For the Love of Nature

We all like to be called nature lovers, especially when it comes to travel, solace, solitude and musings. But, can we really call our love for spending time with nature as our love for 'the nature'? Here's an excerpt of a discussion around how toxic, fake and messed up our relationship with nature has become today. Change in Range introduces its team through their common affinity towards nature and their thoughts on the awareness and action a true nature lover should always be in a pursuit of. The following compilation has been done by Sindhu Khanna and Nikita Thakur taking inputs from members of Change in Range on V-Day!

Our affinity towards nature is genetic and deep-rooted in evolution. People always prefer to book accommodations that have a great view from the balcony or the terrace, patients who get a natural view from their hospital bed recover sooner than others, when stress takes a toll on mind, just a walk in the woods or a stroll by the beach on a sunny morning can awaken the innermost feelings of happiness and peace. This is true, not only for humans but every creature on the planet.

"In nature, nothing is perfect and yet everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they're still beautiful." -Alice Walker

Frank Lloyd Wright had rightly said, “Study Nature, love Nature, stay close to Nature. It will never fail you.”

For Sindhu, nature means a space where she can forget all her shortcomings and just be her true self. It gives her a sense of joy and happiness. In Tripti's views, Mother nature has music for those who listen. It has its own rhythm and notes which is healing and soothing. Chhavi feels that Nature is our lifeline, it is our only hope that can protect us from colossal and internecine damage that humans are afflicting on themselves in their changing way of interaction with surroundings. Nature is a serene beauty that is a gift to us, it is delicate yet so strong that it has endured years of exploitation.

Nikita shares that she recently learnt about forest bathing, or Shinrin-Yoku, as they call it in Japan, a famous way of spending time in nature. Research has shown that people who practice forest bathing have optimum nervous system functions, well-balanced heart conditions, and reduced bowel disorders.

Going into nature and being surrounded by the wisdom of the trees, the beauty of the grasses, the inspiration of the mountains, and in the warmth of the sun on a cold winter morning, one can indeed feel the subtle peace of mind and rejuvenation of spirit. It gives a sense of wholeness and peacefulness and helps detaching oneself from the chaotic world around.

Meghana highlights the concept of Ecosystem services too - the benefits people derive from ecosystems. Plants clean air and filter water, bacteria decompose wastes, bees pollinate flowers, and tree roots hold soil in place to prevent erosion. All these processes work together to make ecosystems clean and functional.

The Challenges in the relationship

Our love and affection towards the pleasures and services which nature ungrudgingly provides for us is indeed undebatable. However, we must question our self whether that makes us true nature lovers. If all we care about is what we get from nature and spare no time and hold no accountability to the damage and destruction our species is thrusting on it, does the term 'Nature Lovers' really justify our being?

Rashmi cites a report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which marks that nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history – and the rate of species extinctions is accelerating, with grave impacts on people around the world now likely, Vidhi talks about the degradation of nature. "The population of vertebrate species declined by around 68 per cent between 1970 and 2016."

Venisa thinks that at both the population and the individual levels, heat and poverty are something of an ouroboros, a cycle that wealthy people and countries perpetuate via emissions, but themselves are able to escape by way of air-conditioning, indoor work, and social and geographic mobility which they can afford.

"Destruction of Nature is now becoming Human Nature" -Dulsi Joy

Just like any lopsided relationship, we have been taking nature for granted and overexploiting it. We clear forests, overfish oceans, pollute rivers and encroach over wetlands without taking account of the impact this will have. By not taking into account the benefits we get from nature, we create huge social and economic costs for ourselves.

One of main reasons for the fire breakouts in the wild between Colorado and California was the drought conditions and global warming that caused more than 10,000 wildfires. Climate change, exacerbated by our own anthropogenic activities, thus, is a very big and important part of the story, highlights Chhavi.

According to Nomeeta, lack of proper waste management is also a major contributor to nature's depletion. Humans are generating too much trash and cannot deal with it in a sustainable way. Waste that is not biodegradable and cannot be properly recycled is filling our oceans and landfills. She cites that in 2017, for instance, the Environmental Protection Agency calculated that the total generation of municipal solid waste in the United States in that year alone was 267.8 million tons.

Midhuna adds that Plastic pollution is the most widespread problem affecting the marine environment. It also threatens ocean health, food safety and quality, human health, coastal tourism, and contributes to climate change. She points towards the most visible and disturbing impacts of marine plastics i.e. ingestion in food chains, suffocation to sea life and entanglement of hundreds of marine species. With sky rocketing plastic production, low levels of recycling, and poor waste management, between 4 and 12 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean each year—enough to cover every foot of coastline on the planet!

Making up to nature for all the troubles, not only out of love but for our own survival.

We literally cannot live without nature!

For Shreya, Greta Thunberg is her idol. At an approximately age of 8 years she learned about the issue of climate change. The issue affected her to a great extent and within years she changed her own habits. Becoming a vegan and refusing to travel by airplane, she immediately dropped out of school and is internationally known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action against climate change.

Sangam feels that Indigenous communities play a key role in protecting our environment and natural resources because they rely on sustainable use of natural products and in turn, protect the environment. Indigenous people maintain 80% of the planet’s biodiversity in 85% of the world’s protected regions.

She also gives an example of a community living in Fiji Islands who revived the traditional knowledge and made salt using traditional processes with the help of UNDP. Now, those people have again started connecting with nature. They have developed a sense of responsibility for protecting it. This shows that there is a great potential in traditional knowledge in connecting people to the nature.

Vidhi emphasizes the role of vision 2030 of the UN that asks for urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts, in inspiring individuals and organizations, all over the world to take action towards the same. It includes strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries and Integrating climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning.

Coming to local initiatives and innovations for the purpose, Chhavi talks about Ecosia, a search engine developed in 2009, that plants trees every time we search through it. More than 60 million trees have been planted so far through the initiative. Similarly Shreya shares about another initiative in which a forest application team partners with a real-tree-planting organization, 'Trees for the Future', to plant real trees on Earth. When the users spend virtual coins they earn in Forest on planting real trees, the Forest team donates to its partner and creates planting orders.

We keep witnessing the wrath of nature in various forms evoked by the stimulus provided by man-made disturbances. Be it recent flash floods in Chamoli or floods in Kerela or the historic pandemic we witnessed, perpetuated by human- wildlife conflict. Although, we have already caused much harm and hurt to nature, we can certainly make efforts to turn this relationship into a truly beautiful one, where we try to return the love and care we receive. Our passion for nature must not be limited to indulgences but should get articulated in our action. We must develop conservationist ethics, spare time for building nature back, support environmental initiatives and remain vigilant and vocal about the violations and injustice to the natural surroundings around us.

-Editorial inputs by Ujala Mall