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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT Ql MODERNISATION
130
which characterises the age we are living in. The environ-
mental crisis reached its present dimensions through the
centuries but the last five decades saw a tremendous quick-
ening of pace. The more advanced the technology more devas-
tating its impact on our environment. Since advanced
technology only helped in accelerating the pace of
destruction and depletion of the precious natural resources.
-
It increased the human capacity to exploit its environs.
With the result that both technology and limited resources
have reached the point of vertical explosion. Growing
energy crisis proves the point rather effectively. Succes-
sive improvement in technique has only resulted in disap-
, pearance of precious mineral and other natural resources.
In retrospect, however, one realises that what seemed like a
triumphal march of technology in great measure have been but
succession of human disasters. Be it the deadly smog in
London that took several lives, or a leak in the Union Oil's
Platform "A" in California which turned the picture postcard
beach of Santa Barbara into a seething swamp, a vile viscous
horror. The thought of Chernobyl is still fresh in our
memories. Nearer home Bhopal still sends shivers down one's
spine. The air we breath is polluted, so is the water we
drink. Our sacred rivers no longer give us the message of
life. Many of them are,no more than mere cess pits. The
deluge of chemical pollution from radioactive wastes to
industrial effluents to domestic wastes, wastes from hospi-
tal and wastes from laboratories have all combined to render
a vast tract of planet Earth unlivable.
131
the contemporary environmental crisis. But now nature is
retaliating in all its fury if only to force us to pause and
ponder over what we have done to our life support systems,
in our arrogance to reach out for the limitless ambition for
growth. Is there no limit to growth?
132
scientific community. The wanton and reckless plundering of
nature has upset the delicate harmony between man and na-
ture. The throw-away society has turned the atmosphere into
a dump for volatile wastes. The industrialisation that has
made life in much of the developed countries comfortable has
also sent gargantuan amounts of pollution into the atmos-
phere. Scientists ~.,a.rn us that the civilisation might be on
the threshold of a new glacial era. Even one degree of
warming is sufficient to cause major biological reverses in
the 21st century. Many scientists predict that if emission
continue to rise at their present rate the earth's tempera-
tures will on an average have increased by between 1.5°C and
4.5°C by the year 2030. Even this increase of 1.5° will be
greater than any temperature change felt during the last
10,000 years. These climatic changes may affect agriculture
severely and cause mass extinction of different species.
The scientific consensus is that we can expect significant
amounts of extra carbon dioxide to be released into the
atmosphere in future, as plants and micro-organisms change
their behaviour in reaction to warmer temperature.
133
coastal areas and ~ities. Coastal areas such as New Or-
leans,. Miami in U.S. and Shanghai in China, face grave risk.
An estimated one-third of the world's population .lives
within 60 km of a coastal line. Century's worst hot spells
have occurred during the eighties -- 1980, 1981, 1983 and
1988. Most of the 1980s ecological misery are believed to
have resulted from t~e "Greenhouse effect", caused by indus-
trial and other pollution that traps heat in the lower
atmosphere that affects the climate.
134
ly rapid destruction of ozone that has been taking place
over Antarctica. Therefore, the future may be worse than
predicted. 1
135
radiation. Both pl.ant and animal plankton are damaged by
UV-radiation even at current levels. As plankton make up
the base of the marine food chain, changes in their number
and species composition wil influence fish and shellfish
production worldwide. _These kinds of losses will have a
direct impact on the food supply. 3
3. ~-
4. Ibid.
136
the ages. According to environmental experts the earth has,
on an average, irretrievably lost 12 millions hectares of
rain forests every year since 1980. The felling of trees
that yield rains at this terrific pace spells disaster for
biological survival and hence must be a matter of grave
concern for everyone.
137
that are mainly responsible for the tragedy of rainforest
destruction."6
6. IQig.
7. Ibid., pp.26-27.
8. Ibid., p.29.
138
forests are threatened by large scale felling of trees by
small farmers and settlers. Conservationists are warning
that unless new agriculture and forestry techniques are
encouraged, the assault on the world's largest rainforest
could become even more serious.
9. Ibid. I p. 44 .
139
established in Amazonia before 1978. 10
140
. river Columbia in the United States. Salmon cannot spawn in
the river any longer as the lower portion of the river has
been dammed.
142
warming. It is a by-product of the technologies developed
in the wake of Industrial Revolution. Continued industrial
development further aggravated the problem. Greenhouse
effects is clearly the legacy inherited from accumulated
impact of reckless industrialisation and a race towards more
and better creature comforts.
143
and Weser. "Some are said to be 'biologically dead'. The
pollutants chiefly are foul 'cocktail' of raw human sewage,
dangerous chemical effluents, coal spoil and ash from power
stations they do not behave in neatly-contained ways. Toxic
metals such as mercury and lead are still being put there.
This threatenes to create problems for food chains and for
animals for years t~ come. They do not 'break-down' and
disperse' as was once fondly supposed. Many remain in sus-
pension. They clog the little ocean shared by eight coun-
tries to an extent which scientists be~ieve has already
exceeded its capacity for absorption." 12
144
water, and make their way through food chains." 13
145
in Seattle smog blights a crystal-clear skyline, in Phoenix
traffic jams are becoming a way of life, in Tucson gangs
have taken over the streets and in San Diego overdevelopment
invades the desert.
16. "The Urban Crisis", Time, USA, June 10, 1991, pp.31-33.
147
The subject of pollution was taboo under the communist
governments. Heavy industries and enormous factory farms
operated to meet five year production plans with scant
regard for the pollution control laws of the countries.
Statistics oh environmental pollution were regarded as state
secrets. But with t~e fall of the communist regimes in the
East European countries alarming facts about the havoc
caused to ecology and environment caused by rapid industri-
alisation are .coming to light.
149
pressure group -- 'Ecoglasnost'. There is pollution of the
atmosphere in the main cities, of rivers and sea caused by
industrial and agricultural waste. One third of her forests
are believed to have been damaged by acid rain.
151
In India alone it is reported that nearly 70 per cent of the
available potable water is polluted. Over 73 million work
days are lost annually due to water borne diseases. With
the refuse of urbanisation and industrialisation the nations
poison their rivers. The threat of water famine looms
large. Washington based Worldwalch Institute, warns that
'water scarcity may be to the nineties what the oil price
shocks were to the seventies' -- a source of international-
conflict and major shifts in national economies. The study
further said, "Water scarcity will affect everything from
prospects of peace in West Asia to global food security, the
growth of cities and the dislocation of industries." 1 9
152
resource but few seem to agree on how to sustainably utilise
it.
154
once a unique ecosystem supporting a wide variety of estuar-
ian animal life. A vast tract of the wetlands in Kuttanad
were reclaimed for paddy. The region is an intricate network
of rivers, canals and lakes with extensive polders and
thickly populated villages. But today the region is in deep
trouble because of severe degradation of the acquatic envi-
•
ronment due to human interference, the consequent depletion
in fisheries resources, health hazards due to unscientific
use of agrochemicals. About 20,000 tonnes of fertilizers
and 500 tonnes of highly toxic pesticides are used in the
region's 55,000 hectares of paddy fields. A considerable
portion of th~s enters the water bodies when the fields are
dewatered at the time of the launching of each crop.
155
International Water Tribunal calls this "one of the most
serious cases of pollution in all of South America". 23
157
has estimated that by the year 2000 a fourth of the world's
water supply could be unsafe for drinking. The Environmen-
tal Protection Agency estimates that in the United States
alone 1.5 trillion gallons of hazardous waste leak into the
underground water system each year. A third of the water in
China's major rivers is polluted beyond safe limits for
human consumption says Worldwatch Institute. 70 per cent of
India's drinking water is polluted and is the cause of much
of the country's illness. Similar is the story of other
countries of the Third World. A fate that is even shared by
the countries of the erstwhile.Soviet Bloc where the demand
for water is far more than can be supplied. South America
faces a similar crisis. New York Times reports that the
ground water and its contaminants represent a potential time
bomb, slowly ticking away. 25 And so it goes. Poisoned
waters percolating through the earth, rushing through its
rivers, meandering down its streams cascading over its
falls, while a great portion of mankind inevitably drinks to
its death. Truly, a time bomb of man's own making.
158
disaster gives the town an eerie look. 27
160
a breeder reactor, generating more energy while producing
even more plutonium.
162
technology. 28
163
been damaged, fresh water, lakes, reservoirs, rivers
springs, wells, sub-soils, and sea shores have been acid-
fied. It has resulted in respiratory problems in humans and
poisoning of wildlife. Many architectural heritage in the
world are threatened by the corrosive impact of the acid
rains.
164
ously, the traditional know-how about native species and
appropriate agricultural practices is rapidly dying with the
old farmers, a generation on its way out. 30
30. Ibid.
166
electronics and steel amongst them. Food being used as
diplomatic weapon against the countries of the third world
by the West is too well known. To avoid being caught in
this situation increasing the level of food production
became a matter of great concern for the Japanese Govern-
ment. With the result that "Cultivation, use of chemicals,
weeding by tillage or herbicides have caused the farmers
nightmares for countless generations"3 1 not to speak of the
harmful impact of several of these pesticides finding their
way into the food chain and other farm products rendering
them unfit for human and animal consumption.
167
Today's environmental trends are a consequence of the
20th century exponential rate coupled with reckless
industrialisation. The world's population is estimated to
be growing at the rate of 3 per cent per second. The
increasing numbers are eating away at the earth itself.
"Small wonder tha~ pollution and waste generation are
occurring on a vast and unprecedented s-cale and that human
demands on biological systems now consume an estimated 40
p~r cent of the world's total terrestrial photosynthetic
productivity. For the first time, human impacts have
reached a magnitude that approximate that of the natural
processes that control the global life support systems." 35
169