A Sustainable Relationship With Nature
Modern life for Western civilizations and other wealthy countries is supported by technological ways of beating nature – we can withstand the coldest winters with Goretex coats, thermal insulation, and space heaters and we can survive in very high temperatures through indoor air conditioning and special architecture that releases heat. These inventions have made human life possible virtually everywhere on Earth and encouraged hubris in our attitude towards nature.
We believe that nature has a virtually unlimited supply of the chemicals that make up ceramics, fabrics, cement, metals, oil, natural gas, plastics, inks or dyes, and paper. We believe that we can cut down trees because they will grow back. We believe that we can pollute bodies of running water with toxic chemicals because a river cleans itself every eleven miles. This exploitative relationship is unsustainable and not healthy. We can and should do better.
All future and ongoing development needs to factor in a few environmental constraints: the purity of the water can lengthen or shorten individual longevity and the cleanliness of the air greatly impacts infant and adult health. Unfortunately, all untrained people judge water with their eyes and air with their sense of smell. Not all clear bottled water is pure and not all breathable air is clean. U.S. government regulators, who have more sophisticated testing equipment, are now loosening environmental protection rules on major polluters to decrease compliance costs of big business.
The quality of human experience would be greatly enhanced by focusing on ensuring that our air and water are as clean as possible all over the world. If not out of respect for nature, then perhaps we should recognize that the environment is a path to healing. Walking in nature and breathing in fresh air relieves stress and clears the mind. Pure water in the right amounts can prevent or treat some symptoms of illness. Dirty water, on the other hand, can lead to serious illness or even death. Thus, a clean environment leads to a healthy, long life.
Nowhere is the need for water filters and sanitation greater than in India. Many Indian municipalities often lack sanitation, internet access, banking, electricity, and the other amenities that characterize modern urban life. Plus, many of India’s villages deliberately choose a less materialistic lifestyle that they believe is more consistent with their religion and culture. Hinduism holds that the Ganges River possesses a spirit that many people honor before performing their daily ablutions. This may have worked several millennia ago when there were only a few thousand people who used the River as a bathroom but it is totally unhealthy with India’s present population of 1.3 billion people. Human waste pollutes what for many Indians towns is the only source of drinking water, spreading diseases that detract from India’s productivity and standard of living.
Fortunately, there is something we can do about it. Below are some ideas that deserve serious consideration:
- mandatory recycling of metal, glass, and paper products;
- shredding and reusing plastics in asphalt or cement bricks;
- Pigouvian taxes like the plastic bag tax in the District of Columbia;
- using bacteria to filter exhaust fumes from power plants, oil rigs, and other sources of industrial air pollution;
- pouring pollutants normally discharged into water bodies into human waste to be composted and used to combat desertification;
- burning garbage to generate energy and/or byproducts that can be used to create manmade islands or as a layer under asphalt roads; and
- substantial investment in renewable energy sources to raise the amount of power generated and lower the cost so that poor countries choose a cheaper, cleaner, and more efficient option to provide electricity to rural populations.
Some countries, such as Sweden and Singapore, have taken the lead on these issues and there are bright minds all over the world who are tuned into this wavelength of sustainable solutions (you can find some of their ideas on www.weforum.org).
We need to change modern humankind’s attitude about nature to be more respectful. We cannot ignore nature forever. We may not understand the ancient wisdom around how to treat nature but we should recognize the immediate need to provide pure water and clean air for our own health and longevity.