(Photo Courtesy: http://climate.nasa.gov/ )
Since the beginning of mankind, humans tried to master the
environment around them. Now thousands of years later in the 21st
century it seems that the humans have finally conquered the Mother Nature.
Humans have habitats in all possible places in the earth ranging from freezing
Antarctic ice caps to scorching deserts regardless of their hostile
environment. It is apparent that human race is unstoppable and they are the
master of plant earth. Is it? New developments of how environment behaving now
proves otherwise. Is it possible for humans to hold nature’s wrath any longer?
Human population was well under 1 billion until 1804* and
the natural environment was relatively intact until the industrial revolution
in the 19th century. Since then, man made his print on earth
exploiting its resources and filling it with his offspring. It is true to say
that man has altered the global landscape once in for all during the last 2
centuries.
Humans thrive when they have all their basic needs such as
food, water and shelter fulfilled. The complexity and sophistication of human
needs also increased steadily. All those needs costs energy and natural
resources. Those resources need to be extracted in industrial scale. Energy is
the key to human success. Starting from coal burning steam engines to electric
motors and diesel engines all of which needs energy of some sort, human
dependence on energy makes oil, natural gas, coal precious commodities. Timber,
metals and water from aquifers also adds to the mankind’s growing resource
need. Land is also had to be reclaimed from virgin lands for dwellings and
farming not to mention the sea, which is used to fulfill countless needs.
Burning fossil fuels and adding nuclear waste as a byproduct of energy
generation is inevitable. Humans have littered the environment with waste which
is mostly toxic to the environment. Even the space is not left intact by filling
it with space junk originating from thousands of discarded spacecrafts and
satellites
Early warning signs of the fact that the earth can no longer
sustain the beating it gets from human presence was disregarded. Even the
melting of the South Pole ice cap was dismissed of having any connection with
human activities. Even the scientific community was turning a blind eye to the
climate change and the changing environment. Sometimes there were confusions in
identifying natural phenomenon such as “El Nino” and “La Nina” different from
man made changes. Most of the people well in to the 1980s thought that earth
can take anything we throw at her.
With the global temperatures getting higher, natural
disasters happening at an alarming rate and with sea levels rising, finally
mankind gets a taste of what it is to come. Only now the scientific community
and the general public started to see a connection between climate changes and
human activities.
It is lucky to see the environmentalists educating the
public and lobbying for politicians and policy makers to seriously think what
we do to the environment in the so called process of industrialization and
development. Still rapid alternation of our way of life is needed. We either
have to slow down our impact on earth or find ways to reduce if not reverse our
negative effect on the environment. With the growing population it is
impossible to slow down the development activities so only option left for us
is reducing human footprint on earth. We should be smart and efficient. The
technology which made the negative effect on the environment itself can be the
savior of both the mankind and the environment. New technologies which help to
achieve maximum growth with less environmental impact may hold the key to
future. It is true to say that there is no silver bullet to save the planet
from eminent destruction in the future. People need to gather at personal
level, city level and country level to battle this problem. It is apparent that
we only have the plant earth to fulfill all our needs. If we destroy it, our
industrial might, growth opportunities and above all our material wealth will
be on jeopardy so number one priority should be given to reduce harmful human
impact on earth and keeping Mother Nature calm and quiet.
