From living a healthy life close to nature to living a plush life in an urban concrete jungle…the technological advancement has surely made us come a long way, but at what cost? Asks APARNA KAPOOR
If life or ‘prana’, as we call it in Hindi, had a physical form, it surely would be green in colour or, perhaps, blue. In other words trees or vegetation and water are the key lifelines for the survival of every life form on our planet. But what is surprising is that though mankind evolved, and with technological advancement we are able to do the unimaginable, we did not bother about our ‘prana’, our ‘blues’ and our ‘greens’, the water and the trees of our planet. We forgot that there is one thing we will never be able to replicate – nature.
So while we were mindlessly razing away forests to make space for our glitzy cities, nature constantly gave signals in the form of global warming, melting of glaciers, lack of annual rain fall, famine, draught, floods, epidemics, unknown diseases, etc, saying that something what we were doing was not right. But we chose to ignore it. And today, when our mistakes are staring us in the face, we are looking for ways for our sustenance.
Importance of greenery
The benefits of trees are countless and human life is almost impossible without them. Trees, grass and other green vegetation provide wildlife habitat, prevent soil erosion, absorb air pollutants, and lower surface temperatures. Lack of green spaces leads to higher air temperatures and more ground level ozone, with fewer trees and plants to clean the air and provide oxygen. Without soil to receive the rainfall and filter the water, sewers become overloaded, causing neighborhood flooding as well as polluted water problems, which is harmful to the aquatic ecosystems.
By having enough greenery around ourselves, we assure our well-being. Green spaces have a positive impact on mental health. People living in areas with green spaces are less likely to have anxiety disorders or depression, and they are more likely to be physically active, which leads to reduction in respiratory diseases such as asthma and upper respiratory infections. Some studies suggest that green spaces reduce common health conditions, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer.
Use of green space for bike trails and recreation may lead to reduced use of automobiles and transportation, thus reducing the use of fossil fuels and energy expenses. Additional tree and vegetative growth provides shade and lowers urban temperatures reducing the demand for air conditioning and energy costs.
Missing green in urban colour palette
Over the past few decades, the urban development in our country has been remarkable, but the colourful palette of the urban-space lacked the much essential ‘green’. The result of this mistake is for everyone to face. There are so many health issues which are finding their way to our houses, simply because of this shift in human lifestyle – from living close to nature to living a life with no nature around! And we are paying a heavy price for this.
Today our children have no clean air to breathe, no clean water to drink, contaminated fruits and vegetables to eat and a sedentary lifestyle with no place to play and get their hands dirty with mud. No wonder that we pay more medical bills as compared to our previous generations, or for that matter compared to our rural counterparts or people living in much cleaner and pollution free environments. Was our health the price we paid for this progress? Was it all worth it? Time to ponder…
We disturbed the ecology
While erasing the green we didn’t realise that we are harming ourselves two fold – directly, as well as indirectly. We were not only left panting for cleaner air to breathe, struggled with lesser rainfall for our crops, healthier food to eat in the absence of trees, but we also invited trouble for ourselves because the wild life was left homeless leading to the extinction of many species and others looking for an alternate habitat for themselves. This has lead to a major ecological imbalance — the result is now coming out in the open.
Nipah Virus is the latest example to explain this fact. It is believed that the virus is spread by bats. Now, these bats were happily hanging upside down in the deep forests, but what option were they left with when we did away with their forests to spread out our own living spaces? They obviously need a place to live. They, too, are a part of this nature like you and I. Going around burning trees will not pull out the problem from its roots. We need to undo what we have done….
The nature works on a simple principle of ‘give and take’. But, we humans, in spite of being called the most ‘intelligent’ species, have failed to realise this fact. We are so selfish that since centuries we have only taken without giving anything back to the nature, and it’s about time we do. It is also about time we learn how to co-exist with other species on this planet because that is the only way how we would be able to sustain life, to survive.
Still not too late
So start a revolution at your personal level – now. There’s still time to save our planet, save our health.