April 22 is Earth Day. On this day, I hope all of us can take a few moments from our busy lives to think about the health of Mother Earth. Mother Earth is sick.
The Eart is the only planet with conditions to sustain human life. The future of humanity depends upon the preservation of a healthy biosphere, with all its ecological systems, a rich variety of plants and animals, fertile soil, drinkable waters and breathable air. The protection of the Earth's vitality, diversity and beauty is our shared obligation.
Sadly, we have failed to live up to our obligation. For the past 200 years, since the beginning of Industrial Revolution, the world has evolved patterns of production and consumption which have caused environmental devastation, the depletion of natural resources and led to the extinction of species.
The increasing demand for and the use of fossil fuels, coal, oil and gas, to generate electricity, power vehicles and operate plants and machineries is touted as the biggest threat. The burning of fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide, about half of which is absorbed by the atmosphere. This causes glocal warming which in turn leads to Earth's climate change.
There is now nar universal consensus that humanity are faced with the very real prospect of ecological disaster if we do not drastically reduce our emission of CO2 and find ways to reduce our dependent on fossil fuels.
The battle against global warming and climate change cannot be won by the actions of the Governments and businesses alone. Every individual human being must be aware of the dire straits and be infulenced by the urgency of the problem and we must be prepared to make sacrifices and adjustments to our lifestyles, our values and our attitude towards nature and Mother Earth.
For a start, we can aspire to lead simple lives rather than lives of conspicious consumption. When we make purchases, we can look for ebvironmentally certified products. Most of all, we need to learn to love Mother Earth and do our little part to help restore the balance between the human enterprise and the natural world.
