Enviroment vs Development

The Nano discussion carried on to some concerns about the environmental cost of development. Very interesting and so am including some of my views on the subject.

India, China, USA rank among the highest polluters of the world. But as long as we want to wear beautiful clothes (rather than clad in environmental friendly leaves), build a house with concrete (rather than wood and mud), drive a car (rather than a bullock cart), use a fridge (rather than just cooking everyday and throwing away the leftover)…..all these and many more, basically, take the convenience of modern living, we can’t stop the age old economic formula of demand and supply. We demand the modern priviledges and hence, there is a supply for it. Are we willing to give it up ? To regress back in time and live like the Amazonian tribes ? Guess not. Very few among us try to be environmentally friendly and even if we take steps to be so, they are too little, too late. I religiously recycle everything possible, but still feel that I sometimes don’t think twice before printing an email. How many of us will take the bus to work rather than drive in the comfort of the car ? Use of public transport is better for the environment, but we balk at the thought of it. Cycle to work is a good option, but how many of us do it ? I take the old fashioned cloth shopping bag for my weekly grocery shopping, but easily give in to the convenience of using the plastic bags on the days that I forget the shopping bag at home. Like me, so many of us are probably thinking about the environment, but doing just about little or nothing for it.

Are we, as a nation, willing to forgo being an economic superpower for the sake of a better environment ?
Are we, as individuals, willing to go back to nature, live a life off the field in a small village and forgo the luxuries of modern living for the sake of a better environment ?

If the answer to the second question is a no, then the answer to the first question is also a no.

Nano would not have come about if people did not want it. When we drive cars costing 2 lakhs or more, then will the person sweating it out on a hot summer sticky polluted road on a bike costing Rs 60,000, not want the comfort of a car at Rs 1 lakh or so ? Is it fair that he be denied the comfort that is now the privilege of the middle classes alone ? The man walking on the road, dreams of owing a cycle. The man on the cycle, dreams of a scooter. The man on the scooter, dreams of a car and the man on the car, dreams of a better car. The aspirations go on and that is normal in all humans. Its part of evolution.

What perhaps is needed is pragmatic, sustainable and environmentally responsible solutions to fulfilling such aspirations. Maybe a Nano that runs on renewable energy sources rather than crude oil is a solution ?