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They are like bubbles in the air. Clearly visible, almost within reach, but the moment you try to touch them they disappear into nothingness. Because there is not a thread of truth to hold them together! Yet, why do these starkly false beliefs about environment continue to survive, grow, and spread? Sometimes because details get garbled, inadvertently. Sometimes because they are deliberately planted to counter social, political or economic pressures. Whatever be the factor it is absolutely critical to bust them. Because the better informed public is a better manager of environment. Environment is about trees, birds and animals 
The first few things that come to our minds when we think of environment are ‘green’, ‘trees’, ‘birds’, ‘animals’, and so on. But, environment goes beyond pretty trees and tigers. Environment is each and every thing around us. It is also about the water we use, the food we eat, the air we breathe, the land we walk on, the soil on it, the waste we generate, the electricity we consume, the vehicle we use… everything. This failure to grasp what environment is, and all perceptions about it are firmly ingrained in our minds by our education system. It is a willful, if unconscious, misreading of what environment entai5ls. Environmental issues are not a matter best left to either ‘environmentalists’ or the ‘concerned rich’. It’s everybody’s concern, for we all live in and with it. Poor people cause pollution  Who is responsible for this terrible environmental mess that we have landed ourselves in? It is easy to find scapegoats here. Just point your finger at the poor – both in cities and villages. But hang on! They may be large in number, but they are not the guilty party. At least, not the primary ones. The real culprits are the minority – the middle class and the affluent. How? Domestic sewage is the biggest threat to the rivers. Nearly 80 per cent of river pollution in India is due to excreta! So, who is the main culprit behind this? Not those who defecate in the open, as they have no access to toilets. But, those who have toilets – the middle class and the affluent. This is because with every flush we use more and more clean water to dispose our faeces and urine (over 10 litres), increasing the quantity of sewage. Vehicular emission is one of the biggest air polluters. And who use vehicles? The rich. Poor do not travel by cars. They walk, cycle, or travel by buses. They do not waste energy resources, such as electricity. Most of them either do not have access to it, or they do not have enough. Wasting these resources would be wasteful luxury for them. They live off locally-grown or available food, which do not generally use chemical pesticides and fertilisers. Processed and packaged food is beyond their means. As for the rich, their ‘dietary preferences’ are shifting towards beverages, refreshments and processed food (National Sample Survey Organisation). Yet, it is the poor people (and nations) that suffer the most. They do not have resources to fight against or protect themselves from the adverse effects, and are thus, left exposed to the mess created by the affluent. |
