GREEN
LIFE
'
What is LIFE ' is explained somewhere
in this web site. There it is stated that there are different types of people
on the
Earth like foresters, urbanites etc. Foresters due to their 'all-green'
environment,
lead an 'all-green'
life.
Farmers or agriculturists of
the pre-industrial times also lived fully green lives. Modern urban
lives are a consequence of scientific and technological developments,
industrialization, mechanised transports, concrete buildings and electronic
communication facilities. Almost anything in a city is artficial,
even plants and trees are arrayed and trimmed architecturally to suit locality,
offices, tourism etc. Hence urban lives are fully artificial,
going to extremes of uncontrolled effluents,emissions, noise and congestion.
At present many cities have become problem ares in many
parts of the Earth. Presently more than 50% of global population reside in
cities. Seeing basically, all urban problems are caused by (1)
high population density, (2) uncontrolled industrial development and pollutions,(3)
income disparities which cause social imbalances and
tensions, (4) uncontrolled growth of personal vehicles, (5) ecological imbalances
and (6) speed, noise, congestion etc. The more
humans 'progressed' away from 'all-green', healthy forests to modern cities,
the more they became unbalanced with nature and
destructive to environments and natural resources.
The
most serious global problem, threatening all on the Earth now is global
warming mainly due to green house
gases, pollutants from industrial units and fossil fuel uses. Hence
controlling and reducing pollution in cities is the way to clean and
green cities and as a consequence to green the Earth. (Compared to cities,
small townships and villages are less or negligibly polluted).
Thus a global solution is arrived at; GREEN
CITIES MAKE GREEN EARTH.
Then GREEN
LIFE
is possible.
How
to make the polluted cities clean and green? (See second-from-end paragraph).
This needs a basic
understanding of urban pollution. The main causes of urban pollution are,
(1) emissions and wastes from various industrial units, (2)
sewage, (3) emissions from vehicles and similar machines, and (4) various
flourocarbons. Noise pollution, vehicle congestion,
particulate matter etc. are also big health hazards. Taking into account global
warming alone, emissions which add to green house gases
are only important. The green house gases are water vapour, carbon dioxide,
methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, chloroflourocarbons
hydroflourocarbons, perflourocarbons, and sulphur hexaflouride. The first
five constituents occur naturally also on the Earth. These natural
gases or constituents are to be present in the atmosphere
or the Earth in optimum and balanced levels to maintain healthy background
temperatures for all living beings to live productively.
If the concentrations increase or go berserk by natural or industrial reasons
(e.g.
production of the last four constituents), plants and animals
would suffer to various degrees.(Carbon dioxide concentrations increased by
about 40% from 280 ppm during pre-industrial times to 391 ppm in 2010).Sea
level rise, melting of glaciers, changes
in ocean currents, climate changes of various intencities
etc. are predicted. Related social changes, poverty, diseases, militancy etc.
also
are possible. This is only a small list of calamities predicted
or feared now. But the exact nature of these calamities is not predictable.
If
the present harmful concentrations are not brought under
control and balance, nature or mythically
Gaia - goddess of Earth, (James
Lovelock 1995, Gaia - a new look at life on
Earth, Oxford University Press pp.148) would start reacting by
various ways. Some scientists
say that some of the presently seen weather aberrations
are due to this reaction.
If
you ask any villager who just visited a big city, about his/her opinion on
' what was the worst or most tntolerable
thing in in the city' , the reply would be, "I
was horrified to see the huge number of speeding cars, trucks, buses
and 2 wheelers which
make
roads congested and breathing difficult ".
Now ask a city dweller who returns from a holiday to a hill resort, about
the most
interesting thing the person saw during the holidays. The answer would
be, "
I liked the fragrance of clean air and green fields and the
simple
rural people and their domestic animals".
So the most contrasting things which are present in cities are
polluted, dusty air and
noisy, crowded roads. Both are due to uncontrolled growth in human population,
vehicles and industrial units.
There
is nothing new in these findings or conclusions. These are known things, discussed
or debated many times at
different levels. Many governments and organizations took actions and are
acting. Governments legislate and try to enforce to various
degrees of success. Then ' why the failures?' , ' why the increasing deterioration
or destruction of environments, social disparities and
tensions' . The answer is certain fundamentals and basics of group life (professional,
national etc.) are forgotten or not followed. The
prevailing mood seems to be, 'let
us not bother about basics or long term consequences, find out some temporary
solutions or do some
patchworks'.
In
2009 I wrote in my diary, " All conflicts , problems and fights arise
out of imbalances between individuals or
members(e.g. family members, citizens) of groups (e.g. families, nations,
companies) and imbalances or conflicts between short term
and long term interests of individuals and groups (e.g. children vs. parents,
industry vs. agriculture, taste vs. health)". In the case of a
family, children being children and short-sighted, their long term interests
are normally looked after by parents. So many of the family
conflicts can be due to this short term vs. long term perceptions. Similarly
taste and health. A person should eat nutritious food for good
health of the whole body ; tasty foods are only for ' tasting-a bit
' to please taste buds (or as appetizer). Once the causes of a problem
are
identified, solutions are easy or nearby. What are they? Fundamentals and
practical aspects of projects (of both public and private
sectors) are to be thoroughly planned to match and balance both short and
long term needs and cosequences. Evidently, pollution,
environment and public health come into the scene with high priority.
Similarly, citizens' aspirations and government's plans and projects
are to be balanced for integrated growth of all sections. All citizens should
be educated about the long term consequences of '
all-mechanised' or artificial life styles, use of personal vehicles and health,
uncontrolled or wasteful wealth accumulation, imbalances with
enviornment, consumerism and wealthy - unhealthy syndrome. Many urbanites
lead fussy, confused and tensioned lives. They are to be
educated on healthy,
balanced ways of life
which is possible only in green
cities.
After
writing on developmental aspects like industrial pollutions, hydropower,
organic farming and sustainable
development in monsoon-fed countries, I wrote in 2005 (Science
of Asian Monsoon pp. 130-143), " this present situation necessitates
planning and controlling of industries, population, urbanization etc.".
Considering forests and villages as clean and unspoiled, compared
to urban areas and as only indirectly or secondarily polluted, cities stand
to be cleaned, monitored and greened. How to do these huge
tasks which needs inputs from all sections of national communities for many
years?
Firstly,
existing levels of pollutants are to be reduced
to healthy levels by enforcing rules and regulations on industrial units,
users of vehicles and other machines and agencies for sewage
disposal.
Simultaneously,
new industries and vehicles are to be permitted only on the basis of '
nil or no-net harmful pollutants'. Next,
administrative and popular measures
are to be carried out with high priority to reduce population growth.
(Present global population of >6
billions is perhaps 25% more than a sustainable global limit! See also
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimum_population).Governments
and city administrators
should provide better public transport facilities limited to only 3 levels
of comfort. Cut
down
productions of vehicles which cause pollution and regulate tightly uses
of vehicles in city areas, taking into consideration
congestion and noise. Encourage
cycleing and
walking by controlling movements and parking
of motor vehicles. Maintain
lots of open spaces,
public gardens and parks. These measures can ensure clean cities within a
few years. ( Transport experiments carried out in some cities
for short periods showed significant reductions in levels of pollutants).
Now
what are the threats? They are, sectaranism or communal bias, selfish or partial
attitudes, lack of long term
planning, greed and existing establishments of consumerism, waste and corruption.
Gandhiji long back wrote; "the (green)
Earth has
enough to satisfy the needs of all, but not for satisfying the greed
(on hot Earth)
of some ". (Sorry for extra, but timely, words in brackets
added by the author).
TAKING
INTO ACCOUNT PRESENT
GLOBAL PROBLEMS
AND AVAILABLE SOLUTIONS, NATIONAL AND GLOBAL,
THERE SEEMS TO BE AN ESCAPE ROUTE; "
GREEN
CITIES MAKE GREEN EARTH
"
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WHAT IS GREEN LIFE? Fully or largely or balancingly natural ways of living wherein
citizens' health, both mental and physical, is considered as first priority and maintained
by all, personally and collectively, and pollution is limited to harmless and absorbable
levels within atmosphere, land and water bodies.