Imagine a high-rise building with about 200 flats ( some big, some small) whose residents come to know that in nine flats so many bombs and explosives are stocked that these have the capacity to blow over the entire building and kill almost all residents. There is a possibility, although rare, that some residents may intentionally start an explosion aimed at hurting a few residents which could then escalate to kill most others, or else explosions could start due to misunderstandings and accidents.
The residents of the apartments block would be extremely alarmed when they come to know all this, and would immediately start getting together to take actions aimed at protecting themselves, calling in security and taking other safety steps on their own. They would be very angry with the authorities who allowed such a huge threat to emerge. They would ask for immediate effective urgent action to ensure safety. First of all they would demand that explosives endangering the safety of all residents should not be allowed to remain in the building at all. However if it was somehow not possible immediately to remove all explosives from the building, then they would ask the authorities to makes doubly sure that very definite steps are taken to ensure that no explosion is caused under any circumstances.
After a few days these residents assemble again to find out what safety steps have been taken so far, and whether the safety situation has improved. They find to their horror that the hostilities due to which an explosion may be initiated have actually worsened. They learn that some safety steps that the authorities had taken initially are already on the verge of breaking down. They also learn to their alarm that there are indications that the explosives stored in 9 flats identified earlier are likely soon to be stored in some other flats as well.
Alarmed that the safety crisis threatening the life of all residents is worsening instead of improving, the residents of this building get together to start a more intense and united struggle for ensuring the safety of all residents, as saving life must after all get the highest priority.
Now instead of thinking of just this building please think of the entire earth which has about 200 countries, some big and some small, and 9 of these countries have stocks of nuclear weapons. These weapons, about 13,000, have more than enough destructive capacity to kill almost everyone by their direct and indirect impacts of fire, explosion, radiation and nuclear winter. To prevent this some limited agreements were reached which have been breaking down or were not renewed. The hostilities between those holding the most weapons have been increasing and the possibilities of actual use of weapons, intentionally or on the basis of misunderstanding and accident, have been increasing. There are signs that the number of countries having these weapons may soon increase beyond the present number of nine.
However the kind of alarm raised by the residents of the imaginary building in our example above has not been seen in the real life situation of the earth. In fact, compared to the extremely high risks posed by nuclear weapons, or other weapons of mass destruction, public action relating to stopping the destructiveness associated with these weapons has been quite limited, and even as the threat has increased more and more still public action to stop this has remained very limited.
There is another big difference regarding the comparison with the building. If nothing works out and all their efforts go unheeded, the residents of the building have the option of shifting elsewhere. The residents of earth (or at any rate at least 99.99% of them), however, have only one planet to live on. So it is all the more important that safety issues at world-level, or at the level of the entire planet, should get a lot more public attention and commitment than what these have received so far.
Somehow some of the most important global safety issues, which are of great importance for saving lives today but will be of even greater importance for the safety of our children and grandchildren tomorrow, have not received public attention and involvement to the extent needed. However just leaving these issues to some world leaders at the top can be a very inadequate response which is already proving very costly and may prove to be even more costly in the near future. Hence ways and means gave to be found to creatively and closely engage most people in issues of global safety and protection.
Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Protecting Earth for Children, Planet in Peril, Man over Machine and A Day in 2071.
