Environment is Vital

 
Environment is Vital  

 

                   It shows a TV screen on which one can see the form of a globe and a question mark message: WHY?

Maybe the most vital and crucial issue in the 21th century. Humankind is faced with tremendous threats that could develop to become chaotic if no serious global measures are implemented. The problem is not local but impacts the whole planet earth becoming global. As such the right approach to resolve this issue should be world cooperation and action. Therefore, global threats need a global approach and cooperation and nations especially the big 10 should dive into this overwhelming challenge.  This is indeed our challenge to feel responsible for this beautifully amazing planet, our  home, our planet  earth. It  requires  respect, mindfulness, empathy and caring.

 

The global warming cannot wait, the melting of the North Pole icebergs cannot wait, the Amazon rainforest disaster cannot wait while the climate change advances. The recent war in Ukraine has caused a global energy crisis which could prompt a long-standing shift towards the sustainability of our planet. Warnings come from everywhere, but nobody seems to take them seriously. What else do we need to watch in order to awake from our deep sleep and take action? What am I supposed to do, if my neighbor's house is on fire? In some cities in Far East people cannot go out without a mask to protect them from the heavy air pollution. We live in a situation of acute emergency and we are called to act before it is too late. “The Earth does not belong to us: we belong to the Earth” – Marleen Matlin.   

The latter Covid pandemic has shown much irresponsible states and individuals can be. We have experienced the repercussions of lack of information, misinformation and the spreading of rumors and phobias we how they can affect people and cause harm. As a result, a lot of our fellowmen and –women had to pay a high price by losing their lives. However, the global impact caused by Covid has brought about various effects on the environment and climate. Due to lockdown and serious downturn in economic activity, air pollution has been reduced in many parts of the world due to limited traffic. This is a sign that our earth is a living organism whatsoever. “Both the coronavirus crisis and the climate crisis reveal that our world is inextricably interconnected, and it’s as strong or as fragile as those connections. We have to strengthen those connections. It is our only choice. The sun is going to rise again.” - Mary Annaise Heglar, climate justice writer 

 Since the earth is our home, we are meant to keep it clean and orderly. It is an eyesore to see dirty streets, squares, parks, beaches, rivers and the sea.

When the planet suffers from man’s abuse and maltreatment the side effects can be perceived as nature’s revenge. "On Earth Day, we celebrate all the gifts the world and nature make available to us. We recognize our complete dependence on its bounty. And we acknowledge the need for good stewardship to preserve its fruits for future generations." - John Hoeven. Ecological movements and initiatives like reforestation efforts, cleaning parks and beaches, show that man has become sensitized to the current threats and emergency distress signals that our planet is emitting.   

The etymology of the word environment means everything surrounding us and includes all living and nonliving beings and matter like water, soil, animals and plants which have the innate ability to adapt themselves to their settings. It’s our creator’s gift to humankind to preserve life and harmonious balance on Earth. Our duty and responsibility is to become masters of love and respect towards our fellowmen and our planet as well.  

Rise & Fall in History

          

Rise & Fall in History  

             This picture shows an industrial area with a tall building that is painted and shows two kids and an old man

Historians have documented and testified about the fact that history moves in a polygonal or broken line with ups and downs. It’s a fact that great civilizations and empires have developed and flourished in the past, but then at some point they crashed and vanished in the course of time. Some examples of such empires are Babylon, China, The Aztecs and Mayas, Greece, Rome, the Ottoman Empire etc. What might have been the cause of their decline and demise?  Pandemics, war, the role of religion, seismic and cataclysmic disasters could have been some of the cause of their distraction.  

The famous British historian and philosopher of history Arnold Toynbee presented history as the rise and fall of civilizations rather than the history of nation-states like Sparta or of ethnic groups. He defined civilizations according to cultural rather than national characteristics and maintained that “civilizations come to birth and proceed to grow by successfully responding to successive challenges. They break down and go to pieces if and when a challenge confronts them that they fail to meet”. By the same token, when a state or empire develops and becomes a dominant power usually through armed conquest at the expense of a weaker state, it attracts the interest of competitive states and rising powers which challenge their status and want to claim their dominance, oftentimes in order to protect themselves from future attacks.  

The result is competition and wars that keep rising to feed this vicious circle of violence. Samuel Huntington, an American political scientist, adviser and academic writes: “Every civilization sees itself as the center of the world and writes its history as the central drama of human history.” ― Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order .  This serious and valid statement constitutes that history is not really reliable and trustworthy but rather full of inaccuracies, prejudices and biased statements. Therefore, an often-used phrase is that history should be re-written which is in reality very controversial and fallacious because history cannot be altered as we please an in reality, we are lacking eye-witnesses.   

 
As a matter of fact, we can observe that history follows the law of causality which governs our world affairs from time immemorial to the present day. Certainly, we are not just spectators but those who shape our destiny by our decisions and what is happening here and there. We don’t need a fatalist approach because we, as human beings, carry a higher degree of responsibility and commitment to bring about and create conditions which can secure the existence and sustaining of a respectful community or state. However, we should not ignore that morality and ethics constitute an important factor for creating a better world. One of the facts of the fall of empires was decadence and degradation as well as debauchery and corruption. Above all statesmen and rulers should be aware of this reality. Decadence is a difficult word to use since it has become little more than a term of abuse applied by critics to anything they do not yet understand or which seems to differ from their moral concepts.  

• Ernest Hemingway 
   

Let us not be forgetful about history and learn from the lessons it teaches us i.e., not to repeat the same mistakes. The phenomenon of rise and fall of nations or civilizations is due to the fact that the world has never learned to live in peace and keeps pursuing antagonism and conflict. Humankind is not a bunch of belligerent fighters who want to conquer new lands and expand their territorial interests. We are to be beings of light, a worldwide community of brethren who seek happiness and security and peace is the only way to achieve that ambitious goal.  

 

Politics and Ethics

Politics and Ethics

This picture depicts an open book which is about Ethics on a dark background

Politics is the word that we are using every day to describe state affairs, especially economy and foreign policies that touch upon our interests and keep us informed on a daily basis through the state media i.e.radio, tabloids, TV and social media.  According to Webster’s politics is the art or science of government. : the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing governmental policy. : the art or science concerned with winning and holding control over a government. However, politics will surely fail if it not accompanied by ethical norms that are adopted and practiced by all those involved in implementing politics.  

Politics is practiced and implemented by common people who are elected by vote and are evaluated by the citizens of a state according to the abilities and convincing power. Is this sufficient to characterize a good politician who is supposed to serve his country and the people? “The foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principle of private morality”. - Author: George Washington. If politics is practiced by politicians without ethics and moral values  the outcome will be a impunity and corruption, a widespread phenomenon nowadays. The general public who go to the ballot to exercise their voting right should be more conscious as to whom they want to offer their vote. Ambitious political figures should be scrutinized in terms of character and personality and voters should not be carried away by charisma and eloquence. The most widespread words about politics is corruption, bribery, deception, manipulation and unscrupulousness. When this is a proven act, it is comprehensible that good people are not attracted to seriously occupy themselves with politics. A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims, but accomplices. —George Orwell.  

It high time to change the way we think about politics and social life as well as the sense of community we want to build in order to establish a better society. The world is changing faster than we can imagine, the means of communication i.e. social media offer increasingly more possibilities and choices. It is becoming inevitable that we need to create an authentic and pure world, a world of solidarity and transparency in all regards. We live in a society that worships success and social status.  In this hectic race toward happiness and the “dolce vita” we have unwittingly been captivated by possessions and material things. What are we supposed to do to avoid such pitfall? We don’t need the Big Brother to check upon us or control and supervise us. What is imperative is to adopt a higher degree of civic responsibility and awareness. We need to understand that we are not just physical beings with only carnal and physical needs and desires. become slaves to money and material goods. 

 

 Above all, we are beings of light with spiritual identity and divinity and mental powers with which we are endowed by our Creator, God, who created us to His image. With such consciousness we understand our role and vocation in this world as contributors in creating a better place for all. But for this to happen we need higher values, virtues that are associated with morality and ethics, faith and understanding. When we practice such a lifestyle then material things become less important and we are not vulnerable to physical pleasures and the pursuit of material satisfaction. We just need to create a good balance between our desires and our daily challenges in order to achieve our goals in life. The pursuit of happiness is not about quantity but quality.