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Editorial
Like last year, I feel The
Earth Day issue of DA Newsletter belongs to my young team members – the
inheritors of this Earth, to reflect upon what has been going wrong and
what changes they would like to see, as well as bring about to protect
the earth that sustains us.
Kiran Sharma
Vice President, Development Alternatives
ksharma@devalt.org
"In the end, our society will
be defined not only by what we create, but by what we refuse to destroy"
- John Sawhill
Since the first Earth Day in
1970, the concerned citizens across the planet have refused to allow
destruction of our forests, mountains, land, air and water. Undoubtedly,
we have come a long way in terms of environmental awareness since 1970.
What has changed enormously from the 1970s, is the widespread
understanding of and awareness about climate change and the ways in
which it threatens the stability of the earth and its component systems.
The bad news is, polar bears and penguins, are but only, the cutest
things we risk losing. Rising temperatures could lead to increasingly
violent weather events, flooding, droughts, destruction, disease,
migration, political instability and unprecedented loss of life forms,
particularly in developing nations, like ours. The good news is that
this increasingly enhanced understanding has brought with it, action,
albeit it may be argued that it has been grossly inadequate, at various
levels.
The question, then, is what and
how much needs to be done? Is their a panacea for solving the climate
crisis? We, at Development Alternatives, don’t feel so. We don’t think
solar energy or biogas plants, policy makers or city dwellers,
industries or NGOs, can be the solution alone. We believe these are all
small parts of the solution. We need these, but we need much more. We
believe that the complexity of challenges associated with climate change
cannot be dealt with, by any one strategy, one type of intervention, one
campaign, one organisation, one state or one country. We need diverse
efforts in every domain, in every sector, at every level, in as many
places and in as many different ways as we can get. The articles in this
issue are a testimony to this belief of ours. Be it community carbon
assessment in Panchayats, banning plastic in a hill state, integrated
watershed management in semi-arid areas or connecting local civil
society organisations across a state, these are all small pieces in the
solution jigsaw.
We take this opportunity to
thank you for the part you have played, in whichever capacity and at
whatever level, in safeguarding our planet and our future. Because, the
whole is greater than the sum of the parts. q
Avipsa Mahapatra
amahapatra@devalt.org
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