Page 9 - XITE Magazine 2019

Xavier Chimes
Amit Chaturvedi
Assistant Professor, XITE

Sustainability in Jeopardy Imbibing Values

Human beings' hidden frustration for not being able to decode the mystery of the universe, using
their self-proclaimed super intelligence has resulted in seeking peace and pleasure in 'materialism'.
As a report from the global consulting giant, PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts, India to surpass
Britain to become the fifth largest economy in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2019 and at
the same time climate scientists predict a cataclysmic fallout by 2040, if emissions are not
contained. A study says that climate change will begin altering water levels in the Ganga and the
Brahmaputra in the next three decades, and after 2050 the rivers could record an abrupt decrease in
flow, jeopardising the water level for drinking, irrigation and for producing electricity. The Supreme
Court of India recently said that Delhi is a "gas chamber" where it is dicult to live because of
pollution and trac congestion. A blind race among the dierent states in India and among the
dierent countries of the world to increase their respective so-called GDP is only proving their lack of
vision. In the name of development we are witnessing irreversible changes in dierent units of the
biosphere. Too many experiments with the form of nature that was bestowed to us have led to such
crisis. The rampant cutting of trees, the continuous increase in level of pollution in rivers, the hole in
ozone layer, the decreasing ground water level, the ever downgrading air quality, Chaturangi glacier,
a tributary of the Gangotri glacier, facing the possibility of vanishing etc. are some of the facts
supporting the argument.

The unmanaged urbanisation carried out by human beings is aecting the life span as well as the
quality of life of every organism. A majority of dignitaries attending the World Economic Forum in
Davos, reached in private jets, despite climatic changes were a significant background of the
meeting…. In a special address, at the same meeting, United Nation's Chief Antonio Guterres warned
that a fragmented response to global challenges is a recipe for disaster. According to a latest report,
the nine richest people of India own half of the India's wealth. This has resulted in vast inequality
among the citizens and injustice to the living standard of the masses.
Development often brings changes and those changes have to be justified with dierent
stakeholders of the economy and society. Human beings have acquired an extra bit of intelligence
as compared to other species, only to make them qualified as first among equals and having no right
to disturb the wellbeing of other organisms. Policy planners are not able to foresee the ripple eects
of their actions. 'WE HAVE TO BE THE CHANGE WE WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD'. It is only then
values like 'Equality' and 'Justice' can ensure that sustainability is here to stay.

"You and I possess within ourselves at every monent of our lives, 07 Volume-VII, 2019
under all circumstances, the power to transform the quality of our lives." - Werner Erhar