DESTRUCTION OF NATURE by Vineet Kumar, Pencil, 1984
A fresco depicting a harmonious balance in nature. Thebes, 1500 B.C.
Hundred varieties of beans.
HUMANS VERSES NATURE
Biological
diversity - the range of life forms on earth - is the base of our
existence. Myriad creatures, little and big, combine into one massive and
intricate eco-system producing oxygen and soil, and recycling water. The
world’s population remains dependent on a variety of plants and animals
for food, medicines, clothes, and shelter as also for cultural and
spiritual and intellectual inspiration.
But
more than our own dependence, the myriad life on earth - perhaps some 30
million different species -have their own right to life. They are as
worthy of respect as humans.
Traditional
societies often recognised that we were one strand in an incredibly
complicated web of life. Their practices were thus tuned to respect
nature. Even agriculture mimicked nature in the diversity of crop and
livestock varieties used. Thus Indian farmers developed, through ingenuity
and experimentation, 50,000 varieties of rice, and practices like the
barnaja, in which several crops, grown together, fulfilled different needs
of the village.
Modern
agriculture, forestry, and habitat management have ignored our humble
place on earth, and, with little understanding of the workings of nature,
have attempted to simplify ecosystems to suit our own greedy convenience.
Thus single species of trees replace natural mixed stands, and single crop
varieties spread over millions of hectares, replace a diverse landscape.
But like a mason building a roof by taking material out of the foundation
and the walls, this is a suicidal course. As our genetic base narrows, and
we become dependent on polluting factories to produce our water and soil
and food, we are realising that somewhere we have made a mistake. And so
the renewed search for diversity, for co-existence with nature, and for
the wisdom that characterised many of our
Ashish
Kothari
