Protecting The World, The Hindu Way

By Vijai Singhal

Īśāvāsyam idaṁsarvaṁyatkiñcajagatyāṁjagat;

Tena tyaktenabhuñjīthāḥ,

mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam.

– (Isa Upanishad, Verse 1)

"Everything animate or inanimate in this universe is pervaded by God. Take whatever you need for your sustenance without a sense of ownership. Do not covet the wealth of anyone."

Follow NewsGram on LinkedIn to know what's happening around the world.

Consumerism is the basic cause of climate change. Our economic model is demand-based. We are constantly pushed to buy more as we have a system of planned obsolescence that results in excess waste. We can see in our Hindu literature that the emphasis is on need and not on demand. Mahatma Gandhi said: "The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed."Greed is the root cause of all our problems – environmental or economic.

Gross domestic product (GDP) is a common measure of economic growth. However, GDP fails to account fully for the ecological damage that growth causes. By prioritizing economic growth, societies based on capitalism permit excessive consumption and with it comes excess waste. In 2012, the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan adopted the Gross National Happiness Index as their main development indicator. This index measured well-being and Happiness' as a new economic paradigm. The United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network which contains rankings of national happiness and analysis of the data from various perspectives publishes an annual World Happiness Report.

In their report, Finland ranks 1st, Australia ranks 10^th, whereas India ranks 133^rd. New Delhi is one of the most polluted cities in the world. The Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi had launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission) on 2^nd Oct 2014, with the aim to clean up the streets, roads, and infrastructure of India. The objectives of Swachh Bharat include eliminating open defecation through the construction of nearly 73 million household and community toilets since the launch of the plan. The Indian government is also pushing the use of renewable energy, particularly solar energy.

The Indian government is actively pushing the use of renewable energy. The International Solar Alliance, an alliance of over 121 countries with an aim to reducing dependence on fossil fuels and to promote the use of solar energy was launched by the Indian Prime Minister Mr. Modi at the India Africa Summit, ahead of the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris. India has built the World's largest solar farm of 2GW capacity in Karnataka State and the Energy Minister, Mr. PiyushGoel has declared that there will be no new coal-fired power stations planned in India beyond 2018. In Australia also the rooftop solar installations are edging to the 2 million households mark but unfortunately the Australian government is dragging its feet in support of the coal-fired power stations.

There is a proposal that has been put forward to the United Nations for declaring 2018 InternationalYear of Clean and Healthy Planet aiming to mobilize millions of people worldwide in a single day event to clean up illegal waste on World Clean-up Day on 8th of September, 2018. Last year, ABC TV produced a three-part series – War on Waste, highlighting the amount of waste we are producing in Australia. We are wasting a massive 40% of food items. With persuasion by the program producer and public reaction to waste, both Woolworths and Coles have declared that they would be cutting down on the use of throw-away plastic and reducing food wastage. This is a positive development.

Healthy living and a healthy planet go hand-in-hand. Choosing a plant-based diet is the single most important thing one can do for the environment and for our own health. There is a strong push for using the vegan or plant-based diet in countries like Australia, United Kingdom, and the USA, where meat consumption has traditionally been very high. Australia has become the third fastest-growing vegan market in the world with a recent survey showing there are 2.1 million vegan/ nearly vegetarian people in Australia. This is another positive development for the health of our planet.

Also Read: Climate Change To Get Worse In The Future: Study

The world's poor people are the worst sufferers of environmental pollution. As responsible members of society, it is our duty to live a simple and ecologically sustainable lifestyle. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, "The rich must live more simply so the poor may simply live." (Hindu Council Of Australia)