Concern about the future of civilisation makes one reach the conclusion that the ongoing climate change is the most serious phenomenon that can terminate the possibility of a happy and vibrant future. According to professor of environmental science and director of communication department of environmental science at GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Vir Singh, all crises of life on the living planet are rooted in ecological crises. The crises of global warming and consequent climate change reeling over the earth are the crises rooted in gradual environmental disruptions leading to continuous breaking down of ecological integrity, he says.
Sing elaborates, “Food security is the basis of socio-economic wellbeing, but there can be no food security unless there is drinking water security. The drinking water security, in turn, cannot be ensured without ecological security, as the natural water cycle crucial for water security is dependent on the state of the environment. Ecological security cannot be ensured amidst the dismal scenario of environmental disruption all around. Ecological security is achievable only through ecological integrity. The overall security of life in the biosphere and of human wellbeing flows through ecological integrity. Ecological integrity is the destination of universal evolution. It cannot be sliced as Darwin attempted to do. It is holistic in itself.” He stresses that ecological integrity is the bottom line of everything else in the biosphere. Ecological integrity is a vital condition that keeps an ecosystem intact, vibrant with native biodiversity and in biological evolution.
“Indian culture has its roots in Aranya Sanskriti, (forest culture). Ecological integrity in the past therefore was not a problem. Now we are participating in a development race that depends on the exploitation of natural resources. This has created a state of ecological paucity followed by ecological disintegration. The problem is further aggravated by changing the chemical constitution of our atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere. If we analyse the whole situation of our lifestyles, we arrive at the conclusion that our ethical system which used to help us to be in the state of ecological integrity is on the verge of collapse. This, nevertheless, is not a national problem. This is the global problem that goes hand in hand with the growth-oriented and resource-depleting socioeconomic development. With the depletion of natural resources, especially of forests, carbon cycle has changed its behaviour. Most of the atmospheric carbon remains unsequestered into biomass and soil and contributes to increase atmospheric carbon concentration. This amount of carbon is over and above what is added to the atmosphere through carbon emissions by variety of industrial units ranging from refineries to thermal power plants to meat industry. According to Singh, the climate change resulting from gradual breaking down of ecological integrity, in essence, is a crisis of environmental ethics. “Ecological integrity and environmental ethics are closely allied and inseparable. Erosion of environmental ethics leads to corresponding breaking down of ecological integrity. Environmental ethics is a part of environmental philosophy. It exerts essential influence on environmental sociology, environmental geography, ecotheology, ecological economics, environmental laws, etc. Environmental ethics is all-powerful to sensitise human thinking and to cause humans to make a change that matters. Ecological integrity, in essence, pivots on environmental ethics. Devoid of environmental ethics, ecological integrity is bound to break down and turn to ecological disaster. This is the dismal scenario of our times, and we can neither watch it happening nor allow it to happen. We have to ensure ourselves in our present times that a happy, vibrant, creative and evolving humanity will be the rule of all the times to come,” he emphasises.