History
repeats itself. Very few, however, pay heed to the lessons of
history. Anyway, learning about the past is crucial for us so
that we can remain on the right track amid scores of different
views and means. If we were keener to learn from the past, the
world would have been far better than it is now. Admittedly,
the world has seen many a war in the past.
The memories of horrors of war are still fresh in the minds of
millions around the world. Painfully, however, wars rage on in
many parts of the world. The world has also seen effects of
destructive weapons in the Second World War when not only
people but also the land got terrible shocks from which they
are still struggling to recover. Even so, hunt for acquiring
destructive weapons is still going on in full swing.
By not learning from the past, however, we are just making the
present gloomy and the future uncertain. The world continues
to see devastations of nature itself such as cyclones,
tsunamis, and repeated earthquakes and so on. Scientists very
rightly claim that most of these result from reckless human
interventions harmful to nature. However, many countries are
still playing with nature turning the ecological balance of
the globe shakier.
Many people around the world, however, continue their campaign
for a safer world because they have the wisdom and the will
and they do not want repetition of unwanted happenings of the
past. The bottom line is that there is no alternative to
learning from the past if we are to keep the world livable and
make ongoing development really sustainable and
environment-friendly. If we fail to do so, our posterity will
surely curse our callous attitude. Admittedly, human beings
are no doubt the most fortunate and gifted ones among
thousands of creatures on the Earth. It is needless to say
that humans are now controlling many things and happenings of
the globe thanks to the innate powers vested in them by the
Super Ego. The earth and human activity are inexorably
intertwined. Yes, the interactions are simply eternal.
Though there may be differences of opinion regarding positive
and negative impacts of human activity on the Earth, some
reckless human actions are causing great damage to the same.
To my mind, human actions are causing more harm than good to
the Earth thereby turning its sustainability more and more
vulnerable. This is now open secret that world environment is
deteriorating day by day.
Natural calamities are now striking various corners of the
world every now and then. Predictions are there that world
atmosphere would worsen further in the days to come. Some
scientists even claim that a good number of low-lying
countries might even get entirely submerged in not-to-distant
future due to sharp rise of sea-water levels resulting from
global warming.
Environmental scientists have found excessive use of
Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) to be the prime factor behind the
alarming global warming. And, for global warming it is the
people of powerful states who have to take the lion's share of
the blame. The powerful states, however, continue to disturb
the global ecological equilibrium by causing underground test
explosions, dumping toxic chemicals in the oceans and so on.
In countries, like Bangladesh human actions such as
deforestation, indiscriminate hill-cutting and filling rivers
with chemical wastes are doing no favor to the environment
thereby augmenting frequency and possibility of natural
disasters such as cyclones, tremors and the like. The Earth,
of course, has also answered back on many occasions by
imposing catastrophes on the people living on its surface.
Future days might be all the more tumultuous if humans decide
not to go straight in terms of dealing with Mother Nature.
Hopefully, epoch-making inventions in medical science might
mark the new century bringing about revolutionary management
of incurable diseases such as AIDS, cancer, diabetes and so
on. Meanwhile, as an offshoot of so-called humanitarian
intervention, even racism might turn up in newer shapes.
Concurrently, if issues such as justice, equality,
redistribution continue to be given mere lip-service by state
machineries, the number of unwanted wars might increase
dramatically in the coming years. Let us, however, keep our
fingers crossed that no such eventuality befalls our beloved
Earth.
Source: The Bangladesh Today