Ramu put his science fiction book down with a sigh. 

"What's the matter?" asked his Grandfather.

"I wish I could travel through space," said Ramu.

"But, Ramu, you are traveling through space! All of us are traveling through space!"

"Don't joke, Grandfather!"

"Listen, Ramu, I'm not joking. The Earth is our space ship, upon which we all travel, on our endless journey around the sun."

"Really? I never thought of it that way! Tell me more, Grandfather."

"Well, Ramu, our planet – this spaceship – comes equipped with everything we need. It has natural resources – air, water, soil, forests, minerals, which we cannot do without."

"You're right! We learnt that in our science class. We also learnt that the natural resources are limited."
"Did you know, Ramu, that Mahatma Gandhi has said:

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed."

Gandhiji was right, as we are finding out now. We have squandered our natural resources – in fact, that has been called our "victory over nature".

We have fortunately begun to realize that this "victory" is, in fact, our defeat. We have come to understand that the delicately balanced life-giving structure of nature is to be preserved.

Let us look at the life-giving resources. Around our earth is a thin layer of air from which our bodies get oxygen, which is replaced by carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide we produce becomes nutrition for the plants through the wonderful process of photosynthesis. The plants transform carbon dioxide into oxygen for us. The thin layer of air wrapped around the earth also prevents dangerous ultra violet rays from reaching us.

Upon the earth, millions of insects work tirelessly to maintain productivity. Plants, animals, man – all living creatures draw their food from the soil, grow on it and at the end merge with the earth.

Water covers three quarters of the earth. Out of this, we use only three per cent for drinking and agriculture. Ninety-seven per cent, which is in the oceans, is also useful to us. Within water, everything is inter-dependent: small plants, grass and various fishes are useful to each other and help maintain quality of water.

People On Earth

There was a time when our population was small and our needs were few. But over the centuries we people increased in number and our needs also increased. We had to produce maximum quantity, by exploiting nature. We have now begun to realize that this has been excessive.

We have realized that we have developed but the cost has been huge. Pollution corrodes our food, water and the air that we breathe – not only in our big cities but now even in our mofussil towns and villages. The situation is even worse in our industrial towns, and around the major rivers.

Besides air, water and soil, we are all aware of Noise Pollution. One study in Chennai found that in some areas, noise has crossed the limit of endurance.

With all that, we in India are better off than some countries where their ecosystem has been damaged beyond repair due to over-development.

We have learnt about the "carrying capacity" of the environment. For instance what is the capacity of our clean air to purify unclean air? Our rivers to purify the polluted water that flows into it? Our forests to regenerate again?

We should put back into these stores of nature at least as much as we take out of them.

Our minerals – the deposits of coal, oil, etc. hidden under the earth is another type of natural resource. When we use these, we must exercise great care.

India has played its role in protecting our earth. In 1972 our government was an important member in the United Nations Conference on Environment at Stockholm.

In 1974, a law was passed for the prevention and control of water pollution and a Central Water Pollution Board was set up. The National Environment Engineering Institute (NEERT), Nagpur, has kept an eye on air pollution in large cities.

The people have joined in. In towns and small villages, organizations for ecological conservation have been established. One such outstanding movement was that of "Chipko" started in the Hill District of Chamoli in 1973. The village men and women started to 'chipko' (hug) the trees that were to be cut by forest contractors and others. "Cut us off with the tree!" they said.

This saved the trees and aroused people's awareness of forest conservation. Many such movements were started, like 'Appiko' in Karnataka. In Bangalore's environs, we have the example of Kokrebellur (near Ramnagaram) where the village folk have adopted the painted storks and pelicans that come to nest. They think of these birds as the daughters of the village, returning to the maternal home to give birth. Even the smallest child has been trained not to disturb the birds or the eggs, and birds nest and reproduce on tree branches just inches above the huts.

What We Can Do

On this Earth Day, let us learn from the mistakes that the industrialized countries have made in relation to environment. Let us unite in this task for survival. If we see anyone damaging the environment, let us rouse public opinion.