I marveled at the
monsoon, its amazing ways of bringing down heavy showers, which we badly needed
for the various crops on lands. Where do these clouds come from? Where do they
go? My mom explained by pointing to the globe and told us, “At the equator
region the sun is very close to the earth. Due to the extreme heat, the surface
water in the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea gets heated up and the water
vapour from this gets transformed into clouds. This then moves west wards with
the help of the winds. The Kilimanjaro Mountain ranges in Africa stops their
further movement to the west and therefore they reach the Gulf region. The
North-west winds bring them back to Kerala, where the ‘Sahyadri Mountains and
hills’ and their rich flora stop them and with the help of cool breeze it
starts to rain. Some portion of the rain water would be drawn down to the
earth, which forms the underground water and the rest joins to form small
streams and then rivers and reaches the lagoons or Lake, which ultimately
reaches the ocean, the region of its origin.” How correct is the idiom, “Little
drops of water make a mighty ocean.” It is a cyclic movement. If that is so,
the cultural evolution of conserving the whole year’s rainfall in dams breaks
the cyclic movement of water. Isn’t it one of the major reasons for depletion
of icebergs and hills in the Arctic region to replenish the loss?
Kalidasa, a great epic writer of Ramayana, cut the branch
of a tree on which he was sitting. It is considered to be one of the greatest
blunders ever known. What are we doing? The tectonic-plates are the foundation
of the surface of the land mass on the earth where the fauna and flora lives.
The surface of the earth is as significant as air, water, fire and sky or
space, which are essential for the existence of life. Ignoring this, the
government issued licenses for granite mining. These granite miners flagrantly
violate the laws of Mother Nature and this environmental degradation in the
forms of abuse and overuse of nature, and create ecological imbalance. Man
alone among other living beings, has
done damage of gigantic magnitude and diversities on the environment.
Spraying
of poison under the garb of medicine: The
Agriculture Assistant, Grama Sevak,
was a frequent visitor at our house. He appreciated our vegetable garden. One
day when he came, my mom complained about the pests which were a menace in our
vegetable garden. He advised her to spray a medicine on the leaves to get rid
of them. He supplied her with two packets of a particular powder and directed
her to mix it in water and spray it on our vegetation.
When she opened the packet I gazed at the dull yellow
powder had a strong and unpleasant whiff. Her reflex was to cover her nose with
a towel. She mixed the powder in water and sprayed it on our vegetable gardens.
Miraculously, the pests had all disappeared in a day. This medicine namely
D.D.T. was given a warm welcome in many such vegetable gardens which were
infested with pests. After a few years this too became ineffective because the
pests became immune to it. Subsequently
B.H.C was introduced into the market as a pesticide. The result proved to be the same. Years later the media revealed that the
government fraudulently used the agricultural department and its officers to
promote D.D.T. as a medicine although this pesticide was banned in the United
States of America much earlier. By doing so, the government was jeopardizing
the health of the population and was causing serious damage to the environment
as well. It was an unpardonable mistake.
Another banned item, Aluminum phosphate in round tablet
form, was used in ware houses to control pests which badly affect the health of
the people.
After all these calamities it is shameful to note that the
government is again promoting the
spraying of another banned poison,
“Endosulphan” on cashew, tea, coffee and other plantations. The spraying of
“Endosulphan” in certain cashew plantations caused mental abnormalities
to people living in three villages of Kasargod Taluk, in the State of Kerala.
It is a grave mistake.
However, “Firamon trap,” vend by the Krishi Vigyan Kerala and the Central Marine Fisheries Research
Institute jointly at Ernakulam, is very effective; lots of beetles were trapped
and killed and we got lots of nice mangoes during this season.
In comparison to the vastness of the universe, our planet
is very minute. In comparison to the size of earth, the human being too is
minuscule. Beyond his limitations, man tries to create a new order in nature
thinking that he is the Master. He never realizes the fact that his culture is
causing a grave ecological imbalance. Construction of dams and mining of large
quantity of granite in Sahyadri Mountains and hills and spraying poison on
vegetation are blatant examples. This has resulted in deforestation, erosion of
soil, generation of Carbon dioxide, which contributes to the global warming.
The result of these has brought about severe ground-water shortage in the
hills, and floods and famines in the planes. A lot of forest regions were
submerged in the catchment areas of the dams. This resulted in the extinction
of varied flora and fauna. The ancient civilization of Mexico and Peru are
historic examples of the entire civilization becoming extinct with the
destruction of forests.
Human beings have to live in harmony with nature. We should
focus our attention to the urgent need for the conservation of our flora and
fauna and forest wealth, and for the preservation of the environment. The gifts
of nature should be enjoyed; if one tries to control or break the chain of
events it may create a calamity. “Man maligns but nature is benign.”
Excerpts from
MEMOIRS
By
Joseph J. Thayamkeril,
Lawyer, Cochin
josephjthayamkeril@gmail.com memoirs
josephjthayamkeril.blogspot.com
josephjthayamkeril.google.com
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