There is a story told of a mother who gives her children food, shelter and nurture; the best of all she has, only to have them later ignore or ill treat her for the most part. After a period of ignorance, they become aware of what they are doing, but don’t stop. Instead, they decide to set aside one day a year to honour her, as if somehow that will erase the harm they have done.
The mother begins to ail and as she does, her children also suffer. Some begin to change their damaging behaviours. Unfortunately, they are unable to do this quickly enough and fail to persuade their brothers and sisters to do likewise. As fiction, this story makes gruesome reading and it does not have a happy ending. It is fact.
On April 22, Saturday last, for the 53rd year, the world celebrated Earth Day. Even before its first observance, people had been protesting against the damage being done to the environment by indiscriminate decimation of forests, oil extraction and spills, dumping of sewage and toxic waste, pollution from the mining industry, burning of coal, and the overuse and misuse of pesticides to name a few ills. They had witnessed how, apart from affecting human life, these actions were causing massive loss of flora and the extinction of some species of wildlife.
From then to now, environmental awareness has risen one hundred fold. Yet, this is not backed by the behaviour change necessary to halt the destruction, let alone turn things around. In fact, with greed exceeding common sense, much of the actions mentioned above that have been protested against for more than half a century have been rampaging on. In some cases, they have increased, rather than decreased or have been replaced by worse undertakings.
Among them is plastic pollution, which reached epidemic proportions both on land and in the oceans before any attempt was made to address it. Sadly, moves to end the use of single-use plastics – the biggest culprits – have been almost desultory in face of the horrific evidence that everything possible needs to be done. The convenience of throw-away plastic products, it seems, eclipses what the world really needs.
Instead, as the planet heats up – record high temperatures are expected this year and next year, scientists say – the corporations that have and continue to inflict the worst damage seek every possible way around taking the actions that are necessary. Among the cop-outs used is today’s on-trend carbon offsetting through which polluting companies or countries may purchase carbon credits to offset the greenhouse gases they emit. The money should then be used to fund actions that remove the carbon the country or company is emitting. In some instances it is earmarked for planting trees or protecting them from being cut down. Unfortunately, this does not always happen. Carbon credit scams and shams are everywhere.
Furthermore, it is a misnomer that newly planted trees can contribute to carbon sequestration. Scientists have long informed us that it can take as much as 20 years for a tree to actually capture carbon. In the meantime, the polluting company goes about its business as usual, adding to the problem, when in fact it ought to be doing all it can to reduce its emissions. It must also be noted here that no company to date has gone the route of attempting to offset past carbon emissions. Yet, they are quick to declare themselves carbon neutral, having spent a mere fraction of the huge profits they are making while choking the earth. This spells vicious circle, not carbon neutrality.
Earth Day, unfortunately, has become rife with hypocrisy. The biggest polluters tended to want to be seen doing the most. However, photo-ops of tree planting and trash collection have become so overdone they are now passé; many no longer bother with them. Because they can, they now boast about the good they are doing with their carbon credits’ programmes, even as they exploit the land and seas for more fossil fuels.
For those who are fully committed, Earth Day is every day. Unfortunately, the effects of climate change do not only affect those who have caused it. The heatwaves, droughts, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes and other extreme weather conditions that are a direct result of it, will in the end hurt everyone. Posterity is doomed by those who only live for today.
