A recent report says the huge amounts of carbon dioxide being added to the atmosphere due to human activity is making the ocean waters acidic. While that was known for some time, what is causing concern is that those waters, hitherto restricted to the depths of the big oceans, are now finding their way to the coastal shelves. And these acidic waters are thinning the shells of corals and other animals.
We have gone on polluting our air, water and other resources regardless of the fact that pollution is never confined to the area of pollution. We live in a connected eco-system and the pollutants and other toxins we add to one part of the earth will, sooner or later, find its way around the globe.
If we look at the pollution in some of our industrial cities and compare that with the serene air of the Himalayas or the Amazon, we may think only those living in highly polluted areas need to worry about the problem. Not so. Those pollutants are going to find their way to you, and affect to coming generations all over the earth.
We have been so short-sighted about this problem; and polluting and greedy businesses have glossed over it. But I read in a book about Swami Rama that the Himalayan sages were aware of it even at the beginning of the last century!
We had gone on polluting merrily and now we really do have a problem on our hands: we can continue to do what we do and condemn ourselves, the coming generations, and the whole ecosystem itself; or we can stop this madness and try to mend our ways.
But the second option would mean we change the way we live, and put an end to this conspicuous consumption we had taken for granted in the last 100 years. Are we up to the challenge?
