what do you understand by era of responsibility ? ( The ailing planet ; the green movement role)
Answers
The era of responsibility is that emerging new world vision whereby the concern is not just for survival of the people but also the planet. It takes a holistic view of the very basis of human existence. It signals the new way of thinking where the environmental problem does not necessarily indicate our demise but it is our passport for the future. The era ushered in a holistic and ecological view looking at the world as an integrated whole rather than a collection of desperate elements. Industry played an important role in this shift due to its chief concern being resources and how to use them in a sustainable manner.
Industry has a most crucial role to play in this new Era of Responsibility because as manufacturers and major resource users, only those in Industry could bring about a transformation. Environmental performance should be given top priority and that would be the most ecologically sound way to continue operations. They could change the view people thought about and used resources.
Hope it Helps !!
In this chapter, the writer raises an issue towards the deteriorating health of the earth. As human beings have been exploiting natural resources from decades, presently the condition has made the environment critical. In 1972, the Green Movement helped environmentalists to raise awareness about the harmful condition of the earth and since then there has been no looking back as the movement has been successfully educating people about the conservation of the environment.
Earth is like a patient whose health is declining and it is our duty to improve it. In 1987, the term Sustainable Development was used by the World Commission on Environment and Development. A zoo in Lukasa, Zambia has a cage in which a sign reads ‘The World’s most dangerous animal’ and inside there is a mirror. It gives a message that human beings are the most dangerous animals. Brandt Commission raised a question “Are we to leave our successors a scorched planet of advancing deserts, impoverished landscapes and ailing environment?”
There are four principal biological systems that form the foundation of the global economic system - fisheries, grasslands, forests, and croplands. These four systems also provide food and raw materials for industries except for minerals and synthetics. With these systems becoming unsustainable, fisheries will collapse, the forest will slowly disappear, grasslands will turn into a barren wasteland and croplands will become worse.
In poor countries, forests are being cut down for fuelwood which is used for cooking purposes. There are some areas where the cost of fuelwood is more than the cost of food. It is leading to deforestation at an alarming rate.
One of the reasons for the exploitation of the environment is the increasing population. It is observed that about one million population is increasing in every four days. This is not a good sign. There is an urgent need to control overpopulation in the world. Development is the best contraceptive for this problem as it will help in reduction in fertility, increase in education and income and improvement in health.
We must see the world as a whole and not as dissociated parts. It is a holistic and ecological view. According to Lester brown, we have not inherited the earth from our forefathers but we have borrowed it from our future generations.