Mother earth
has 4.54 billion years of age. Almost
same is the age of most of the natural resources in this earth. The existence of
human beings in this earth started about 200000 years ago. It means mankind has
200000 years of history to deliver. The ever and prime story that the he
proudly narrate will be the invention of fire. Since then he began to eat meat
after cooking. For cooking he used log collected from forests. There we started
the consumption of natural resources and it still continues.
The natural
resources that the mankind use include coal, water, petroleum and above said
log. Out of these coal and petroleum are called fossil fuels. They are formed inside
earth after a series of transformation of dead bodies of all living beings.
Thousands of years are needed for this. If we look into the past history of
countries having rich deposit of fossil fuels , at least one natural calamity
like storm , earthquake or flood aging
back to more than thousand years can be spotted. So it is obvious that the coal
or petroleum that are dig today is the energy of our grand grand parents ! A
humour says that fossil fuels will not be produced in earth in future as humans
and animals are rescued from calamities in advance ! So resource shortage will
be the challenge that the next generation going to face soon.
The shortage of
natural resources will affect not only the producing countries, but all the
consumer countries across the globe. The first effect will be on the economy of
the country which will lead to many emergency situations. The first shot of
financial problems will be toward employment. Youth being dominating in the
planet , no doubt, immediate steps is to be initiated by the youth itself.
Regarding my
country India the youth population may cross 2 billions by this year. The new
generation is crazy towards vehicles. In my state Kerala (otherwise called God’s
own country) nowadays there is no house without a single motor vehicle. All
these vehicles are using fossil fuels like petrol, diesel. LPG etc. In addition
to consumption of natural resources they pollute this earth in many ways. It is
estimated that , if current rate of consumption and production pattern
continues and population rise, one earth will not be enough to sustain ,
instead three planets will be required! So the first step to start is from each
individual itself. Youth has to rethink on their lifestyles. They have to
control the use of natural resources. They have to use it judiciously.
Some may call us
alarmists as we talk on the threats rather than the charming future. But it is
real. Once upon a time it was believed that food supply will not end or
starvation will not be there in this earth. But now most of the African
countries are under the curse of starvation. At the same time 1/3rd
of global food production is wasted. During the theme study of World Environment
Day 2013 (Think Eat Save) it was observed that 1.3 billion tons of food is
wasted all over the world which is more than enough to feed the hungry across
the world! So the lifestyle of youth is to be changed.
Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care
