English Class 11 Ch The Ailing planet : the green movement role In Hornbill book

1. THE
AILING
PLANET:
THE GREEN
MOVEMENT
By
Nani Palkhivala

2. GARDEN ELEMENTS
HOLISTIC VIEW
DUTIES
EARTH'S SYSTEM

3. NANI
PALKHIVALA
He was an Indian jurist and liberal economist

4. Reference
This article written
by Nani Palkhivala
appeared in ‘The
Indian Express’ on
24 November
1994.

5. THE GREEN MOVEMENT
• The Green Movement which started nearly twenty-five years ago from 1994 spread so quickly in
world history. The world’s first nationwide Green party was founded in New Zealand in 1972.
• From some time our views have shifted from seeing earth and its resources as irreversible to
complete opposite. We now understand that our resources need to converse for future
generations.
• Copernicus taught mankind how the earth and other planets revolve around the sun and it was
a complete change which evolved human perception.
• Now, the earth is seen as a living organism of which we are an integral part. Earth has its own
metabolism and vital needs which humans should respect and preserve

6. METAPHOR
• Earth is now like a patient whose health is declining.
• We as human beings are now realizing our duty to be good managers of the planet and to be a
responsible trustees to conserve the environment so that we can pass a legacy to the future
generations.
• Sustainable Development was popularized in the year 1987 by the World Commission on
Environment and Development.
• In the reports, Sustainable development is termed as a type of development that meets the needs of
the present generation without wasting or compromising with natural resources so that future
generations can meet their needs.

7. ZOO IN LUSAKA ZAMBIA
• In a cage in a zoo in Lusaka, Zambia there reads a notice- ‘The world’s most dangerous animal’
and inside the cage is a mirror that depicted that humans are the world’s most dangerous
animals.
• With the efforts of new agencies in the world, now humans are the most dangerous animals.
They have realized the importance of shifting to a new system based on partnership.
• Humans share the earth with about 1.4 million living species according to the classification of
scientists.
• Biologists calculate that there are still millions of other species which are yet not classified due
to their weakness or due to lack of knowledge about them.

8. BRANDT REPORT
• Inter Alia – among other things
Scorched – burn the surface with heat of fire
Impoverished – made poor
Ailing – in poor health
• Brandt Commission was one of the early international
commissions who dealt with questions of ecology and
environment. They commissioned Mr. L.K. Jha as one of
their commission members who was an Indian citizen. Its
first report raised a question that are we going to leave a
burned planet with aided deserts, poor landscapes and a
poor environment for our future generations?

9. VIEWS OF Mr. R LESTER BROWN
• There are four principal biological systems that form the foundation of the global economic
system according to the book by Leslie R. Brown ‘The Global Economic Prospect’ – fisheries,
grasslands, forests, and croplands.
• These four systems provide food and raw materials for industry except for minerals and
synthetics. These systems have reached an unsustainable point where their productivity has
impaired. With this, fisheries will collapse, the forest will slowly disappear, grasslands will turn
into barren wastelands and croplands will become worse.
• Overfishing is very common nowadays where people are becoming protein-conscious. In poor
countries, forests are being cut down on a large scale to obtain wood for cooking. In some
areas, firewood is more costly than food. Many species are under destruction in tropical forests.

10. • Forests and deserts come first in order in comparison to humans. The ancient inheritance of
tropical forests is constantly wearing away at the rate of forty to fifty million acres a year.
• Also, the burning of dung is preventing the soil to become natural fertilizer. To meet the need
for fuelwood demand, there is a need to increase the rate of forest plantation by fivefold by the
year 2020.
• We are losing the forests closer to an acre-and-a-half to a second according to James Speth,
President of the World Resources Institute.

11. ARTICLE 48A
• According to Article 48A of the Constitution of India, the state should try to protect and improve
the environment and must protect the forest and wildlife of the country. But the painful fact is
that laws are not followed in India, for example – casteism, untouchability and bonded labor.
They are abolished but still are followed shamelessly. Over the last four decades, India is losing
forests at a harmful rate of 3.7 million acres a year as per the report of Parliament’s Estimates
Committee. The large area of forestland is now treeless, and the actual loss is estimated to be
eight times the rate given by government statistics.

12. 4 BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
FISHERIES
GRASSLANDS
FORESTS
CROPLANDS

13. POPULATION
• Development is the best possible solution for overpopulation. It can help in reduction in
fertility and rise in income, to spread more education, and improvement in health. But if the
number of population will keep increasing, it may not help in attaining any kind of
development.
• As the rich get richer, the poor births children who are bound to remain poorer. More
population will lead to more unemployment.
• Humans should not be treated like cattle who are sterilized by force. But to control
population some element of force has to be put on for family planning. Now, humans have to
choose between population control and keeping up with poverty.

14. ERA OF RESPONSIBILITY
• In the era of responsibility towards the environment, industry plays an important role.
Chairman of Du Pont, Mr. Woolard declared himself as ‘Chief Environmental Officer’ and such
attitude in other businessmen can have a great effect on the transformation.
• When Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister, her one statement which was so well
chosen, she said that no human on this earth holds a permanent tenure, we all have life
possession and a full repairing lease. According to Mr. Lester Brown, we have borrowed the
earth from our children.

15. THANK YOU
APRAJITA