Key Points - The Ailing Planet: The Green Movement’s Role

The Ailing Planet: The Green Movement’s Role
­ Nani Palkhivala

This article written by Nani Palkhivala appeared in ‘The Indian Express’ on 24 November 1994.
It focuses on the deteriorating condition of the earth because of man’s growing lust to exploit all the natural resources. The earth has been turned in to a barren land. The Green movement is the only answer to solve many problems.
The entire human race is involved in the Green Movement which was started in 1972. There has been an irrevocable shift from the mechanistic view to a holistic and ecological view of the world. There is a growing worldwide consciousness that the earth itself is living organism ­ an enormous being of which we are parts. But its vital signs reveal a patient in declining health. The efforts of the environmentalists have gone futile.
The immediate need is to promote the concept of sustainable development’ as mooted by the world commission on Environment and Development in 1987. The author feels that it is a matter of relief that the people have now started thinking of saving the planet by thinking of development as a means to control population, the mother of all problems.