This post is inspired by something I read on Sheki's blog. (link) It isn't closely related, I just thought I'd share the origins of this post. (To dispel the myth that I was abducted and brainwashed by aliens) I'd also like to thank Sheki, for jump-starting my writing instincts. (You now know who's responsible for the horror below :D)
Have you ever met an NRI who comes back to India and then complains about everything and anything? Most of their criticism is valid but some of it gets under my skin. Statements like "Indian politicians are corrupt", "Indians drive rashly" etc. are all perfectly valid and make sense. What does not make sense, however, are statements related to ecological conservation and awareness. Statements like "Indians don't know how to recycle" or "Indians aren't educated enough to care about the environment". What? Excuse me, but I don't think someone staying in a country (US) that consumes and pollutes the most (by far - almost SIX times, if you check on a per-capita basis) has any right to teach us how to recycle. My issue is not with one country, but with the developed world in general. On my previous visit to Germany, I noticed something peculiar. To recycle a plastic bottle, they had these fancy machines at the supermarket. The idea was to automatically segregate the waste. Good idea, but I wonder if it makes any difference. The reason I say this is because of the way the machine works. You feed in a bottle. The entire thing lights up, much like a Christmas tree, multiple laser beams scan the bottle (looking for what, I can't imagine), two or three flaps open, close and open again, and then finally a compartment opens up, and the bottle is sucked in. Yay! They have just sorted a single plastic bottle, not realising the amount of time and electricity wasted in the process.
In India, we have a very unfortunate, yet efficient waste management system - the local rag-picker. In India, we've been recycling out of economic necessity for decades. All the while, the developed world has wasted resources in ever-increasing quantities. Using huge, gas guzzling SUVs for a drive round the corner, using paper to clean everything - and I mean everything, keeping the lights and ACs on - even when there is no one at the office - the list is endless.
When the Nano was launched, there was long discussion (on a website forum) about the harmful ecological effects of adding cheap cars to the roads. One of the readers had slammed Tata motors, saying that the ecological cost of have having so many cars was simply too much. Another reader, a professor, replied to the effect that the the first world had far too many inefficient vehicles to be preaching, and after all "The industrialised world has already ruined the environment through development, why can't India be allowed to do the same?".
While I do not advocate that kind of wasteful development, my point is simple. The G7/G8 (whatever they choose to call themselves) and their citizens have no right to criticise India for polluting as a side effect of development. India's duty is to her 800 million poor people, not to cutting down CO2 emissions and being efficient when no one else really cares.
temple by the sea
15 years ago
11 comments:
While agreeing with your statements on how the G7/8 countries have no right to point fingers at us, I have to add in that we do need more realisation as well.
The need for realisation banks more heavily on economies such as India and China which are fast growing as well as hugely populated. You see, there is no point in adressing this issue per-capita. It is something that concerns each country as a whole. As a country, we too have a responsibilty to the environment as do those wasteful gas guzzling hypocrites.
And we as a race are extremely unhygenic whether it comes to sanitary mannersisms or moral habits. There is a greater need for keeping our country clean politically, bureaucratically and morally. Atleast the gas guzzling hypocrites have understood these necessities better.
I agree. In terms of hygiene, moral sense (towards others), behaviour, manners etc. any and every criticism is valid. At the same time, I don't think India can afford to sacrifice growth for environmental concerns. If the West is not doing anything about it (so far, there has been nothing but lip-service from their end), nothing India does will matter anyway. At the end of the day, it is a global phenomenon and thus warrants a global effort.
actually I don't completely agree with you on this ..we have dual responsibility towards Indian citizens and towards World as a whole..one one hand we are producing nano on the other hand we are encouraging CNG, fuel efficient cars,car pooling in cities ,planting trees we can't just turn blind eye to the global warming cause.
indians give a lot of importance to what WHITE PEOPLE have to say. maybe the need to be perceived as important in the eyes of the west is some kind of hang over of the british rule.
i say do whats right and fuck what others have to say(unless there is actually something we can learn, and that is a lot :P).
http://somedrops.blogspot.com/2009/06/east-and-west-on-pollution-and-related.html
Nobody is asking India to turn a blind eye to the climate change problem. However, we need to ensure that development is our primary goal, even if it is at the cost of CO2 emissions.
as a race, we may be whatever pom just mentioned, although i don't see much of a difference in other places also, except the fact that they bother to maintain things and are willing to spend on it, if it comes to it < to prove my point - i have spent around 250 indian rupees just to take leaks at various places in case of dire emergencies! >
it's just that the other places, they have a regular service and people to maintain things.
as far as the main topic goes, i would have to agree, the onus is on the so-called developed countries to make sure they lead by example and not just big talk! as we have followed in catching up with the economy, so we shalt catch up in terms of ecological concerns too.
HMm..it is interesting,man.
but the "paper" issue,I feel is misplaced and unwarranted (did you think about humour?)..
I think it is a conflict of interest and concern..Climatic Change is a global issue and concerns us as a global community..
Climate Change has no reservations for developing nations..
The EU has been proactive in this regard and I hate the US for its very strong Oil Lobby(I am hoping Ponky's love does something different to help the world)..
It really boils down to what our priorities (as a global community)are at the present moment..
Hoping it doesnt become a case of "playing the fiddle when the house is being set on fire"...
Exactly! Let them take the initiative. We can (and should) follow.
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