Environmental awareness and role of technocrats

“In the end, we conserve only what we love, we will love only what we will understand and we will understand only what we are taught” -- Baba Dioum

Recently, I have read a news item anticipating the establishment of four Hi-Tech cities in the outskirts of the Aligarh city. These establishments will be done with the aims of reducing the size of the crowd in the city and of providing employment to people living in the nearby villages. Though for a noble cause but such projects tend to exploit huge amount of resources. And, the exploitation of resources at such a large scale results in the environmental instability. Definitely a detailed plan needs to be formulated such that the resources can be used optimally, now and again.

There have been instances in the past where mankind has not thought about future impacts of its actions. We face with problems such as the lowering of water table, reduction in the rainfall, increase in the size of ozone-hole, global warming etc. Though these problems are being faced today but their causative actions have been performed in the past viz. deforestation, fast paced technological advancements. Still, we are not learning from our mistakes.

Today, as we move forward with the aim of making world a better and comfortable place to live in, there is a need to put a check at our every action. We need to observe and attend to every factor closely e.g. climate of the place, water table, rainfall, wind etc. There is a need to make people aware of these factors and to develop a general idea, the idea that how to use each resource optimally. Also, there is a need of reducing the amount of usage currently. There is a need of self-realisation. There is a need to think about the impact of an action on the society and environment before committing it.

There are various groups – government and private – which work to make people aware of various minute details that can help in the environmental protection. Also, various research institutes spend a huge sum of money to develop technologies which will help in the cause. E.g. Evolution of hybrid cells and hydrogen cells which help in minimizing pollution through automobiles. The corporate sector has accepted it as its social responsibility to work towards preservation of the environment. In lieu of which, they are awarded quality certificates and rebates on various deals.

Today, most of the people think about the environment before they act. A few change the way they plan to do. Finally, very few do it. It is about time, we all do.