Environmentalist Rachel Carson’s seminal
book Silent Spring, warned the world of impending disasters, launching the
environmental movement. The few lone voices raising the alarm has grown into
universal concern.
2025 has shocked the people of the world
across continents as they struggle to put out wild fires, succumb to flash
floods, pull bodies from under the
rubble of buildings in the aftermath of earthquakes, take shelter from
tornadoes, and hurricanes. Just as Pakistanis were coming to terms with
impending drought, excessive rains have flooded the whole country.
Voltaire said “Men argue. Nature Acts” –
or perhaps reacts. Humanity may just be caught in Earth’s natural reset.
However, many hold human hubris responsible, and indifference to the calls of
nature. While nature adapts and renews
itself, humans remain rigidly intractable waiting for nature to bend to their
ways. Mountains are cut, rivers are straightened, narrowed and dammed. Animal habitats are reduced, forests are cut
down and clouds are seeded to create artificial rain. Nature is replaced with
ever expanding concrete cities.
Property laws were developed to ensure
people learnt to co-exist. No such laws exist to ensure humans can peacefully
coexist with nature. The economy, power drunk in its aim to create what
environmentalist, Thomas Berry, calls a technological wonderworld, goes through
natural resources with increasing volume and speed to produce consumer goods
that only become piles of junk and waste heaps.
Awareness of the planet Earth was only
for the poets, the romanticists, the religious believers, the moral idealists.
Sir David Attenborough suggests that “by bringing economics and ecology face to
face, we can help to save the natural world and in doing so save ourselves.”
While environmental activists engage with
policy makers in world summits, society as a whole needs to reconnect with
nature. Urban dwellers can make many parks, zoos and green spaces, but to truly
understand how nature works, there is no substitute to experiencing nature in
its own domain. Young men used to raft down the river Indus. Hikers still
explore untrodden ways. The Pakistani
poet Afzal Ahmed Syed writes "The bird no longer nests in the tree,
because the tree no longer lives in the forest."
Much can be learnt from village wisdom,
from small farmers who can tell a flood is on the way by the colour of the
river, who can predict rain by how high the eagles fly, and understand a
meandering river reduces the flood risk and should not be straightened.
Thomas Berry writes “To redirect the course of humanity, change
the stories by which we live.” The stories we have lived by have brought us to
this place. The ‘prosperity’ story promotes worship of acquisitions and money.
The ‘biblical’ story focuses on the afterlife rather than the world around us.
The ‘security’ story invents devastating weapons. The story of man as the
centre of the universe is the most dangerous of all. The new generation has to
be taught to respect and partner with nature.
Ecolinguists stress the need to rethink
the words we use to describe our relationship with the natural world. A study
found a more than 60% decline in the use of nature-related words between 1800
and 2019. Jackie Morris’s best seller, The Lost Words, brings back words to
re-enchant children with nature. Pakistani children are more likely to describe
colours as purple and pink rather than jamani or tarboozi.
The term ‘mother earth’ suggests Nature,
like a mother is patient, always supportive, staying hungry to feed her child.
In fact nature is a powerful force that resets the planet through earthquakes,
renews land by flooding, forest fires or wild twisters and hurricanes.
Nature provides many metaphors: tree
roots and strong trunks represent strength and belonging. The Urdu word for
neighbor is humsaya – sharing the shade of a tree. Changing seasons, the
metamorphosis of a butterfly, riding a storm are commonly used metaphors.
Nature can also be used to describe negative situations like being caught in a
spider’s web or depicting unwanted immigrants as alien or invasive plant
species. The terms are transferred generationally, becoming abstract rather
than based on personal observation.
Art has played an important role in
celebrating the beauty of nature from Japan to 19th century Europe.
Emperor Jahangir commissioned a new genre of miniature painting documenting
nature. Cinema has consistently highlighted the impact of climate change. The
messages need to become part of every child’s education.
The word Ecology comes from the Greek
word "oikos, meaning ‘study of the home’ referring to the earth as our
collective home. The whole earth should be considered ‘shamalat’, the Urdu word
for common land.
Thomas Berry warns us “The real history
that is being made is interspecies and human-earth history, not nation or
international history. The real threat
is from the retaliatory powers of the abused earth, nor from other nations.”
Durriya Kazi
September 18, 2025
Karachi
durriyakazi1918@gmail.com
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