Oxymoron

There is a ‘concept’ discussed like anything nowadays… Sustainable Development! I am not calling it a theory, not even a hypothesis but a ‘concept’ for a reason and I have all the evidence to prove it, believe me! First of all the idea of Sustainability needs to be defined, discussed and understood before bragging anything in its name. ‘Development’ is such an intrinsically complex concept that there could be as many definitions and perceptions of it as the population on the planet; each one sees it in his/her context. Above all, no politician on face of earth could exist who doesn’t claim to bring the development. The safest, surest, tried and tested bait for winning vote-banks has been ‘promising development’ since the dawn of politics. Even the ‘nobles’ in the era of feudalism provided development in form of protection and the use of land to the peasants for offering him/her homage, labor and a share of their produce.

While development has many faces and obvious repercussions in one form or other, it is imperative to understand that it is impossible for any development to take place without any exploitation of some resource, natural, human or man-made, to some extent for, energy is the basic necessity of any development and no energy could be ‘green energy’ in its truest sense unless it is propagated so for political intentions or the ‘green’ is referred to the color of the currency. There is no point in cutting down a tree that is providing shelter to its nurturer; making a cabin out of that tree-wood and offer it to the person who was enjoying the foliage of the tree, for a price that he is neither supposed to pay nor could afford. If this is termed as development, I will reiterate what I have said time and again – there are 2 basic questions that need to be answered first – ‘Is it worth it?’ and ‘At the cost of what?’

Coming back to the sustainability, a wrong notion has been preached for years together that it is about maintaining the sustainability of the planet while going on with the development as envisioned by the ‘nobles’ to ‘world leaders’ to ‘big brothers’ [not to mention their driving force – the buck brother]. First of all, it is not about the sustainability of the planet but the human species. Planet is good old and almighty to take care of itself, it’s the human species that is on the verge of extinction – either by natural phenomenon like running out of all the life-essential natural resources or by man-made mass-destruction to gain the control of whatever is left and sustain a little longer than others.

So it would be better for the all-evolved super species standing tall on the top of the food-chain to learn the facts, do the math and start respecting the nature that is omnipresent, incorruptible and follows the circular principle of GOD – Generate, Organize and Destroy and NOT the linear path of GDP that is always depicted as a pointed arrow traveling upwards by defying even the fundamental law of gravity! No matter how creative, innovative and intelligent human brain could be, it would never evolve to a point where it could architect the planet as per its needs, particularly with the finite resources required to cater to the infinite wants of human mind.

In simple words, Sustainable Development is as childish as wanting to have your cake and eat it too. Just like digging a well to reach the mountain top. Not Possible! So what is the solution? Should we stop all the development projects and get back to the hunters and gatherers phase from where it all started? What difference would be there in Humans and other species if we could not put all our abilities of sensing, thinking, reasoning and inventing? Won’t it be the stupidest thing to abandon all the scientific inventions, technological advancements and digital transformations that have made the human life simpler, safer, enriched and enjoyable? [Have they?] Well, at the moment I do not have any ‘Manual of Eco-friendly Living’ or ‘Chronicles of Eco-man’ for reference but I am planning to write one and you can look forward to it. Meanwhile, how about going through ‘Wrong Theory’ by Girish Abhyankar, the man who had made it little easier for all those who think alike.

Way to go…