By far the most important issue of our times is that the life-nurturing conditions of earth are threatened very seriously for the first time by human-made factors.
Very devastating changes occurred earlier also, such as those which destroyed dinosaurs, but it is for the first time that the changes which very seriously threaten life-nurturing conditions are being brought by any life-species itself (human-made factors). At their worst, these changes can destroy not just human beings but most other species as well as to a substantial extent the chances of their re-emergence. Hence this can be called the survival crisis.
The fact that millions of life species and sub-species have flourished on earth for so long is rooted in the existence of some basic life-nurturing conditions—for example those relating to sunlight, water, soil, forests and a certain mix of various gases.
However these basic life-nurturing conditions cannot always be taken for granted. As humankind accumulates increasing power to disturb and disrupt them, it must also acquire the responsibility not to use this power in ways that will have such a destructive impact.
Unfortunately, the most distressing feature of recent decades has been that humankind is steadily acquiring this power without exercising this responsibility.
The era of life-nurturing conditions being threatened seriously was initiated in 1945 in Hiroshima with the first use of nuclear weapons. Subsequently the race for nuclear weapons increased at a fast pace so that within a few decades the world had enough nuclear weapons to destroy the entire world several times over. This situation still exists.
In addition other weapons of mass destruction exist, and there are increasing risks arising from militarization of space and AI.
Within a few decades the evidence of climate change emerging as a life-threatening environmental problem also became available.
Gradually it became clear that this was only one of the serious environmental problems threatening basic life-nurturing conditions. There are in fact about a dozen or so such problems, often related to each other (including the careless unleashing of many high hazard technologies and products for making quick profits or for other narrow objectives) which threaten humanity, other life forms and life-nurturing conditions.
As these problems have increased and top scientists have increasingly warned about them, very sadly an adequate response has not emerged. In the case of environmental problems, the overwhelming evidence points to the response falling far short of what is needed. In the case of weapons of mass destruction, some of the gains made earlier have in fact been lost in more recent years.
Hence the issue of serious human-made threats to life and life-nurturing conditions has three components—
*accumulation of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, secretive development of biological/ chemical weapons, use of AI for weapons and militarization of space, increasing possibilities of actual use of such weapons by state and non-state actors;
*about a dozen serious environmental problems led by climate change;
*increasing evidence of the inability of the international community, its institutions and leadership, to respond in effective, credible, non-partisan ways that can give genuine hope of the essential solutions to emerge in time.
In fact comprehensive responses which are able to together tackle all the components of the survival crisis are not very visible at all. Yes, sporadic efforts exist but these are very inadequate.
This response is revealed to be even more inadequate when we remember that this most serious issue of our planet can be resolved only by a mass awakening which makes tens of millions of people very active as protectors of peace and environment.
Hence three steps are proposed here to partially make up for the rather inexcusable failures so far.
- Set up a non-partisan, permanent, people-based international organization, entirely free of power rivalries, devoted to finding comprehensive, time-bound solutions to all aspects of this survival crisis.
- Secondly, declare the next decade (2025-35) at world-level as the decade for protecting the life-nurturing conditions of earth within a framework of justice and democracy ( this writer has been campaigning for this declaration for several years);
- Use the above two measures to prepare during the next decade tens of millions of citizens, mostly youth, devoted to the pursuit of peace and environment protection with justice, and create enabling, encouraging conditions for them to work with communities and educational institutions with continuity so that within a decade most people of the world are much more conscious and willing to accord high priority to protecting life-nurturing conditions.
There should be no further delay in such a program of action as already there has been too much delay. Let us not forget that environmental problems like climate change have their tipping points beyond which these can spiral out of control. Let us also not forget the increasing dangers of use of weapons of mass destructions as reflected in recent and ongoing conflicts.
Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now with its SED (Save the Earth Decade) Demand. His recent books include Protecting Earth for Children, Planet in Peril, Earth without Borders, A Day in 2071 and Man over Machine.
