“The Earth will not continue to offer its harvest, except with faithful stewardship. We cannot say we love the land and then take steps to destroy it for use by future generations.”
—John Paul II
We live in Earth planet. And we know that without trees, plants, water,etc we can’t make it. We all know how a life would look if there aren’t trees, plants animals etc . They are the ones that make the planet a living place.
Environment includes all living and non-living objects. We live in the environment and use the environmental resources like air, land and water to meet our needs. Development also means meeting the needs of the people. While meeting the ever-growing needs, we put pressure on the environment. When the pressure exceeds the carrying capacity of the environment to repair or replace itself, it creates a serious problem of environmental degradation. If we use any environmental resource such as ground water beyond its limit of replacement, we may lose it forever. Therefore, there is a need to create ‘awareness’ about Environmental protection. While efforts are being made at the national and international level to protect our environment, it is also the responsibility of every citizen to use our environmental resources with care and protect them from degradation.
In the past two decades, environment has attracted the attention of decision makers, scientists and even laymen in many parts of the world. They are becoming increasingly conscious of issues such as famines, droughts, floods, scarcity of fuel, firewood and fodder, pollution of air and water, problems of hazardous chemicals and radiation, depletion of natural resources, extinction of wildlife and dangers to flora and fauna. People are now aware of the need to protect the natural environmental resources of air, water, soil and plant life that constitute the natural capital on which man depends.
The environmental issues are important because the absence of their solutions is more horrible. Unless environmental issues are not solved or not taken care of the coming generations may find earth worth not living. The need of the planet and the needs of the person have become one. There is no denying the fact that environment has to be protected and conserved so to make future life possible. Indeed, man’s needs are increasing and accordingly the environment is also being altered, indeed, nature’s capacity is too accommodating and too regenerative yet there is a limit to nature’s capacity, especially when pressure of exploding population and technology keep mounting. What is required is the sustenance, conservation and improvement of the changing and fragile environment.
The growing awareness about environmental protection has resulted in new measures across the world. The late Prime minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi was the only Head of Government, attending the 1972 Stockholm conference, which was called the “U.N. Conference on Human environment”. The Rio Conference 20 years later was called the “U.N. Conference on Environment and Development”.
Environmental Awareness 