Environmental issues have always been neglected by human being. Our contribution towards environment preservation is shrinking down. The attempts made by us to protect the environment continue to fail because we are not stick up to our commitments. It is certainly high time to address the environmental issues more seriously than ever before. This paper of mine reflects some of the contemporary environmental challenges faced both by human being and other creations.

The past few decades have witnessed many ecological crises that have threatened lives on earth. Issues like water and air pollution, climate change and many others have become a major threat to both human being and other creatures. 
 

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy

The worst chemical industrial disaster occurred in Bhopal in December 1984 due to the leakage of Methyal-Iso-Cyanate from the Union Carbide Pesticide plant, which caused 

the lives of over 2,500 people. A study that was undertaken in 1988 showed that a considerable proportion of women have developed gynecological diseases like leucorrhoea (94%), pelvic inflammatory diseases (79%) and excessive bleeding (46%). Even after 18 years of the incident the people of Bhopal continue to suffer and they are not even given their compensation. A study that recently published in the newspaper, gives the following facts.
· Many of Bhopal’s young boys have quit schools because their eyes water when they read.
· No man wants to marry a girl from Bhopal because she may give birth to a deformed baby (the 1988 report also convince that many women has to undergo diverse lest they shall conceive abnormal foetus)
· Undergo water has high toxin levels and the ground is laced with mercury and other toxins.
 

The victims of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy say: the Indian Government has been pressurized by Washington to reduce the charges to prevent the extradiction of the then chairman of Union Carbide, Waren Anderson.
Rs 1,363 still languish in the ‘settlement fund’ meant for compensating victims. Though nearly 95% of the victims have been compensated, they have been given Rs.15, 000 – a partly sum compared to their treatments and medication. The demands of the victims at present are: 
1. To distribute Rs.1360 crore to affected victims and not the unaffected ones. 
2.  Clean the area around the abandoned factory to cleanse the area of toxins. 
3.  Waren Anderson, union carbide chairman and chief accused in Bhopal Gas tragedy, should no be left off the hook. So far 20,000 deaths have been reported due to this chemical disaster. It was also estimated in 1984 that about 50,000 poisonous substances are found in our environment and up to 3000 substances are added every year.
 

INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION – Industries versus Environment

Industries cause both air and water pollution and ultimately responsible for health hazardous too. The harshest criticism of the pollute first, plan later policy comes from the “Report of the High Powered Committee on Management of the Hazardous Wastes” submitted to the Supreme Court. Emerging evidence indicates that the pollutants have entered the Human chain through vegetables and fish from the region.

Effects on Health:
Pollution has ruined the health of the people; particularly the people living close to the industrial estate are kept awake at night by a suffocating gas. It was reported that 34 children in the Awashi village primary school fainted and suffered from severe vomiting when a deadly gas was discharged. Respiratory ailments, skin rashes, dehydration and stomach ailments triggered by pollution are common here according to a local doctor. According to Elizabeth A Guillette, visiting professor at the university of Florida and renowned anthropologist: every child born today comes with a load of pesticides. Dr. Guillette who was recently in Bangalore, India said, studies have shown that pesticides 

Were easily transmitted from a pregnant woman to the foetus. The people in area could be affected by pesticides used in another geographical area due to air, water and food contamination. The long term affects of such contamination were retarded mental and physical growth of children, because they were more vulnerable to chemical poisoning. Pesticide related disorders in India occur among young children in Warangal in Andhra Pradesh and the endosulphan problem in Kerala. The Yamuna, near Delhi has become a large sewage drain as large quantities of untreated industrial and domestic wastewater is discharges in to it. So far as discharge of effluent in the Yamuna is concerned, the industries are the prime contributors.
 

F A C T S: 

At present some 40 percent of the world’s population faces acute water shortage, global sea level are rising and within the next half decade many of the island nation in the great ocean are likely to be submerged if we do not check global warming and ozone layer depletion. Many plant and animal species are at risk of extinction, 2.4 percent of the world’s forests were destroyed in the 1990s alone and every year more than 3 million people die from the effects of air pollution. By 2005, half of the world’s population, 3.5 billion people will face serious water shortage. An estimated total of 90 million hectares of forest were destroyed in the 1990s. Deforestation is a major threat to biodiversity as forests are home to two-thirds of terrestrial species. Contaminated water kills 2.2 million people per year. Over the last century or so, half of the forests have gone, a third of our wetlands drained out, 70 percent freshwater polluted, 40 percent of mangroves destroyed. At least 10 percent of our 135,000 species of plants and animals are threatened with extinction. On 9th September this year the air pollution in Hong Kong hit a record high as the general air pollution index soared to 185, recorded at Tung Chung on Lantau Island near the airport. The report says that this occurred mainly due to heavy concentrations of Ozone, a combination of pollutants emitted by factory and vehicles that tends to accumulate during hot. It has also been reported that, this reading is the highest since the city began monitoring air pollution in 1998.
 

BIODIVERSITY: 

Water scarcity is an increasingly endemic problem even in area with high rainfall. a’ la Cherrapunji, because the forests that could have retained rain water have been cleared or degraded. Millions of hectares of agricultural land in Punjab, Haryana, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and else where are becoming unproductive, as the soil loses the biological nutrients that were once replenished by a diversity of micro-organisms, plants and animals. Huge acreages of crop are threatened as the natural enemies of their pests have been killed off by pesticides, pollutions and hunting and the earlier diversity of crop varieties have been replaced by monocultures that are much more prone to disease and pest attack. The health standards of hundreds of rural communities is declining, as a diversity of free nutritional food and medicinal plants they once had access to are no longer available, and food and medicines from the market are either too expensive or unable to provide the same health inputs. The role of providing climatic and ecological security is partly dependent on the biodiversity of the mountains, yet this biodiversity is under severe attack, with deforestation, haphazard construction, pollution, garbage and so on.

Initiatives:

The pollution Control Board (PCB) in Bangalore for the first time in Bangalore has taken the initiative to put a complete ban on the dumping of all electronics waste and computer waste into rubbish bins, according to Uperdra Tripathy, Chairman, Pollution Control Board. A study points out that, the composition of a desktop personal computer weighing compounds, in relation to total weight of harmful substances like lead (about 6%) and less than 0.1% of Mercury and Arsenic. The study also makes it clear that, “Cathode ray tubes contained in computer monitors and TV sets represent an enormous and growing hazardous waste problem. The PCB is also holding talks with IT companies to store hazardous solid waste in their premises until a suitable method is devised. In India, one more easy way of polluting the water is dumping of idols into the rivers and ponds after the festival gets over. I believe, for a long time, people were not aware of the affect of this. But, now the Government is making sure that idols are not dumped into the water. Special water tanks are being constructed for this purpose. This is only at its initial stage, but it can reach to its target with people’s positive responses. 
 

SAVING THE EARTH: Promoting Eco-Tourism
 

Eco-tourism has been defined in various ways. The international Eco-Tourism society in 1991 produced one of the earliest definitions: “Eco-Tourism is responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well-being of local people”. The world Tourism Organization (WTO) has defined it as “tourism that involves traveling to relatively undisturbed natural areas with the specifies object of studying, admiring and enjoying nature and its wild plants and animals, as well as existing cultural aspects found in these areas. One of the prime negative impacts caused by the tourist is dumping of unnecessary substances, such as plastics. The people are still to be aware of the bad result of using plastics. In spite of all the vital steps taken both by Government and NGOs, we could hardly see any outcome to this. 

Well-planned eco-tourism can benefit both protected areas and residents of surroundings communities by linking long-term bio-diversity conservation with local, social and economic development. Eco-Tourism in simple works means “management of tourism and conservation of nature in a way so as to maintain a fine balance between the requirements of tourism and ecology on one hand and the needs of local communities for jobs-new skills, income generating employment and a better status for women on the other. The global importance of eco-tourism, its benefit as well as its impact was recognized with launch of the year, 2002 as the year of International year of Eco-Tourism (IYE) by the United Nations General Assembly. The IYE is an opportunity to review eco-tourism experiences worldwide, in order to consolidate tools and institutional frameworks that ensures its sustainable development in future. This means maximizing the economy, environmental and social benefits from eco-tourism, while avoiding its short-coming and negative impact. 
 

Understanding Sustainable Development:

The FAO simply and succinctly describes Sustainable Development as being “A development which is environmentally non-degrading, technically appropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable. Ecologically Sustainable Development refers to “Management of environmental resources in such a manner to ensure the long term sustainable utilization of species and ecosystems, minimize survival risk and generally keep open as many future options as possible.” Sustainable Development implies that activities are socially just, economically viable and ecologically sound. Sustainable development comprised two elements: ecological practices resulting in the protection of environmental resources, and equity in their utilization, combining environment and economy. It is this combination that makes it a paradoxical paradigm.

According to Martin Khor: “Sustainable Development would not only involve ecological practices and enable meeting the needs of the future generations, but a change in production and consumption patterns in an equitable manner whereby resources which are currently being wasted are save and re channeled to meeting the needs of every one today as well as the needs of future generations.

Sustainable Development must not endanger the natural systems that support life on Earth. Sustainable Development requires that the adverse impacts of the quality of air, water and other natural elements are minimized so as to sustain the ecosystem’s overall integrity. In essence, Sustainable Development is a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development, and institutional change are all in harmony and enhance both current and future potentials to meet human needs and aspirations.
 

Theological Concern: Importance for Stewardship

Human beings have always been considered as the center of all the creation. If we take a deep look at God’s creation, we find it’s significant. It took God six days to create his creation. Human being were created only on the last day, therefore, we are the youngest to all other creations. God gave the responsibility to human being to look after the earth, which in fact misunderstood and human being continued to exploit the earth for its own benefit. We are so self centered that we tend to forget our responsibilities towards God’s creation. God’s love is universal, that’s why He/She shares equal love to each one of the creations. The whole creation story is so unique that after creating each and every object, God saw that was Good. John: 3,16 clearly says: “God so loved the World that………”, this is so inclusive of its kind. God’s love is not only for the human being for the entire creation. Unless and until we realize our sin against nature and rectify accordingly, we are going to destroy ourselves. We need to develop stewardship nature in order to keep God’s creation preserved and saved. Stewardship basically means sacrificial attitude. 

*Angelious Michael is presently doing his software-programming course in Bangalore, India. He has a keen interest on the Environmental issues.

References:
· Green Liberation by Dr. George Mathew Nalunnakkal.
· Survey of the Environment 2002 published by “The Hindu”.
· Times of India
· The Hindu, July 26, 2002.
· Deccan Herald, August 26, 2002.
· The Hindu, September 06, 2002.
· The Times of India, September 03, 2002.
· The Hindu, September 08, 2002.
· The Hindu, September 10, 2002.
· Bulletin: Sustainable Development: Perspective, Actors and Critical Issues.