Are We Really Humane?

Ever since humans came into existence they have consumed natural resources. Now with over 7.7 billion people living on this planet the resources are being consumed at an alarming rate. If the consumption curve continues at this rate, the pressing question arises: For how much longer can mother earth support humanity’s eternal greed? We are using up fossil fuels, land, water and various other resources at a fatal rate. We have literally destroyed everything we consume on a large scale. We have polluted the land, air and water to unimaginable levels. Due to such a large population it has become very hard for mother earth to support our ever growing needs. The problem with humans is that we are never satisfied with whatever we have, we always want more and more. The greed has led to the downfall of our beautiful home. Due to our growing greeds and demands, the forest cover is depleting which not only affects us but also the the wildlife.

Understandably we use wood for various products. Using resources is not the problem. The real problem is the fact that we are not doing anything to compensate for the loss of natural resources that take place when we consume them. We fail to realise how important trees are for our survival. We go on cutting them down without understanding that if we don’t plant trees now, we will soon have a day when there is no life on this planet. Earth will become like any other planet : void of human existence . Cutting down forests causes the animals to lose their shelter and source of food. When they come to villages and cities looking for food and a place to rest, we insensitively kill them. Due to cutting down of trees, there is an acute shortage of rainfall which leads to droughts and water shortage. The amount of clean drinking water available is really low and in many countries people don’t have the water supply to quench their thirst let alone fulfil other needs. Ironically in some other countries people take water for granted by spending it lavishly on festivals and celebrations as they haven’t seen the difficulties of water crisis. Water is a commodity essential to the survival of life on Earth. Rivers and lakes are drying and the amount of clean drinking water is reducing day by day. We can all help in making the situation better by being conscious about our water consumption and utilisation and try to improve it and reduce usage in the areas where it isn't required.

Humans have also been terribly cruel to animals. They are the purest souls on the planet and we treat them like a resource too. We treat them harshly to satisfy our needs. We fail to understand that they too have emotions, soul, feelings and a life. From a historical standpoint the earth belongs to them. We came here after them and took over and ever since then depletion of earths health began. Due to our ignorance we have made the home of animals hell for them. We polluted the oceans which reduced the light permeability in the water and caused gaseous imbalance which hurts the respiratory system of the marine animals. On land we dump the garbage openly in various places. Animals unfortunately can't discriminate between edible substancesand non edible substances and accidentally eat plastic which is a major cause for their death. By releasing various harmful gases(green house gases) in the atmosphere along with the lack of trees we have not only risked our own health but also that of all life forms on the earth. We are responsible for terrible effects like global warming and intense climate change. If we don’t act soon then the end isn't very far away. We can all help by playing a role as simple as planting a tree and looking after it. Each one, plant one.

What is done is done, however, it isn’t too late to fix things. The fate of mother Earth is in the hands of people and the question that arises is, how serious are we about global issues? As of now earth is dying but she can still be saved. It’s high time we introspect and reflect on ourselves by asking these questions : are we really intelligent ? Are we really worth being called social animals when we are not considerate to anything,(be it living or non living) in our surroundings including other humans? How do we live up to our tag ‘human beings’? The way that we are treating nature and animals do we deserved to be called humane? Earth is still in a repairable state and with unity and collective measures, she can still be saved. Let’s all do our bit in making this world a better place.

Lets all live up to the word ‘human being ’

Aditya Iyer