The world is witness to the change in lifestyle, customs and accepted ways of living and conducting business or day to day activities long after old ways began to fade away. Humans saw a remarkable number of changes - some that challenged old ways or habits but also many which uprooted centuries of tradition and ingrained ways of living and lifestyle. We are in an age of technology where we are challenged by whether this is actual progress or threatens our very existence.
This induced change over years of efforts of colonization in ways of living on many countries like India and beyond, has left a mark that is hard to ignore. It has had deep implications for the Indian subcontinent but also for any economy of scale. With the Industrial Revolution, factories and cities have become increasingly concentrated and spread of the population is disproportionate. Economy and markets, also tend to favors jobs or opportunities in urban areas with no incentives to attract workers in a rural setting. This results in an inequitable resource usage/ demand and hence inequality in availability of both natural and man made resources. In order to keep up with the demand, supply has continually increased disproportionately to make matters worse.
How would one tackle this? If a root cause analysis was conducted it would help explain a lot of factors both responsible for and resulting in increasing divide between urban and rural areas. This creates a deep divide between two geographic areas close in proximity but deeply divided in resource and economic opportunity availability. Basic human resources like need for sanitation and clean water, healthy food are a human right in the truly developed world. But we seem to be moving two steps behind for every step we intend to take further.
When the economics of this situation are not matched, and distribution of resources in urban vs. rural is inequitable, then the gap only widens increasing a mismatch in demand vs. supply. With changes in lifestyle, pollution and a lack of concern about the environmental impacts and long term consequences such as climate and disease has led to current state. If that is where the root lies, then it would mean that the fix or solution to this issue needs to start somewhere at the same level. Which level is this? The grass root level- why? Because we cannot create a solution with the same mindset that created the problem in the first place. This would need to be augmented by building up funding and support from resources that help sustain such an effort but through actual people in the community.
This cannot be a another marketing gimmick that allows for tax subsidies. Or diminishing the efforts of the entrepreneurs who seek change desperately and passionately so.
Water scarcity, and poor sanitation is no longer a problem just within rural areas, but shortages (water, electricity, food, fuel, healthcare and others) resulting from the inefficient distribution of the resources across urban and rural areas has resulted in threatening trends across housing, health services, education, transportation, utilities and other sectors that provide services to access resources for human needs. If MohenJoDaro a civilization in earliest known time boasts of a remarkable drainage and well planned sanitation system then surely we in 2025 can plan much better for our future generations. The implications of forward looking planning, policy development and preserving balance are immense.
With that we are offering future generations a chance to improve their health, outcomes and long term sustainability and survival if necessary. But to look forward we must be willing to closely examine the past and how it led to the present point in time. A retrospective objective examination of key decisions taken ( whether they have been helpful or otherwise with a truly objective view) may provide valuable insights into lessons learned that we can leverage to chart the course onto the next chapter.
So where do we start? Nothing in the planet is more adaptable than nature itself. Species, plant or animal adapt to environment and conditions to survive. Man is no different, but man does one thing differently. He/ She goes against the rules of nature to create ease for his/her daily activities, all of which have summed up to impact environment, and the species that are closely linked in a chain of interdependence. Ecosystems have been destroyed, barrier reefs eroded, oceans polluted with plastic and chemicals to the point where population of fishes show effects of hormonal side effects from chemicals, including medications we dump into the waters and released by waste from factories. Levels of lead and mercury are impacting children and health. It hasn’t stopped there. Deforestation to build new homes or factories and other industrialization has resulted in depleting ozone layers, that provided protection from harmful radiation and resultant increases in cancers and other of other unexplained illnesses. Humans need to accept that they are a part of the environment and ecosystem and change that impacts one part of this cycle will have domino effect on other parts of same ecosystem since it is all interdependent and interconnected.
While we may only look at that negatively, it also offers hope and opportunity. Human beings of art of the problem are the most important stakeholders in being a conduit to positive changes that act as catalyst to create a stable environment that protects all species, respects life, diversity and value that each species brings to this Earth.
