A lot of essays have been written on love/romance by many youngsters. Conservative Muslims (Sunni) seldom lose any chance of highlighting Islam as best way of life and quotations of Quran to prove it. Nationalist took Luci's challenge quite seriously and wrote about respective nations. Helen fictions full of emotions and suspense are no where near end. Terrorism! Putin! and other sensational news always get due recognization among people especially Setareh. Except romance,religion and nationalism (In which writers have vested interest usually) everything I encountered either did not end conclusively or ended pessimistically. An important aspect, probably most important and need of hour is still eluding the discussion fora of EC is environmental degradation and sustainable development.
Human civilizations survived for thousands of years. There were great empires/civilizations and world wars. Cultures came and became extinct in time memory. Religions flourished, languages developed and then people converted to different religions and languages get modified as well (if not replaced). Nothing is static, looks like everything is dynamic. What begins one day is doomed to die some day.
The invaluable gift of Science and technology is already too much appreciated and I wont repeat it anymore. But I will highlight the level of industrialization that western (developed) counties have. The per capita fuel consumption and CO2 emission they make. Data are available and it reaches 20 times more than developing countries (Ratio of US vs India in CO2 emission). This high level of materialism make them high on GDP numbers. It is reflected in their military strength (when they wage war against terrorism in Af-Pak or Iraq/Syria region)
Great powers come with greater responsibilities. These countries basic philosophy is based on materialism and utilitarianism concepts which seeks organic satisfaction. It is different from East's philosophy of Spritual depth dimensions and "middle path" Buddhist philosophy. Powerful countries take steps on the name of humanitarian grounds but generally its their national interest that is hidden behind them. And in all this what suffers most is Environment and eventually the poor people across the globe.
"There is enough for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed" said Gandhi. He visualized the concept of sustainable development long before Kyoto Protocol and UNFCCC formation or Ozone layer discussions. 8-9 decades down the line there is a hot debate among scientific community regarding whose share of CO2 we all are paying for? What will the possible consequences of this pollution and climate change? And whose responsibility is there to bring down the level? Questions are obvious and debatable. Lets try to search their answers.
The world from which we belong there are numerous challenges in economical, social, political, cultural and environmental arenas. All these coalesce in dominant imperative of alleviation of mass poverty, reckoned in the multiple dimension of livelihood security, health care, education and empowerment of the disadvantaged, and elimination of gender disparities. All the policies makers and government have recognized the need for sustainable development and have formulated necessary strategies to give effect to such recognizations.
This planet belong to everyone. And so we share a common responsibility to saving it from all possible dangers. As underdeveloped (African) and developing (Asia) countries emit nothing in comparison to Europe and US, the share of their responsibilities automatically increases. Probably they do not know that the pollution they make leads to sea level rise and its the maldives that will submerge in water. Its the Bengal that will not be finding its place in map in next few decades.
Yes US too will have problems but given the level of sophisticated technology they will be able to manage it for sure. The point I am trying to make is that if you cant give some one a new life (Maldives, Bengal and all other low lying areas) then please do not take their life as well.
Comments
Estanis I request you to confine our discussion up to global and national level. I am sure that you are a good citizen and every country has people like you. What the topic interest is per capital emission and MNC, Industries, factories, electricity generation etc contribute to it majorly not the individuals. But they are the consumers knowingly or unknowingly.
Recycle, Reuse and Reduce is an idea I support enthusiastically. But on practical grounds it takes time to educate people, to make public opinion and change the culture of the countries. Some times these decision are not economically feasible and other times not politically.
But green technology transfer from developed countries to underdeveloped countries is something that can be done over night. Putting Carbon tax and carbon credit like concepts are not difficult. So what I wanted to get is the low hanging fruit of climate change discussion. We have to have priorities of actions to make a big change palpable in long runs
If you're interested I can let you know the bill I pay every year to have permission to throw my rubbish out or taxes for vehicles. Sorry but you failed to blame on the person to avoid his responsibility.
Perhaps it's not only a matter of reducing co2 emissions but also a birth control.
Dear Estanis, the total population of Europe + US is around 1 billion and which is only 13% of the world and pollution contribution is 36% i.e. 3 times. The total population of Asia is 60% of the world. And % pollution around 40%, i.e 0.66 times. In per capita terms US and Europe emit almost 6 times of Asia. And still you want to disagree then continue to shrug off from responsibility and fall in blame game.
PS there are moderate countries in EUROPE (like eastern eupore) and there are rich countries in Asia (like Japan). My division is broad and rich and poor are to be treated alike in all countries. The responsibility should be divided according to their per capita emmision of individual countries.
Dear Traveler, first thank you for your amazing post especially because you mentioned my name. :D
I am kidding, although i didn't get your point clearly. It is great due to its great message. Whenever someone talks about environment it reminds me of a great documentary"HOME" that is about earth. This documentary mentioned that the majority of people who are suffering from for instance of global warming have nothing to do with causes. Indeed you are right the more power you get the more responsible you become.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l93jwj5ghKk/T8OBz86HIJI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/7KCQk...
Btw, I love Gandhi's quote :)
Cant agree with you more Batuhan. Even I think that we should not mix the concept of nationalities and climate change here. But we should also acknowledge that there are certain people residing in certain countries who are polluting more than many of their palnetmen and because they are rich they should contribute more to this upcoming problem.
All I am saying is that the need of hour is not making NATO and saving the world from......I do not know what is its purpose (After collapse of USSR). Better do something good for humanity (Because you can do at this stage and others cant) for youself. Accept the truth that developed industrialized first. They used the coal and petroleum most (they are still using). And as its a global phenomenon so everyone is going to suffer because of your (developed/industrialized world) GDP. Those who are going to suffer will be from Island countries.. will be the poor who cant afford cancer treatment (Cancer due to Ozone depletion).
Its not a national issue. Its a issue of moral responsibility of individual and civilization. Its an issue of humanity and how the future generation will look at you. Just think over it Luci :D
Luci when ever we write such blogs its not an individual person or a family that we talk about. We talk about a collective emission. You cant separate yourself from the total emission made by your society. And not all European countries pollute in same quantity. Its about those countries which are already economic power. The countries that can afford to turn towards green energy and develop technology for clean energy.
You cant affect African countries to go for research at this moment. Only developed countries can afford that. That is the very heading of my title.... With great powers comes the great responsibility. If you consider your country economically developed (Vis-a-vis Africa/Asia). If you consider that being relatively developed already you have more responsibility then embrace the it.. That's it!