Since January 2021, I am writing on Environment and Science in the 'Chatusutra' weekly column of Loksatta, a Marathi language newspaper. This weekly series contains four different themes being written by four different authors in a four-week cycle. My first article was published on the second Wednesday of the year, and thereafter my articles are coming every four weeks. One of the request from the readers has been to provide English translations for those who are not able to read Marathi. Meera Rotti took on the task to do this, and therefore I am launching this monthly mini-series. Every month, I will post the English translation of one article in the same chronological order that the Marathi articles have been published in Loksatta.
01. Is Human A Virus?
The original Marathi article published on 13 Jan 2021 can be found HERE.
The year 2020 compelled the urban upper
middleclass Indians take cognizance of two invisible forces driving their
lives. One is the urban labour
force. Most of the urban Indians realized during the lockdown that this is the
key driver of their daily lives in and out of their homes. One visible outcome
of this realization can be seen in advertisements. Scenes of masters behaving
courteously with their servants, who in turn are ecstatic with gratitude are
being depicted in advertisements of a lot of products. Of course, the target
audience of such advertisements is certainly not the labour class but their
masters who have not lost their wealth even during this economic slowdown. In
reality the interrelation between people from across the socio-economic strata
is much more complex than this current oversimplified depiction. Social
scientists can certainly evaluate this phenomenon better than me; however, what
I contemplate long and hard about is the realization of the second force by the
urban upper middle class.
A few weeks into the lockdown, and people
suddenly started noticing different birds, animals, insects etc., in their
vicinity. They sensed a drop in air pollution levels, and also observed water
in rivers and lakes to be cleaner. In that initial period, practically the
entire world was under lockdown. Reports of noticeable reduction in greenhouse
gas emissions, as claimed by many scientists, were rife in media. Such news
reports too have influenced the mindset of the Indian upper middle class. Along
with the awakening of our sense of social interconnectedness, sensitivity to
our relationship with the natural surroundings has also heightened as a result
of all of this. Environment, climate change etc., are more mainstream topics
now, and more people are now voluntarily asking what they can and should do to conserve
the environment. Though this is indeed a welcome change, there is nothing substantial
to be found if you scratch the surface.
It has taken nearly 4.5 billion years for
the Earth to attain its current geographical and atmospheric state. The most
extraordinary event in our solar system has been the emergence and evolution of
life and in turn the emergence and evolution of humans on the Earth. Even the living
world in its current form is a result of 4.5 billion years of complex interconnected
processes. Based on available evidence, our species, homo sapiens, has existed
for two hundred thousand years. We are a part of what we call as environment,
and at the same time we are quite separate from it. The relationship between
our species and the earth is a very old and complex phenomenon. However, just as
the advertisers have oversimplified the newly awakened social sensitivity of the
urban rich, the new-found interest in environment of this same class, which
also happens to be financially as well as politically powerful, is also being oversimplified.
Half knowledge is worse than ignorance. This
newly awakened community is seeking to become a quick savior of the world
without diving deep into understanding the interrelationships. As a result,
tokenism is flourishing faster now. Those who benefit from rampant degradation
of environment may well flaunt decorative pieces made from recycled plastic in
their homes, but this does not contribute to the conservation of the
environment. However, what is even more worrisome is that this new-found bond
with nature is not only superficial but also insensitive.
‘Human’ is a virus infecting the earth, Covid-19 pandemic is a lesson
nature has taught to the savage ‘humans’, these and many such statements have been
made by many in the past year. Some of those who expressed themselves in this
fashion have a good name in the field of environmental conservation. I have
only one question for all of them - What exactly do you understand by ‘Human’?
Is human a homogeneous species?
Between a tribal woman living in a shanty in
the poorest country running her home using resources available within her
walking distance and a business tycoon living in a grand villa in one of the
wealthiest cities of the world spreads the nearly 8 billion human population of
the earth. This is just the socio-economic diversity. Apart from this, there is
also a socio-cultural diversity among human beings.
The spread of the virus was significantly higher
among the people in low-income settlements of our cities. The extreme measure
of imposing a harsh lockdown to curb the spread of the virus dealt a blow to the
livelihoods of millions of migrant workers. On the contrary, secured income
sources never dried up for those who could work from home. They even got plenty
of time to shower virtual hearts, kisses and thumbs-ups on phony social media messages
dripping with love for the environment. There were many who could have been
knocked over by the pandemic but managed to survive by leveraging their own courage,
ingenuity coupled with some luck. We saw many of those who could have stayed
secure inside their houses, getting down to ground zero to help the distressed.
But these were exceptions rather than the norm. Then who is this virus in human
form and who is being punished? Cannot we see how ironical as well as
insensitive it is that those secured inside their cocoons built by consuming
more than their fair share of natural resources are scorning the hardships of the
destitute as a fitting punishment?
On this background, an event that took place
in the world of science in 2020 deserves a mention.
Geologists use a system of dating that
describes the geologic history of the Earth. This system labels every
transition period of the earth with a specific name. Since the last Ice Age
ended about eleven and a half thousand years ago, the climate of the earth has
mostly remained stable. This epoch is known as Holocene. Due to
favourable and
stable climate many human groups transitioned from hunter gatherer lifestyle to
agrarian lifestyle, which
in turn gave rise to various human civilizations. Interactions of these
civilizations over hundreds of years has led to today’s multi-faceted and yet
homogeneous global social-economic-political system.
However, in the last few decades, Earth’s
atmosphere, that has so far been in an equilibrium favourable for us, is rapidly changing.
This has led to a rise in the global mean temperature, and has in turn
disrupted the weather cycle. Key reason for such a disruption is the frenetic
pace of industrialization under a global economy driven by fossil fuels. Along
with climate change, our agricultural, construction and mining activities are
also altering the geological systems above and below the surface of the land.
Consequently, natural balance in the living world is also getting disturbed leading
to extinction of many species. Even our own species faces the same threat.
Towards end of the 20th century, it was
proposed that Holocene epoch had ended and a time in which humans are directly impacting
the environment - called Anthropocene - has started. To decide whether to accept this proposition or
not, a committee of geologists was formed which has arrived at a conclusion
which is likely to be announced in 2021.
This is not just a scientific curiosity.
This thought has echoes in various other fields. While formally accepting the
nomenclature for the present times as Anthropocene, it must not be forgotten
that the diverse human groups on the earth do not have the same ecological impacts.
Studies conducted from various perspectives have shown that the actions of past
and present rich and upper middleclass people are more responsible for the
blows delivered to the balance of nature. To maintain the environment in a
condition to support human life, we now need a total reconstruction of all our
economic, social and political paradigms. Will the environmental consciousness
awakened among the urban upper middle class of India during the Covid-19
pandemic break free from tokenism and pursue this path?
Author: Priyadarshini Karve
English Translation: Meera Rotti
