Understanding Pollution and Environmental Degradation

To hold that such progress has only been at the cost of environmental degradation, leading to more people being exposed to greater pollution and suffering greatly from such effects, is again being selectively short-sighted.

People forget the pollution from cooking on wood or dung burning house hold fireplaces and tend to exaggerate the effect of carbon pollution from non- renewable energy sources. Yes, it is true that excessive use of petroleum-based fertilizers and chemical pesticides and weedicides has led to damaging run-off into the water bodies even as it allowed for the green revolution to feed the growing population. But this is again something that we are recognizing and hopefully will do something about before it is too late. (See – ‘Ecological Catastrophe-due to human activities?’).

In many places, especially in Europe and America, there is today much lower pollution than a century ago, once greater awareness led to radical innovation and greater efficiencies. It is estimated that once the per capita income level is over 1990’s US $ 4000/- the people will begin to insist on better environmental conditions and co-operate to attain them. So, the aim should be to work so as to, as rapidly as possible, get people to such a level even if for a while this needs us to use more polluting energy sources, such as coal. Ofcourse, all efforts should be made to develop technologies even during this time, to keep the pollution levels as low as realistically practical.

 
Surveys consistently reveal that individuals tend to be personally optimistic yet socially pessimistic. There seems to be a vested interest in pessimism, because doomsayers and scare stories get a wider hearing.
 
 
 
 

Conclusion

A country as large and as populated as India, has a sizable domestic market and a diversity of talent and skills and if provided a level playing field when competing with larger Global Companies can well hold its own and even compete abroad.
 
 

JAI BHARAT! – JAI HIND!

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