Consume with Care ! World Environment Day 2015

Tomorrow the 5^th of June is World Environment Day; (WED); another ‘day’ in a series of days, World Biodiversity day 22^nd May, Earth Day 22^nd April, just to name a few. In the clutter of ‘days’, the message gets blurred, however that’s just what the United Nations (UN) wishes to deflect and through the auspices of United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) attempts to bring into sharp focus the attention and care our planet deserves. The WED theme this year is "Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care."

The well-being of the environment ultimately depends upon the responsible management of our planet’s natural resources that sustains the functioning of humanity. Unfortunately humanity is consuming far more natural resources than what our planet can sustainably provide. Consequently, the WED theme includes a note of caution: ‘Consume with Care’.

Living sustainably is about doing more and better with less, it's about realizing rising consumption of natural resource has unforeseen impacts on our environment. Many of the Earth’s ecosystems are at critical points of depletion or irreversible change, pushed by an agenda of high economic growth and development with increased population pressure on land. The Brundtland Report of 1987 articulated what is now one of the most widely recognized definitions of sustainable development, as “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

India finds itself at the cusp of development, on the one hand is the need to grow rapidly, on the other hand the need to conserve and protect our natural resource heritage for future generations. Jairam Ramesh in his book 'Green Signals' encapsulates the reasons why we cannot follow the 'grow now, pay later' approach. As we continue to relentlessly pursue 'development', air and water pollution is beginning to have serious health impacts, climate change is a stark reality, with extreme and freak weather incidents on the rise, pristine biodiversity and ecosystems are under the risk of being lost forever. Our disadvantaged sections of society that draw upon forests or coastal zones as means of livelihood need to be protected, and the water reservoir of the world the ‘Himalayas’ need to be handled with extreme care.

This Environment Day join me in pledging: 'We Will Consume with Care'