By HH Mohrmen
The World Environment Day (WED) celebration passed off rather quietly this year due to the pandemic which has affected the entire globe. There was no festival like celebration and even in Meghalaya it was a low-key affair because no public gathering was allowed. The Government observed the day with the Chief Minister planting a tree at the State Secretariat with no lecture and the absence of the usual pomp and festivity.
If not for the pandemic there would have been mega events to celebrate the day. The planning and execution of the event would have cost a lot of money and hundreds of vehicles used to ferry people which only helps increase carbon footprints in the state. All along WED celebration used to be a time for the ruling dispensation to declare their love for nature and make public their plans to conserve the environment, which is conveniently forgotten after the lunch is served. In Meghalaya, last year it was the one million trees campaign which the people of the state have (not surprisingly) forgotten about altogether. No one asked where the one million trees were planted and how many survived? Or is there any plan to replace those which have not survived? But nature in its own way has responded to how humans have treated mother earth.
The vanishing vehicular and industrial pollution due to COVID-19 pandemic has shown that the Lockdown has improved the condition of the earth’s atmosphere without any intervention from humans. The pandemic has demonstrated one very important fact – that nature has the power to heal itself, if we only stop our harmful activities and leave it alone to itself. We have witnessed with our own eyes that when people of the earth leave nature to itself in three months time, it quickly restores itself. The Lockdown has not only helped clean the air in the atmosphere but it is claimed that even the size of the hole in the ozone layer is reduced due to the positive impact of the Lockdown on the planet.
Obviously humans and their destructive activities are the root cause of all the problems we see in the world today. And by simply staying put and doing nothing, humans have inadvertently helped heal the earth. Humans must therefore understand that if we are the cause of all that is wrong with the earth we live in, we should also be the solution to the problem. But the question as usual is how can humans help heal the world again? The outcome of COVID-19 Lockdown with regards to the environment has given us hope and we can help change the course towards which the earth is heading and it is not beyond our reach to save the earth.
The pandemic has taught us another very important lesson which is that the work to protect and help conserve the environment is also at the individual capacity. How effective have the functions and celebrations that were organised from time to time been in protecting the environment? That we don’t know! Again if one is to consider from what had happened in the state during the Lockdown, then Meghalaya still has a long way to go especially with regards to protection of wild life. While on one hand the quality of the water in the rivers and streams has improved and at the same time the quality of the air too has improved, in Meghalaya there was rampant killing of wild life in the during the lockdown.
Deer was hunted and killed and even a bear which is in the list of endangered species of animals was killed by some people in the state. A video of certain public representative went viral in which he along with his friends were alleged to have violated Lockdown orders, but it seems like they are also involved in mass killing of fishes in the stream of certain rivers. The party was involved in dewatering the entire stream and killing of aquatic lives which includes a turtle in the stream. And of course this act is also a threat to the biodiversity that exists in the water of the creek. Obviously the State WildLife Department needs to work harder to educate the people of the State and make them aware of the need to protect wildlife. If the people, including a public representative are still engaged in activity which is against the Wild Life Act, then Meghalaya state still has a long way to go to protect its wildlife and biodiversity.
Another important lesson that one can learn from the pandemic is that despite all the negativity that is going around, there is a glimmer of light which gives people hope. There is hope beyond despair and like the saying goes, it is hope which helps people carry on a move forward with whatever they are doing in spite of all the odds stacked against them. It is not all over yet and like the proverbial phoenix people will rise again from the ashes of the pandemic and restart their lives, but life will not be the same again after this lockdown.
The hope is that in the new normal that COVID-19 pandemic will usher in, people will also start living a life which is favourable for the environment and the earth, the only place humans can call home. The new normal is simple because it involves going back to basics which means changing our attitudes in the way we treat the environment. It is simple because this is something that the kids should learn from Kindergarten. These are lessons that should be inculcated in young minds at the same time as they learn their ABC and 123.
The Khasi and the Pnar are known for being able to maintain their houses and surrounding clean but it ends there. The lesson that needs to be instilled in the young minds is to learn to clean not only one’s house and backyard, but as much as we try to keep our houses clean, we also need to keep the roads and public spaces clean. More often than not it is found that people in their effort to clean their own houses and backyards, end up littering other people’s yards or the public places. The lesson number one post COVID-19 lockdown is to, “Say No Littering.” Keeping the environment clean is a lesson for the young people as much as it is for the elders, and it has to start with oneself and now.
The corona virus which spreads through droplets has also made spitting an offence, therefore, the new normal for people particularly those who are in the habit of spitting at random, is to stop the bad habit immediately. Spitting is now a punishable offence and it invites penalty. People are also in the habit of throwing rubbish from the comfort of their vehicles, as if the road is their waste bin. The new normal is also to enforce the relevant laws which deal with littering and also smoking in public places.
The theme for this year’s WED is it is “Time for Nature.” It is therefore time for the people to spare a thought for nature. Last week after the incessant rains which flooded river Myntdu, the receding waters left plastics hanging like colour paper garlands hanging on shrubs on the banks of the river. The sight is ugly and not a feast for the eyes. This can change by simply not littering everywhere. Simple acts like not littering, not spitting and not smoking in public places may be small, but they can go a long way to help mother earth heal itself. The point is if we cannot do anything to help protect and conserve the environment, the least we can do is to leave nature alone and see magic happening.