‘An opportunity to mend our ways’

Swami MUKTIDANANDA writes of the urgent need  to decongest cities and clean up our relationship with our environment

Wisdom lies in seeing the Covid-19 pandemic as an opportunity to learn from nature. Despite being blessed with a wonderful habitat such as Planet Earth, human beings have exploited nature and, according to a World Wildlife Fund report, have decimated 60% of all other species in the period 1970-2014.

We need to shift from our humancentric approach to a nature-centric one that will take into account the well-being of all species, and also stop polluting air, water and land recklessly. To ensure genuine human welfare, there is an urgent need to respect nature and reorient civilisation in the direction of compassion, sensitivity and respect for all beings.

Modern lifestyles that produce enormous amounts of non-biodegradable waste, have seriously compromised nature’s bio-geo cycles like the carbon cycle and hydrological cycle. The result of all these is degradation of the biochemistry of the human body, then disease, and death.

The situation in some of the crowded cities of the world like Kolkata, Mumbai, Tokyo, Paris and New York is so alarming that hereafter, we need to rethink the policy of more and more urbanisation.

The process of decongestion by consciously reducing the density of urban populations should be followed in a phased manner, by encouraging urban populations with incentives and job opportunities to relocate to less congested, newer, eco-friendly, smaller and greener towns.

We need effective planning and a system of education that promote eco-friendly features in our habitats. If social distancing is the only major solution to contain the pandemic and such other contagions, then we need to seriously decongest cities and reverse urbanisation. Coexistence of fellow beings and greenery has to be ensured amidst all types of human habitats along with sensitivity to air, space, and water resources that support life. Just as we allocate space for road, footpath, and drainages, there should be allocation of space for wooded areas along roads and buildings. Only then, we will be able to recreate our villages and towns as new eco-friendly habitats, where human beings can dwell healthily, freely and happily.

The coronavirus can only be stopped with human-to-human caring and cooperation. We ought to extend unequivocal support to government agencies, the medical fraternity, and law enforcement authorities who are fighting this battle, often staking their lives. At this juncture, criticism that would weaken the joint efforts of all concerned is an unpardonable disservice to humankind.

However, constructive suggestions to harvest the collective wisdom in this bewildering war against the unseen virus are not only welcome but very necessary.