aditya0m

Question: "Nations should pass laws to preserve any remaining wilderness areas in their natural state, even if these areas could be developed for economic gain." Write a response in which you discuss your views on the policy and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider the possible consequences of implementing the policy and explain how these consequences shape your position. Response: Mankind's relationship with mother nature had purely been that of symbiosis until the late eighteenth century, which saw a metamorphosis of this sacred bond to one that can be considered more or less parasitic in current times. It was 1600 when the european sailors first set foot on a lush green island of sumatra. This Island was home to around 3.5 million species. The indonesia of then was a land teeming with floral and faunal beauty. The sailors commissioned by monarchies and emerging economic forces in europe, immediately found a gamut of invaluable items for trade this land had to offer. The entire commodity spectrum spanning from exotic spices, orchids, tea to flavour food of the people north of the mediteranean to iron ores and wood to catalyze the colonialism that was to engulf the whole world for the next 4 centuries. After all, someone had to compensate for the highly paced so called modernization of the human race-"The Industrial Revolution". Fast forward 150 years, and here we are caught in the loop, constantly chasing the utopian impossibility of so called cliche "development", defined narrowly by a few privileged, almost two centuries ago. The word "economic development" painting before us a vivid picture of a "consumer based economy". We often begin to imagine- grandeur, ampleness, luxurious lifestyle, big malls, accessibility, popular culture, amalagamisation of trends in the scope of this definition. Time and again humanity has been chasing frantically for this perfection, and what has this cost us? -Poverty, melting icebergs, deforestation, aggressive natural imbalance and extinction, a threat to humanity's survival. It is time, all nations in the world identifed and placed in context their meaning of "development" so as to ensure a sustainable development of their culture and ecological heritage. The present day Indonesia, has about 140 extinct species as per UNEP report in 2012. Forests are gone and in their place are vast palm oil plantations all over. Gone are the days of yore when, spices and forest based products used to form a majority of country's export. These palm oil plantations are investments of MNCs that supply to fast food chains all over the world. Many of these fast food chains are today household names across the world- McDonalds, Dominoes, KFC etc. One very pertinent question in the wake of this realization is- Who is paying for this colossal, relentless modernization? Jawan tiger- a subspecies of tiger family is extinct. Pollution levels are increasing as days pass. The story of Indonesia emphasises the necessity for countries across the world to pass laws to preserve whatever of the precious wilderness that remains in their area of their administration. As seen in context of Indonesia, there are numerous examples of this colossal carnage that nature has endured so as to allow for rapid, haphazard urbanization of floral landscape. There are several factors that need to be considered- First, Countries should strategically examine their development goals and urbanization needs. This shall help them place in context and understand their demographical urbanization needs. Meanwhile, they would also be able to arrive at a more realistic and achievable goals of wilderness conservation. A centrist economic policy between socialistic and capitalist extremes would a good choice to ensure, the monetary gap between the privilged and the middle class does not widen irreparably. Second, Countries should look for opportunities to identify prudential opportunities in the form of green tourism, export items that the wilderness has to offer in modern times, without compromising the natural habitat. Third, a long term strategy must be formulated to ensure, a maximal usage of available land does not lead to its overutilisation. This shall help ensure, the resources at their behest do not get completely overutilised before an alternative technology to compensate for their sparse availability is developed. Fourth and the most important, countries should try to indigenously search for alternative ways to meet supply demand chain which does not affect conserved wilderness. This proper legislation by countries shall help countries maintain a sustainable growth across generations without compromising the delicate balance of nature. Recently, a massive crack in the main Iceberg of greenland was captured by the NASA. In a scenario with polar ice caps shrinking, ozone layer thinning, companies coming up with products such as canned breathable air, it is important we realize as a species that we are in a transition phase of our planet transgressing into an ecological armageddon. True, such precautionary measures suggested will never allow a tribal from dense swampy lands of Mawsynram, India to ever live the great American dream, experience the lavishness, the comfort at promise but this shall surely provide him/her an opportunity to live sustainably a life full of experiences, wake up to chirp of birds, experience the petrichor when the first drops of monsoon touch the thirsty paddy fields. A restraint on agressive anthropological expansion shall help us as a species in the long run to evolve, search for energy solutions, unwrong the miscalculations our granddads had made. As Gandhi said, Mother Nature has something for everyone, but not everything for few. Its time, we put in action what is aggressively discussion in conventions, conferences and parliaments. Let's legislate for a better future of our planet.