Environment – a term we have heard and read about since our childhood. It simply means the world present around us, including all living and non-living things. Our environment is the factor that makes our life convenient on the earth. But, today, in the 21st century, our environment needs protection. Though the environment has been changing ever since the beginning of time, why does it need protection now? Animals have always been evolving, going extinct, and new species coming up. Trees have always been dying, being cut, falling, and new trees growing. So, why are we more worried about our environment now than ever before?
The main reason is the ever-increasing pace of humans not just using, but rather misusing the environmental resources for their own benefits. This is also not much worrying, because natural resources exist so that we can use them. The dangerous fact is that most humans, with their super-intelligent technology, are not giving anything in return to the environment. They are rather disrupting its balance. We are constantly pumping fresh water out of the ground and rather than maintaining its balance, we are polluting the water already present above the ground. We are constantly cutting trees for timber, paper, and other products at such a high speed that it has resulted in many destructive processes such as floods and landslides in hilly areas, soil erosion, increased air pollution, less absorption of carbon dioxide, lesser oxygen levels in the air, among others, which has further resulted in many deadly diseases in humans. To get cured of these diseases, we take the support of medicines and artificial oxygen, all of which require chemical processes which further pollute the environment. Thus, we are stuck in a vicious cycle of wants and needs.
Our animals are suffering even more than humans. Just by cutting trees foolishly fast, we have made many animals, birds, and insects homeless. Due to changing habitats, and the unavailability of food and shelter, they are constantly dying.
Air pollution is another devastation of misusing the environment. We can notice that stars can be hardly seen in the night sky nowadays, especially in highly polluted cities like Delhi. Whereas, during the lockdown period due to coronavirus, people reportedly started sharing pictures of mountain ranges visible from cities that were far away from hilly areas, such as the northern plains of India. In December 2019, the average Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi was 337, which is considered very poor. As human activities slowed down during the lockdown of 2020, the average AQI of Delhi in 2020 fell to 110. It was the lowest in six years. However, in May 2022, the average AQI of Delhi rose to 212. The worst fact is that India is listed among the top most polluted countries in the world every year.
Though this data clearly shows our continuous negligence towards the well-being of our environment, it also gives a motivation that if we start focusing on ways to improve the quality of our environment by taking small measures, we can slowly but surely beat the statistics. Therefore, on 5th June every year, World Environment Day is celebrated to encourage awareness and the need to take action for environmental protection.
This year on World Environment Day, the volunteers of our organization, Shanti Devi Welfare Foundation along with the local community school students planted trees at various locations in Lucknow. Our founder and director, Ms. Muskan Kapoor spread the awareness among the volunteers regarding the importance of protecting our environment and how planting and caring for trees is a responsibility of every human being.
Planting a tree can give a beautiful life to many creatures, as one tree absorbs about one ton of carbon dioxide during its lifetime. Planting a tree can help decrease the ill effects of global warming to huge levels. There are many such benefits of tree plantation, saving our planet being the most important one. So, all we need is a hand willing to dig some soil and plant a sapling, and a caring heart to help the plant grow into a beautiful, healthy tree to make our earth a healthy planet.
Shanti Devi Welfare Foundation 