Hey folks,

The Olympic fever is yet to abate. We haven’t stopped fêting the fastest runner, the most nimble jumper, and the swiftest swimmer, yet. And the nations these champions represent are still basking in glory. This has put an award-winning idea in my mind. Let’s launch a grand international competition to select winners of a different kind. Here the competitors will be countries, not individuals. And they will compete to win prizes for categories like:

Nation with the Lightest Ecological Footprint

Nation with the Highest Biocapacity;

Nation that has never undergone Ecological Overshoot. And so on…

Wondering what these are? Let me explain. Our demand for ecological resources has far, far outstripped the Planet’s capacity to supply and regenerate. In fact, our ecological footprint has exceeded the Earth's biological capacity by over 25 per cent. So the globe’s ecological overshoot (read deficit) has already crossed the danger limit. We have dangerously depleted not only the non-renewable oil, gas and minerals but also renewables like groundwater, forests and fauna. Super-fast action is required to stop this madness. And if the lure of Olympic trophies is needed to generate this spirit to sacrifice, to commit and to deliver, then let’s create another Olympic… Any takers?

– Pandit Gobar Ganesh
E-mail: panditji@cseindia.org