A Naturalist’s Remorse

Construction and man-made pavements outnumber natural paths for walking. Photo: Digital Subway

It is easy to fall prey to machinations of a plebian lifestyle. And it normally takes a stimulant or in its absence, a conscious effort to resist this temptation. Our deviation from spiritual to material beings has followed along a continuum, which is largely why many of us have embraced without any questioning. However, once in a while we come down with this bout of dissatisfaction, sense of guilt or maybe even acute depression and are not sure how or why it came about. I will share with you a little revelation (self-rambling) I had.

A few days ago, I was taking a barefooted walk. I hope you know that walking without an artificial layer of protection between our heels and the Earth is fun. The experience is not transformative yet it is uniquely rewarding because suddenly we have a greater awareness of our surroundings. While walking in our shoes, our heels are indifferent to grass, gravel pavements or tarred roads.

Barefooted, I could feel the textures of pebbles, thick and thin grasses, tarred roads and varieties of soil. While I was trying to avoid concrete pavements, just because walking on grass felt a lot softer and kinder on my heels, it struck me that walking on grass has become a luxury. Everywhere I looked, I saw concrete pavements. Grass was rare. I came to realize that one of the most abundant substances on the Earth had become a rarity in the region with high population density. Nature is absent where humans are present. And this feeling pushed me into further contemplation, an abysmal realization as I would later determine.

Trinity University's beauty is marred by construction and concrete rubble. Photo: Digital Subway

The roads and pavements that we have constructed out of tons of cement, sand, rocks, fired clay and tar has been brought about by mass displacements of these substances from its original destination. Thousands of clay-fired bricks for construction is prepared by digging out large amounts of clay which leaves behind islands of emptied Earth, only later to be filled as puddles or ponds by rain. Tons of concrete is manufactured by mining limestone from caves and mountains which renders them unstable and vulnerable to further erosion. Similarly, sand for preparing the right density of concrete is obtained by digging up river basins or grinding rocks collected from rivers or mountains which alters the landscape and decreases the capacity of rivers to soak water. What we proudly call development is limited to our vicinity and if seen, in the light of a larger area is an unplanned, unwise and eco-destructive resource displacement.

It does not always require one to be in a thinking session to be struck by such grossly inappropriate human actions. All it takes is a receptive mind. We do not always realize the full implications or ramifications of our actions. Circumspection, although essential has been used very infrequently. Take for instance, the remorse and suffering after a natural disaster like flood strikes a region. We are smart and quick to call it a “natural” disaster oblivious of the fact that it could have been caused due to our own unwise action of emptying out sands from river-beds. Similarly, by replacing natural grasses with concrete pavements, we reduce its natural capacity to maintain moisture, regulate water cycle and resist desertification. And then again, we feel terrible that the God brought upon us yet another drought or excessive rainfall this season.

Natural imbalances that we (humans) are inducing inadvertently have been pointed out by several naturalists, scientists, saints and philosophers alike. However, the human populations driven by materialistic instincts are more comfortable believing the rational explanations offered by economists that environmental impacts are simply by-products of development. A less pristine environment is tolerable to maintain the high standards of living. We are assured that even if we have unusually hot summers or frigid winters, air conditioning units (thanks to smart engineers) will continue to keep us cozy. Occasional brown-outs or black-outs caused on days with severe weather (an unusual snow day or during a heat wave) is attributed to anomalies in our aging transmission grid and electrical failures. Unless we are willing to admit that development is synonymous to ecological destruction, we may lie as much as we like about “natural” causes of calamities but their frequencies will keep increasing. The fact that 2010 and 2011 were among the years with most “natural” disasters around the world should serve as an evidence to the claim proposed in this article.