It’s payback time, ungrateful homo sapiens. Yes, a battered nature now demands payment for all the damages we have done to it in last 4 million years. To save itself from total destruction in the hands of the greedy humans, nature is now poised to strike back with all its might. Do we recognise the tell-tale signs?
Before the advent of the homo sapiens on earth, animals roamed the expanses without the fear of getting killed by man; birds sang on tree tops along with angels in heaven; schools of fishes swam and danced in the springs and flowers blossomed in many hues of colour to praise the Lord. When we humans came in, nature did not protest. It gave us crystal clear water to drink and sustain life. It gave us sweet fruits to pacify our hunger. It gave us cotton to weave cloth and gave us seeds to grow grains. It gave us songs of the mountains to please our aesthetic senses.
But, we humans were not happy with the gifts nature offered in abundance. We wanted more and more, and more. We told ourselves that everything in nature belonged to us so we shall plunder and devour them to satisfy our insatiable greed and lust. So, we started to dig up earth to extract minerals, gold and diamond. We dug up earth to extract iron ore, silver and diamond. To satiate our ever growing hunger we started to catch fish from the depths of the water, hunt and kill animals on the ground, and catch flying birds from the sky to turn them into food. To the horror of nature, humans began to eat any and everything on earth and multiply by billions defying the laws of nature.
Over the millennia, nature observed in silence how in the name of civilisation and modernisation we have severely polluted the oceans, rivers, lakes and canals. Today, sharks, turtles and dolphins are getting caught in the abandoned fishing nets in the oceans and dying painful deaths. Today, ocean and river beds accumulate tons of plastic trash left by the humans. Today, pristine forests with one thousand years old trees are being felled to construct roads and human habitats. Today, hundreds of species of animals, fish and birds have gone extinct because of the mindless hunting of humans. Today, because of shortage of food, polar bears are killing and eating their females and offspring.
And nature continues to suffer in silence. Drowned by the sound of all the construction heavy machinery, we fail to hear the whimper of nature as it suffers and bleeds with every strike of a shovel on its bosom. In the glitter of party lights we fail to notice the tear stains of nature on the gold and diamond necklace of the rich ladies. Because of extra layer of plastic paint, we fail to notice the bloodstains of nature in every burnt brick on the million dollar mansions.
But, how long will nature accept such onslaught of the ungrateful humans? Will it turn around and strike back one day? Has the process begun already? What about the earth warming up because of factory gas and causing ice to melt in the arctic? Why do we say the water thus released from the ice will submerge the low-lying areas of the world? Why do we now fear that many human habitats will get washed away if the glaciers and frozen lakes on the Himalayas start to melt? Bad news is, the process has begun already.
The things already happening are
of Biblical proportion, reminding us the
stories of Ramses the Pharaoh and the curses he suffered.
And unless we learn to love and respect nature,
it will unleash many more weapons to
destroy the humans in the coming days
Why do we fear now that many hitherto unknown disease-causing micro-organisms will become lethal because of climate change and strike humans to their peril? Why mighty humans possessing nuclear warheads cannot fight against those tiny viruses?
Why do mighty humans still look so vulnerable to Ebola, dengue, malaria, Nipah virus, corona virus, bird-flu and even common flu and pneumonia? Why can’t they fight them with machineguns, bombs and nuclear weapons?
See the might of a tiny virus like Corona. Reports say that this virus has already caused world share markets on Friday to crash and thus wipe out $5 trillion. WHO warns of a world-wide pandemic with corono virus present in over 80 countries. China, the worst sufferer so far, is taking mighty blows on its economy. Iran is on the threshold of a big attack. Many South Asian countries have ordered their schools and colleges to remain closed for an indefinite period. It’s high alert mode everywhere. And it is all because of that tiny virus. Amazing!
Ah! A teeny-weeny, infinitesimal, lowly virus has been sent by nature as a test case to warn the powerful humans of dire consequences if it did not stop damaging nature? Yes, perhaps. How else can nature fight back? It will send earthquakes. It will send tsunami. It will send mosquitoes. It will develop more lethal virus. It will burn down forests and homes. It will freeze us to death. It will send heat waves to wipe us out. It will burn our crops in the field and cause famine.
The things already happening are of Biblical proportion, reminding us the stories of Ramses the Pharaoh and the curses he suffered. And unless we learn to love and respect nature, it will unleash many more weapons to destroy the humans in the coming days.
Shahnoor Wahid is Advisory Editor of Bangladesh Post
