‘Only One Earth’ was the slogan for the 1972 Stockholm Conference; 50 years on, this truth still holds – this planet is our only home.
With nature in emergency mode, the #OnlyOneEarth campaign for World Environment Day 2022 wants us to celebrate the planet through collective environmental action.
#OnlyOneEarth advocates for transformative environmental change on a global scale. The campaign shines a spotlight on climate action, nature action, and pollution action while encouraging everyone, everywhere to live sustainably.
While our individual consumption choices do make a difference, it is collective action that will create the transformative environmental change we need, so we can advance to a more sustainable and just Earth, where everyone can flourish.
We at IEI J&K State Centre have been deliberating on various issues every year on World Environment Day, which made me compile my own about 40 papers in the form of a book and publish as “Environment in Jammu & Kashmir”, a copy of which has been already presented to the library of IEI J&K SC.
“In the universe are billions of galaxies, in our galaxy are billions of planets but there is only one earth pulsating with life.” Our mother earth has no replacement.
Earth in Space:
The Earth is the ideal place to live. Its continents, oceans, lakes and rivers, mountains, forests support an amazing abundance and variety of life – several million plants and animal species and man himself. How does science account for this richness?
Perhaps the most important criterion of life being the ability of the organism to reproduce itself, it can evolve and flourish only under certain conditions and limitations and according to a strict sequence of events. Our planet provides the ideal incubator and shelter.
Water is essential to life because it moderates extremes of temperature and transports nutrients where they are needed. Among the planets of the solar system, only the earth has water available in its three forms: solid, liquid and vapor. The global interchange system of glacier-ocean-atmosphere maintains a comfortable environment that supports life-forms from the polar bear to the tropical orchid. Earth is close enough to its shepherding star, the sun, to receive warmth, light, and energy and far enough away not to burn up.
The evolution of earth from cold stellar debris to spinning dynamo and the gradual building up of a protective atmosphere may be unique in the universe. No other planet in the solar system shows any sign of life.
Of the building blocks of life, hydrogen was created in the first second of the universe, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen were fused in the great nuclear core of a massive star that exploded before our sun was formed. It was the energy of our sun, however, that forged these elements into complex molecules from which life developed. But as well as being a giver of life, the sun can also be deadly, and the earth requires protection from the lethal rays. Hence the shield of atmosphere around the globe needs to be protected by curbing down the production of carbon dioxide etc.
Earth is a water planet, seven-tenths of it submerged or covered by ice. Our heads are wreathed in a thin veil of water vapor. The ground beneath our feet is continuously worn away by the flow of running water. And our lakes provide us with some of the planet’s most breathtaking sites of natural beauty and most of the fresh water we use.
Although 0.0001 percent of the earth’s water is in the rivers, running water has a monumental effect on the landscape. The rivers of the world are like conveyor belts emptying over a billion cubic feet of fresh water into the oceans every second.
Continents have been drifting apart, volcanoes and earthquakes subduing the earth, mountain-building are the forces that shape the earth, landscape-erosion is in progress, rocks continue to record the history of earth, oceans are active, currents and tides balance the energy of the oceans, atmosphere is the earth’s screen, climate clothes the landscape, and all these are active to make life on earth possible, culminating in the emergence and settling of man on earth, who has been charged with managing the future of the planet.
Almighty Allah created the Mother Earth and appointed man His agent-(khalifa). Earth does not belong to man but man belongs to Earth. It has been not only man’s abode and a fertile source for his sustenance, but it has also been for him venue for the development of his physical and mental powers. Mother Earth is a living being, pulsating with life. She has been man’s guide and teacher. Almighty Allah ordered man to show reverence to the Mother Earth and it is incumbent on us to submit to His will and prove to be worthy of the charge entrusted to us.
However, the bitter truth is that those human actions which violate the laws of nature, the harmony of the biosphere, threaten to bring disaster and this disaster may turn out to be universal. Lately we have been witnessing the COVID19 pandemic that has taken the toll of lakhs of people around the globe. It is a living example of our interference with natural laws. If it is a fact that the coronavirus has been developed in a lab as revealed by a scientist, then we are ourselves to blame. Scientists say COVID-19 is man-made and was released from Wuhan lab.
How apt then are the words of ancient Oriental wisdom: “Live closer to nature, my friends, and its eternal laws will protect you!”
All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. Whatever befalls the Mother Earth befalls her sons also. To harm Earth is to heap contempt on its Creator. It is then very much obligatory on man to take utmost care for his living Mother.
According to a Greek theory, the whole universe is made up of four elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air. These elements maintain balance. Nature struggles constantly to maintain balance. This is the Law of Nature.
Later, one more element of Space was added. Man is part and parcel of nature as the human body is also made of 5 elements: Earth element (Bones and Muscles), Water element (Blood), Air element (Breath), Fire element (Heat), and Space element (Emptiness within). If any one element is taken out, body would collapse. However, modern science has so far discovered 118 chemical elements existing in nature with four additions confirmed lately.
Unfortunately, man has inflicted considerable damage to Nature and to the environment in the name of progress and prosperity. Man, and his relation to Earth, is part of the concern of ecology. The Mother Earth’s ecosystem is under increasing stress that cannot be alleviated without regional and global cooperation.
The evidence of global change and abuse of nature and its peace is overwhelming – Climate change that caused September-14 floods in Kashmir. The present climate change we witness with daily cloudy afternoons accompanied with ghastly winds, frequent hailstorms, cloud-bursts and rains with cold temperatures, which otherwise used to be hot summer days of June, are all because of global warming caused by our own actions. Besides this we are responsible for other man-made disasters like the decades of unsettled conflicts between countries, and wars in Iraq, Libya, Syria and Ukraine causing deaths of innocent lives, which speak of man’s callous attitude. In this scenario, man has to develop and use technology without trespassing on the ecosystem which Nature has created on Mother Earth.
Hence, the World Environment Day is a time to appreciate the Earth and we have and to ask ourselves if we are doing everything we can to leave the world a better place for our children and grandchildren.
Moulana Rumi says that man was created out of dust, he eats out of dust (grains, vegetables, mutton etc.), he dies and goes into the dust and so does an animal, too, but most of animals provide their milk to man, their flesh for his diet, their skin as leather for jackets and shoes, which a man does not and cannot do, yet he is the crown of creation because of his superior intellect, provided he uses it judiciously. He is comprised of two entities, one being the perishable body and the other the imperishable soul. The perishable body and the brief life-span was given to him to make his present temporary life and his everlasting after-life blissful, without abusing nature, but he remains busy in his selfish affairs till he reaches his end with a useless late repentance.
Allah says in Quran: “He has set up the balance, in order that ye may not transgress.”
We should all take a break from what we are doing to improve and take care of the planet. Doing this will save our planet from degradation. Yes, our lifestyles and activities are very good for our health and economy but our impact on the environment is also very damaging. This means that we need to care for the environment as much as possible and create sustainable environments. We need to put a stop to the pollution of water, air and soil and noise etc. Studies show that if we keep the usage of plastics and the production of toxic chemicals to a minimum, the natural balance of the environment can be restored. We cannot get rid of everything, but if we take an active role in preserving the environment and preserving our resources, we can improve the natural balance.
We cannot even imagine our existence without the earth. Have you ever considered how we would travel or walk if there was no earth? There would be no water to drink, no animals to feed, and no cultivation, therefore there would be no food to eat.
This means that life for humans and other living things would be impossible without the earth. In another way, we can say. “The earth provides us everything; we should learn to give back.”
According to a UN report, there will be more plastic than fish by weight in the oceans by 2050. So, how are we, as sons of soil, supposed to change our lifestyle and live in a more environment-friendly manner?
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