground level.
While on the international front countries are often bringing up this issue as climate change is not constrained by our political boundaries, the global diplomatic network of right-thinking nations needs to further sensitize to this burning issue. They need to come on to the same page. Deflections may keep emerging, yet the right-thinking heads need to keep open viable options for re-alignment. Similarly, within the country, there is now an urgent need for it to become a part of the political manifesto such that it gets its due attention. This is essential as people need to be sensitized repeatedly about this hovering threat in their lives. During the recent calamitous situation, where it had become a matter of life & death, we gave it its due diligence wholeheartedly following the Covid appropriate protocols. So, the question ’WHY’ needs to be addressed first. Rest will automatically follow suit.
Amidst the developmental trade-offs, the issues of cogent lifestyle changes become imperative, as only then can one positively impact the local air quality. It might have taken an anti-smoking campaign an extended span of 10 years to become effective, yet finally when it did, it did deliver the desired results. So, if we continue to persist in the right direction there will eventually be light at the end of the dark tunnel.
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Under the circumstances, various organisations have been bringing people together on a common platform by creating City Action Groups, carrying out programs for school children, drivers and construction agencies, focusing on how best to mitigate pollution at its very source. Many practices that are harmful, new practices that are seemingly beneficial, all find their due place in this targeted drive. We are all anyways not ignorant about this issue as much has already been made available via social media. However, repeated dissemination in diverse ways holds the final key to eventually usher in the desired change in the human response patterns. It is our zeal that led us to the conducting of ‘Hackathons’ amongst the youth in the domain of air-pollution mitigation.
Coinage of slogans or proper hashtags are important for this target group for a quick and deep penetration. LCF recently started a new drive coined ‘PANGA’ – “Passionate Action to Neutralise Growing Air-Pollution”. Under this mission multiple teams are invited, and competitions held where suggestions are invited. These need to be original, relevant, creative, value based and outcome oriented. It has begun to gain popularity in several colleges. However, possibly this too shall outlive its utility after some time. But we need to continue striving to constantly locate innovative methods of effective communication. All efforts need to be focused on ‘awareness’ till it becomes a ‘conviction’ leading to intrinsic changes in our everyday lifestyle.
Today, we proudly acknowledge Mawlynnong (a village in Meghalaya) as the cleanest village in Asia or Indore as the cleanest city in India. So, the urgent need of the hour today is to draw out markers for healthy cities as well as environmentally friendly towns and villages in India. It will have to be backed by extended wide scale campaigns towards promoting environment friendly practices and at the same time shunning habits that could thwart such initiatives. We now need to constantly reinforce those basic points we have already often been discussing for several years to mitigate this threat and ensure that both we as well as our future generations now once again can breathe fresh and clean healthy air.
These measures are relevant at its very cutting-edge level that include greening of local habitat; encouraging walking & cycling as well as increasing use of public transport, segregating waste at its source and converting it to manure, reducing and recycling plastic waste, encouraging use of natural fibres and earthen materials for making sustainable products and many more similar practices that are essential to mitigate the pollution at its very source.
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Then we can eventually focus on building a public movement for asserting as well as pursuing the laws that support environmental health, customising technology options including R&D to minimize carbon footprint, optimising on energy sources, evolving innovative ways in all plausible domains to nurture a healthy environment in collaboration with the concerned stakeholders, locally as well as globally. Some countries might face incongruence and inconsistency in their developmental cycle, yet one needs to continue to take action in a balanced and graduated manner maintaining a positive mindset. In order to unlearn and also relearn these harsh facts that are glaring at us in the face of critical decision making for survival, an all-out effort is the imperative need of the hour.
The author is Patron & Adv; Security Verticals in ELCINA; Lung Care Foundation; DigiSwasthya for Rural Health| Lucknow Expressions Society | Radhika Trust for Welfare of Widows; Speaker & Author; Fmr- DG CRPF/BPR&D.
Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of Financial Express Online. Reproducing this content without permission is prohibited.
By Dr AP Maheshwari
Life is all about awareness! An awareness till it becomes a conviction that comes to govern our choices in life. We have now almost reached a stage of a ‘DO or DIE’ in so far as the threats of climate change are concerned. It is not only changing the bio-conglomerations that sustain a healthy human life but is also destroying the very core elemental base that is so essential for our survival. All the developed countries in this world have undergone this ordeal in some form or the other over different timelines. Now the developing countries while on their path to higher strata of development are also encountering their own set of challenges. The cumulative effect has been drastic. It has resulted in upwardly moving the temperature level by a minimum of 1.5 degree Celsius. Climate change has pushed us towards so many uncertainties and imbalances such that the very agro-patterns and the bio-life around us have received an irretrievable setback.
The experts are constantly bringing out their reports. It is now no longer just a matter of it being a conflict between the developed and developing countries. Even within the nation’s internal scheme of things, their political parties in their urgency to prove their worthiness are frantically vying to prove their concern for development, without first carefully ascertaining what would actually be the correct formats.
Consequently, the side effects of such sub-optimal moves soon bring home their redundancy. Surprisingly, someone even commented, “one generation will have to suffer, if real development has to happen during our regime”. The present era now needs to redefine the new vectors for a desired eco-friendly development. Amidst oscillating poverty lines and income disparities, the choices available could be mutually dichotomous in themselves if the vision remains limited to gaining success in the short run.
Can we afford to on the other hand, forget that out of the 7 million deaths in the world that happened owing to severe air pollution, 2.5 million actually took place in India alone which amounts to 30% of these total unnatural deaths. The same proportionate impact is observed when we consider varied health issues.
Experts even go to the extent of clearly pointing out the reduction of 6-12 years of life expectancy only due to this air pollution. 140 million people in the world breathe 10 times more polluted air when compared to the WHO standards. So, the states like UP breathe 13 times more polluted air. In NCAP they have fixed a target of 30% reduction per annum, against the existing 22% yearly enhancement of the particulate pollution in the country. The reduction is yet to be fully observed at the ground level.
While on the international front countries are often bringing up this issue as climate change is not constrained by our political boundaries, the global diplomatic network of right-thinking nations needs to further sensitize to this burning issue. They need to come on to the same page. Deflections may keep emerging, yet the right-thinking heads need to keep open viable options for re-alignment. Similarly, within the country, there is now an urgent need for it to become a part of the political manifesto such that it gets its due attention. This is essential as people need to be sensitized repeatedly about this hovering threat in their lives. During the recent calamitous situation, where it had become a matter of life & death, we gave it its due diligence wholeheartedly following the Covid appropriate protocols. So, the question ’WHY’ needs to be addressed first. Rest will automatically follow suit.
Amidst the developmental trade-offs, the issues of cogent lifestyle changes become imperative, as only then can one positively impact the local air quality. It might have taken an anti-smoking campaign an extended span of 10 years to become effective, yet finally when it did, it did deliver the desired results. So, if we continue to persist in the right direction there will eventually be light at the end of the dark tunnel.
Under the circumstances, various organisations have been bringing people together on a common platform by creating City Action Groups, carrying out programs for school children, drivers and construction agencies, focusing on how best to mitigate pollution at its very source. Many practices that are harmful, new practices that are seemingly beneficial, all find their due place in this targeted drive. We are all anyways not ignorant about this issue as much has already been made available via social media. However, repeated dissemination in diverse ways holds the final key to eventually usher in the desired change in the human response patterns. It is our zeal that led us to the conducting of ‘Hackathons’ amongst the youth in the domain of air-pollution mitigation.
Coinage of slogans or proper hashtags are important for this target group for a quick and deep penetration. LCF recently started a new drive coined ‘PANGA’ – “Passionate Action to Neutralise Growing Air-Pollution”. Under this mission multiple teams are invited, and competitions held where suggestions are invited. These need to be original, relevant, creative, value based and outcome oriented. It has begun to gain popularity in several colleges. However, possibly this too shall outlive its utility after some time. But we need to continue striving to constantly locate innovative methods of effective communication. All efforts need to be focused on ‘awareness’ till it becomes a ‘conviction’ leading to intrinsic changes in our everyday lifestyle.
Today, we proudly acknowledge Mawlynnong (a village in Meghalaya) as the cleanest village in Asia or Indore as the cleanest city in India. So, the urgent need of the hour today is to draw out markers for healthy cities as well as environmentally friendly towns and villages in India. It will have to be backed by extended wide scale campaigns towards promoting environment friendly practices and at the same time shunning habits that could thwart such initiatives. We now need to constantly reinforce those basic points we have already often been discussing for several years to mitigate this threat and ensure that both we as well as our future generations now once again can breathe fresh and clean healthy air.
These measures are relevant at its very cutting-edge level that include greening of local habitat; encouraging walking & cycling as well as increasing use of public transport, segregating waste at its source and converting it to manure, reducing and recycling plastic waste, encouraging use of natural fibres and earthen materials for making sustainable products and many more similar practices that are essential to mitigate the pollution at its very source.
Then we can eventually focus on building a public movement for asserting as well as pursuing the laws that support environmental health, customising technology options including R&D to minimize carbon footprint, optimising on energy sources, evolving innovative ways in all plausible domains to nurture a healthy environment in collaboration with the concerned stakeholders, locally as well as globally. Some countries might face incongruence and inconsistency in their developmental cycle, yet one needs to continue to take action in a balanced and graduated manner maintaining a positive mindset. In order to unlearn and also relearn these harsh facts that are glaring at us in the face of critical decision making for survival, an all-out effort is the imperative need of the hour.
The author is Patron & Adv; Security Verticals in ELCINA; Lung Care Foundation; DigiSwasthya for Rural Health| Lucknow Expressions Society | Radhika Trust for Welfare of Widows; Speaker & Author; Fmr- DG CRPF/BPR&D.
Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of Financial Express Online. Reproducing this content without permission is prohibited.
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