The Ailing Planet: The Green Movement's Role Summary Class 11 English

This chapter is an article written by Nani Palkhivala about the unhealthy situation of the Earth. This article was published in the Indian Express on 23 November 1994 and is now a part of the class eleventh English book Hornbill (CBSE). In this chapter, the writer discusses the problems like pollution, population, overconsumption, and continuous degradation of natural resources. These are the leading causes of the declining health of the Earth and the exploitation of natural resources.

The chapter's title is 'The Ailing Planet,' which means 'the sick planet.' That is a planet suffering from illnesses like global warming, pollution, and many more. The writer used the term 'the ailing planet' about the continuous environmental degradation of the Earth. The poet wants to say that our Earth is in a critical situation, requiring proper care and replenishment. This chapter highlights the importance of taking immediate action to stop environmental degradation and the contribution of the green movement to the cause of sustainable Development.

Palkhivala underlines that various environmental issues, including deforestation, air and water pollution, and climate change, are invited by human activity. He says that if these problems are not tackled immediately, the results would be terrible for both people and the environment. He also emphasizes the significance of the green movement in advancing environmental preservation and sustainable Development.

Summary

The writer started the article by introducing us to an environmental movement, which was started nearly 25 years before this article was introduced. The Green Movement is a successful step to save the Earth from degradation. It reached its heights and helped to make people aware of the unhealthy situation of the Earth. Many people participated in it and took appropriate initiatives to save the Earth. This movement provided a necessary base structure which further helped to go forward. He said that we earlier used the Earth as a machine that only provides resources. It does not need any care, but now we understand that our Earth needs to be preserved. We should save the Earth from all aspects of the requirements.

Today, this awareness will spread the message that Earth is a living organism that should be respected and saved for future generations so that it can save us and other species from extinction. It has essential needs like afforestation and lower consumption to assimilate waste better and generate new resources. We started to realize our moral responsibilities towards the Earth. The writer said that all human beings are their managers, and we must manage their requirements and balance between the needs of humans and the needs of the Earth.

In 1987, the world commission on Environment and Development released a report that brought the concept of sustainable Development to the front of the world. It defines sustainable Development as fulfilling present needs without compromising the needs of future generations. In other words, it means the economic Development that takes place with the use of resources so that they can be saved for the future generation. This idea spread worldwide and caught everyone's attraction. It significantly spreads awareness among the population regarding the limited number of natural resources replicating daily. Sustainable Development also covered topics such as how to use natural resources better, advancing technology that can further help produce more energy from limited resources and creating a minimal population.

In this article, the writer also discussed a Zoo in Zambia with a notice board placed outside an empty cage. The text on the notice board says, "The world's most dangerous animal is inside the cage." But there was no animal inside the cage. It was all empty. A mirror was placed inside the cage in which everyone could see themselves. It means that the human breed is the most dangerous on this planet. Humans have a potent tool called the Brain. The Brain can inspire a man to make deadly weapons to destroy the complete Earth in a single blast. That is why the writer is describing the human as a dangerous animal. The harmful activities performed by this most dangerous animal include:

1. Deforestation: Cutting down trees on a large scale. It directly destroys the home of the animals, which is the jungle. Deforestation can create an imbalance in the atmosphere, leading to disturbances in natural cycles. For example, the water cycle is directly affected by deforestation and becomes the reason for unseasonable rain and storms. Deforestation also increases the amount of life and property lost by the flood.
2. Poaching: It refers to the illegal hunting of animals for personal purposes, like selling ivory for elephants, tigers' skin, deer's horns, and many more, and that is why humans are referred to as the biggest enemy of the Earth, as most environmental problems are rooted in the human side.

The writer thanked all the agencies, institutions, and parties worldwide which tried or have been trying to save the environment. According to the author, the world's most dangerous animal has now realized the importance of partnership with other species instead of playing the dominating role to an extent. He understood how to live with approximately 1.4 million species, like a family where everyone is treated equally. A hundred million living species exist on this Earth rather than humans, with whom we must kindly share this beautiful planet.

International Commissions Reports

One of the leading international commissions working for the environment was the Brandt Commission. Mr. L.K. Jha was one of its members representing India. This report raised the question "of whether we would give our children an ailing planet with destroyed resources and dry soil. Which we inherited from our forefathers as heaven?"

This statement played a significant role in opening the eyes of several stakeholders who blindly used natural resources without thinking of the planet and future generations.The writer also discussed the book Global Economic Prospect by Mr. Lester R Brown. In this beautiful book, he has explained that the Earth has its four main biological factors-fisheries, forests, grasslands, and croplands. These are the main essential factors on this Earth that decide human existence. Because they provide almost all the raw materials required for the industries, they all provide materials for our daily consumption, such as grains, fruits, and vegetables, and protein-providing sources like fish. Due to the excess demand for fish, the number of fish is declining daily.

Hence, healthy human existence could not be imagined without these factors. Still, unfortunately, it has been noted that these factors are going to deteriorate day by day to several human activities. Some of these activities are the discharge of industrial waste directly into the nearest water sources without treating it properly.Similarly, air pollution is caused by the chimneys having no purifier. If this continued, they would no longer be capable of serving the human needs. Mainly in financially weaker sections, it has been noted that the deforestation rate is very high compared to developed areas. Because poor people do not have enough money to buy fuel to cook food, they cut down trees and use their wood to cook their food; this increases the rate of deforestation in backward areas. As a result, firewood will be much more expensive than food for poor people.

Nani Palkhiwala said that the forest is a habitat for millions of animals, birds, and other living species. But with the cutting of trees, many species have become extinct, and many are facing the fear of extinction. Our paternal legacy of tropical forest is destructing at 40-50 million acres annually. It was estimated that we are losing approximately 1.5-acre land per hour, and we must plant five times more trees than before to fight or deal with environmental problems and fulfill our needs. According to Article 48A of the Indian constitution, it is said that the state should take appropriate measures to protect and improve the environment and wildlife of the country. But these types of articles and laws are only for name's sake.

Strict rules and regulations are absent in the country, and one cannot follow them. Punishment for not obeying these rules and regulations is also absent. It is very shameful that one is not punished for breaking laws. Even laws need to be adequately enforced in India. The authorities must be more careful and act immediately to combat the situation. Parliament estimates committee presented a report regarding the area covered under forests. It signifies that the forest depletion rate in India showed a steep height and noted a continuous decline in areas covered by forests had been noted. For forty years, we have been losing our forests at a very high rate of 3.7 million acres annually. According to government statistics, even the area displayed or presented as a forest has been utterly barren for many years. After a graceful study and photography from the satellite, the UN (United Nations) has noted great destruction of the environment. Concluding from an investigation, the United Nations has warned many countries of a severe upcoming threat to the environment or regular destruction of the environment.

Population as Concern

The author said that the increasing rate of the world population would become the reason for exploiting the whole human race. The writer mentioned a steep increment in the population. The data reads that the human population reached the first billion in the first one million years. At present, in the twenty-first century, the population is extended up to 5.7 billion all over the world. It means that after every four days, the population increased by one million. The author claims that as education and general awareness regarding health increases among people, proportionally, fertility decreases, which is directly related to the population factor because people become aware of health hazards and hence intend to remain healthy and fit.

This increasing rate of population growth work as a hindrance and obstacle in the development path of the economy of the countries. The fertility rate is higher in backward areas than in developed areas. This is because of the need for more general awareness among low-income people. The poor section thinks their children will help them in their old age and that they are the only source of food and water during difficult times. But they need to understand that this will increase the rate of unemployed population because of the presence of limited resources. The government must take strict steps and actions to organize better family planning. Otherwise, it would provide stairs for poverty to reach heights that can brutally affect the country's economy. In the year 1994, the population of India was 920 million, which was significantly more significant than the sum of the populations of large continents like Africa and South America. India would remain undeveloped until population control is given the required preference among several difficulties faced by the Indian economy. It would no longer be able to fulfill the food requirements of the Indian population. Even today, the population concern needs to be taken seriously and transferred from generation to generation with time.

The writer said that the environmental problems would surely not take us to our end, but they would serve us an unhealthy environment in which we would only survive and not live with enough resources. In the emerging era, the generation is going to understand their responsibilities. We should come together to deal with the environmental problems and live better lives. We must follow the 3Rs system: Reduce the waste to the least, Reuse the things that can serve us once again, and recycle the waste to reuse it to confirm our existence for longer intervals of time.

It has been noted that industries must play a significant role in saving the Earth. Because they overuse the main four biological components of the Earth, so, it must reduce their resource consumption and compromise in some fields. They should play a prominent role because they ruin air, soil, and water quality by directly dumping toxic waste into fertile land, fresh rivers, and open air.

Mr. Edger S Woolard was an environment lover and CEO of a company. He was so conscious of the degradation of the environment and its components (atmosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere). He declared himself to be a "Chief Environment Officer." He said that if we are required to fulfill our needs, we should first try to improve the environment because it provides all resources. One must care for the tree by watering its roots to get sweet fruits. Then only we can get fruits. Here, fruit refers to the natural resources, and the tree represents the environment. The writer also told us about the first female prime minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher, who gave us the golden words. "No generation has a freehold on this earth; all we have is a life tenancy- with a full repairing lease."

Conclusion

A statement by Mr. Lester R Brown is very famous. It states, "We have not inherited this earth from our forefathers; we have borrowed it from our children." In short, this statement means that we must sustainably use natural resources to fulfill today's needs without compromising the future's needs and harming the environment.