See me, my face ugly and frightful, covered in stinking filth, weary and old. I smell bad, unbearably
bad. I look like a feeble, sick old woman who should die. Shouldn’t I? No. Why? What is my
relevance? Yes. It was me who preserved you in my womb for years, thousands of them.
I was beautiful young princess, pure and serene. You were ignorant then, only able to start fire and
eat half cooked meals. I flirted with you closely but you were busy to develop yourself, to make
your life a luxury. Today that you have achieved what you dreamt of, never looking for who had
to bear the cost. Today you are a King at my cost, the Environment’s.
The humankind is familiar with me because I am present all around them. Some of them call me
environment, others vaguely dub me as Nature. Everything has a nature. Man has its own nature,
animals and plants are characterized by their own natures and so is the planet earth. The ecosystem
of earth, works on the principle of ‘survival’. Herbs are used by smaller and weaker creatures to
keep them alive, they are eaten by larger animals, and still larger consume the larger ones, this
chain continues and eventually there comes human. He has its own nature, very different from
those of all the plants and the animals. He predates on everything, except himself, but in fact he is
killing himself.
Human beings consider themselves the masters of the universe, having developed a system of laws
to legalize what they deem fit for themselves. Some of the human beings are so generous that they
stand up for me, to preserve the environment holding placards and banners made up of paper that
is cut through one of my vital organs, the trees. The others, powerful, oppose them by signing
accords pledging to unleash thousands of liters of poison in the atmosphere to help improve the
economics, on fine sheets of paper that is refined using chemicals which eventually flow into rivers
and reach oceans. Both of them are right, having different priorities.
Despite his hypocrisy I am man’s most reliable partner. When it becomes hot, I skirt him with cold
winds. When the earth starts dying of drought, I shower her with waters from the heavens to help
her resuscitate. Whenever the river gets enshrouded in sheets of filth, I cleanse it with the currents
of flood. All of these services go unnoticed, as they are mostly taken for-granted.
The human is the most thankless creature of the world. Ungrateful. He lashes me when I get sick
hitting the earth with a thunderstorm, he complains for I had tried to kill him, destroyed his
property. I never lament absorbing tons of poisonous gases unleashed into the atmosphere but
when a whiff of it returns to the earth in form of smog, I am at the fault. I drink volumes of chemical
filth every day from rivers but when it hits them back in acid rains, I am to take the blame.
Absorbing terawatts of power radiated by scorching sun, someday if it becomes more violent,
shedding a few extra joules, I am accused of lethal heatwave.
The levels of pollution are breaking the records. In a few places, it has become impossible to
breathe in open air as it is contaminated with life threatening fumes. Fresh water resources are
depleting. Due to rise in glacial temperatures, floods sweep away millions of acres of agrarian land
each year causing famines. Ozone blanket is no more there to protect earth from harmful radiations.
An environmental time bomb is ticking taking the humankind closer to devastation.
To guarantee a safe life, I urge all the human-beings from across the world to stand against the
atrocities being committed against me, the environment. To oppose worst form of terrorism being
perpetrated indiscriminately against all the creatures. To demonstrate wisdom by promising all
living things an equal opportunity to live. To ensure clean environment, not by planting factories
but trees. To sacrifice today for future of their grand-children.
I exhort the schools to teach their children the importance of clean environment. Advise them to
utilize natural resources wisely, as they are to be passed on to the next generations. To make them
aware of the dangers associated with a polluted atmosphere. To imbibe them with a collective
sense of responsibility.
I urge all the students to focus their energies to preserve nature.
The writers, philosophers and scientists to use their intellect for saving humanity.
Yours Faithfully,
The Environment
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