{"id":101106,"date":"2013-08-19T12:50:01","date_gmt":"2013-08-19T07:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=101106"},"modified":"2013-09-04T02:47:32","modified_gmt":"2013-09-03T21:17:32","slug":"on-protecting-mother-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/on-protecting-mother-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"On Protecting Mother Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Vagisha I. Gunasekara<\/a><\/span> –<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dr. Vagisha Gunasekara<\/p><\/div>\n

We live in a time of severe ecological and economic challenges.\u00a0 In 2012 the world crossed a dangerous limit. \u00a0A reading of 400 parts per million (ppm) of atmospheric carbon dioxide was recorded by monitoring stations across the Arctic. This figure is at least 50ppm higher than the maximum concentration during the last 12,000 years, a threshold that granted us the privilege to develop agriculture and civilization. We have already begun to experience a substantially more chaotic climate that demonstrates this altered architecture of our atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Extreme heat, dustbowl drought, stunted crops, climate change, and massive wildfires have resulted in major food crop losses in Russia in 2010, and the U.S. in 2012.\u00a0 In many countries in the West, increased costs for animal feed mean higher prices for milk, meat and processed foods based on corn and soy. \u00a0Price rises on the international grain market will have a major negative impact on poor countries in Africa, Asia, and South America, where many people spend most of their personal income on food. \u00a0Rocketing bread prices, food and water shortages have all plagued parts of the Middle East and analysts at the Center for American Progress in Washington say a combination of food shortages and other environmental factors exacerbated the already tense politics in the region.\u00a0 Recent studies in Sri Lanka<\/a><\/span> indicate that predicted changes in rainfall, temperature, and the soil moisture deficit, will demand additional irrigation water to compensate for the crop water requirement now and in the coming years. Therefore the climate change effects on maha<\/em> and yala<\/em> seasonal rains will cause serious problem for agricultural activities, such as paddy and other field crop cultivations in the north, north central and eastern regions (Prof Shanthi De Silva 2012, Open University of Sri Lanka).\u00a0 4 million Sri Lankans are already malnourished and the World Food Programme (2012) cautions anything up to 200 million more food-insecure people by 2050.\u00a0 Just as much we accept these hard facts about the creeping disaster of climate change, we must also recognize that environmental chaos represents an imminent threat to a multitude of human rights:\u00a0 the right to food, to water and sanitation, to social and economic development.\u00a0 This is only a sliver of evidence that tells us to \u2018care\u2019 about the environment, if not for its own sake, but for humanity\u2019s sake (a`la Nalaka Gunawardena).<\/p>\n

Climate Injustice<\/strong><\/p>\n

The raison d\u2019\u00eatre of our consumer society \u2013 acquisition<\/em> \u2013 is supported by polluting energy sources and guided by a pseudo-scientific principle of limitless growth.\u00a0 Bewitched by these ideas that run contrary to basic laws of biology, we imagine our society as above and beyond the rest of the living world.\u00a0 The truth, as former senior economist at the World Bank, Professor Herman Daly states, is different: \u201cthe larger system is the biosphere and the subsystem is the economy. The economy is geared for growth, whereas the parent system doesn\u2019t grow. It remains the same size. So as the economy grows, it encroaches upon the biosphere, and this is its fundamental cost.\u201d\u00a0 Whose wellbeing are we compromising in the name of incessant acquisition?\u201d<\/p>\n

In Moral Ground<\/em> (Moore & Nelson 2011), South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu argues, that it is unjust that people in Africa \u2014 who don\u2019t reap the \u201cbenefits\u201d of the reckless burning of fossil fuel \u2014 are suffering from droughts and crop shortages as a result of the West\u2019s consumption of oil.\u00a0 Although some perceive climate change as people of one culture (the developed world) destroying the material basis of another (Sheila Watt-Cloutier 2011), the issue cannot be confined to the Global South.\u00a0 The formation of the Earth\u2019s atmosphere affects rich and poor countries alike; and global warming, influenced by agriculture and civilization should get everybody\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

Moreover, we need to realize that \u2018our children are our future\u2019 is not merely a feel-good phrase, and that we have shared responsibility to not to compromise \u201cthe ability of future generations to meet their own needs\u201d (Brundtland Report 1987).\u00a0 As such, we have horizontal (to others that live among us) and vertical (to our descendents) responsibility to protect the environment.\u00a0 Although we know all this, why are we sleepwalking into such an unprecedented betrayal of intergenerational justice?\u00a0 In order to find answers, we must examine our basic way of making sense of who we are, what the world is, and our role in it.<\/p>\n

Constructed Delusions<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the Age of Reason, in which we have managed to bring ourselves to the verge of destruction by acting under the delusion that humans are separate from the Earth, and that we, are in control of it. The idea that \u2018we are the masters of the universe\u2019 stems from the belief that humans are the only beings of spirit and our adroitness grants us to rule over other \u2018less important\u2019 forms of life.\u00a0 Our hubris about human exceptionalism has even made us coin terms such as \u201cindividualism\u201d, that lead us to believe that we are exceptional rights holders, separate from one another and always in conflict or competition with each other. \u00a0Another one of our sophisticated terms \u2013 \u201cdualism\u201d confirms that on one side are humans with spirit and value, and on the other side is the insentient physical world that was created for the purpose of serving our needs.\u00a0 In the process of constructing and strengthening these delusions, we have led ourselves to believe in our ability to exceed natural limits.<\/p>\n

Since the late 19th<\/sup> Century, Darwin\u2019s findings about the biology of the evolutionary process have been misappropriated to define the industrial society.\u00a0 With phrases such as \u201csurvival of the fittest\u201d (coined by the Victorian Social Darwinist Herbert Spencer), we see society as a jungle, where one must crawl over the other to survive and succeed.\u00a0 In other words, I can pursue my own welfare even at the expense of your (or everyone\u2019s<\/em>) well-being.\u00a0 If we take a close look at what motivates multi-national corporations or nation-states, we observe a scaled-up manifestation of the same worldview that prioritizes success, growth, and exploitation of others.<\/p>\n

Most of us rally behind Adam Smith\u2019s idea of the \u201cinvisible hand\u201d of the market in our efforts to justify capitalism.\u00a0 This notion implies that if everyone works towards individual welfare, it will work for the benefit of the whole.\u00a0 There is an undeniable element of truth to this inference, as markets are profoundly efficient ways of distributing and re-distributing resources.\u00a0 Yet, when left completely unrestrained, they often end up being unfair.\u00a0 Markets need to be tamed<\/em> within a political structure that minimizes the exploitative tendencies that arise.\u00a0 Though we are quick to spout Adam Smith\u2019s \u201cinvisible hand\u201d in protesting the oppressive control of the economy by the government, we are oblivious to the real motivations of the world\u2019s top 200 oil, coal, and gas companies (with a net worth of about $7.4 trillion), Wall Street, or the politicians they have bought. \u00a0The driving principle behind these entities is Social Darwinism: using your position to get everything you can.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the likelihood of the world\u2019s leading emitters of carbon such as the United States or the emerging economies of China and India cutting back the main source of emissions is extremely low.\u00a0 China’s emissions now make up over 24% of total global emissions (UN Statistics Division, MDG Indicators 2012). \u00a0The United States of America, the former world heavyweight champion of carbon pollution, is still generating 18% of the total followed by the European Union contributing 14%. India’s emissions have jumped 9.4% to over two billion tons, placing it fourth in this game of existential “hawk-dove.”\u00a0 None of these leading emitters has agreed to sign an international treaty that would obligate them to cut emissions.\u00a0 The excuse presented by the Global South is the difficulty of squaring the historic carbon debt of the overdeveloped world with the need for developing countries to accept universal emissions reductions now.<\/p>\n

The hallmarks of our globalized society \u2013 greed, consumerism, and separation from nature, combined with the supine disposition of \u201cdemocratic\u201d governments are successfully fueling a mutually beneficial relationship that will eventually take us towards extinction.\u00a0 Their shared worldview thrives on limitless economic growth no matter what the long-term consequences may be.<\/p>\n

Looking Inwards \u2013 A Starting Point<\/strong><\/p>\n

Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh believes that fundamental change can happen only if we fall back in love with our planet. When we recognize the virtues, talent and beauty of Mother Earth, he says, love is born in us. When we reconnect with it, we naturally want to do anything we can for the benefit of the Earth, and the Earth will do anything for our wellbeing. \u00a0We need to start by revisiting ecological and evolutionary science that tell us that humans are part of interconnected, interdependent systems; that the thriving of the individual parts is necessary for the thriving of the whole; and that we are created, defined, and sustained by our relationships, both with each other and with the natural world. If we come to understand that deeply, we can invent new models of human goodness.\u00a0 As such, what is needed is an evolution of our current worldview that starts at the individual level and transmutes into the structures of society.\u00a0 In the article that follows this, we will look at how this awakening<\/em> can occur at the individual and societal levels.\u00a0 What we need is a new ethic, derived by a community of diverse \u201cmindful\u201d people that can reimagine our place in the world.<\/p>\n

*Vagisha Gunasekara is a Senior Research Professional at the Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA), Sri Lanka. \u00a0Vagisha received her PhD in political science from Purdue University, USA. \u00a0Her research straddles issues at the intersection of post-war reconstruction, gender, feminism and international relations. <\/em>\u00a0(CEPA) is an independent, Sri Lankan think-tank promoting a better understanding of poverty related development issues.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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