DEAREST MOTHER EARTH!!!
Dr Jaya Kurhekar,
Sangli, Maharashtra,
India, Earth,
Dated: Today
Dearest Mother
Earth,
Greetings and holy
tribute to you!
I am penning down my heartfelt emotions, pent up within me, for
a long time now. Mother, we are all your children. You know all of us very well
and I am sure, as you have always done, you will forgive all of us, for all the
sins we are committing.
You are our dear mother;
you have given birth to us! You are the one supporting us! We are surviving in
your lap, working with your strong support, seeking solace in your embrace. You
are so loving, so caring, so pure and so natural. And yet, here we are, so
cruel, so inhuman and so greedy!
We rely on your
oceans to provide us with abundant fish, marine flora and fauna. We depend on
your forests for food, wood and medicines. We depend on your rivers, streams
and lakes for water, our life line!
Our expectations
and livelihoods are based on the hope and surety that you and your environment
will always support us!
Sometimes I feel
we are taking everything too much for granted. Your “free services and
resources” are the invisible foundation that supports our societies, our
economics and our endeavours. Yet, our economies are unwittingly encouraging us
to misuse and destroy nature. The “free services” so graciously endowed by you
are undervalued. Your most valuable goods and services like water bodies are
being utilized very poorly. The worst part is that, the same activities that
pollute and deplete your natural capitol, are being acclaimed and highlighted
as major contributions to our economic well being!
Mother, you have
been so kind to us! You have always provided us raw materials, purified and
regulated our water supplies, absorbed and decomposed our wastes, cycled nutrients,
created and maintained soils, provided pollination and pest control, regulated
global and local climates, your gifts to us, humans, are unending!
Forests in your
lap supply us timber, provide habitat for insects and birds that pollinate
crops and control pests. They also resist the impact of rainfall, reducing its
force, by the time it reaches the ground, decreasing the amount of soil
erosion. Roots hold soil in place. Forests help in recycling, pumping, stabilizing
water and climate. Oxygen, the life line of humans, is created by plants.
Cutting down of trees, for use as timber, is the least profitable and least
sustainable use of a forest.
Honey bees are on
e of the important family members of the forests. Their service as pollinators
is much more valuable than the honey they collect. Unfortunately, theses bees
are being intensely exposed to pesticides and herbicides and their population
is depleting rapidly.
Our indiscriminate
cutting down of forests, indiscriminate use of vehicles, fertilizers,
pesticides etc has irreversibly destroyed your environment, dear mother! We are
now becoming aware of it and are trying to spread this message to mankind, all
over the world.
We can always
encourage more planting of trees and forests, which have always supported our
livelihood. Harvested forest wild goods can provide food and income security.
They have always been a part of our flexible and sustainable livelihood
systems. Vegetables, fruits, fish, dyes, medicines, materials for weaving and
thatching are all products that can provide an earning. Wild mushrooms
collection, natural wood that can be woven into furniture, can provide some
alternatives.
Mother, your
natural ecosystems have been extensively degraded, fragmented, converted and
stripped off its diversity and services. Nature’s products and valuable
services are getting lost with them too. Birds, insects, worms, microorganisms,
though small in size and seemingly insignificant, are of enormous values. Can
you ever forgive us, for creating adverse conditions for them to thrive?
Although late, I
still feel that everything is not lost! As the wise say, its better late than
never!! We must support and protect our natural resources providers by
protecting their habitat! Avoiding till farming methods, substantial reduction
in the use of agricultural chemicals, allowing under ground economy of nature
to flourish, protecting migratory routes, saving nectar corridors, creating
buffer areas for trees, protecting havens of resident and migratory birds,
insects and animals, reducing erosion, controlling pollution are some methods
to help our helpers.
Markets can be
formed and policies can be created, keeping in mind, the value of nature,
maintaining the ecosystem services and processes. Ground water, the life line
of human beings and all life on earth, should be appropriately valued.
In our short
sighted approach, we have forgotten to look beyond us! We have the minimum
moral responsibility of ensuring that our future generations will get at least
the same level of nature’s services that we are enjoying today. We must take
care of what legacy we leave behind us. Are we being so selfish that we can’t
even think of our children? We need to change our attitudes and practices. We have
to live within the carrying capacity of our supporting systems. WE have to
learn that we can take from thee and thy atmosphere, only so much that we can
return back to you!
O Mother Earth,
“What of thee I dig out,
Let that quickly grow over
Let me not hit thy vitals or thy heart!”
I am truly sorry
for all that we have done but I also promise to make a beginning towards
repairing the damage.
Always yearning
for your love, my dear mother,
Yours Loving,
Daughter.
|
Dr Jaya Kurhekar,
Green Blogger
