Homo Sapiens in Latin means “Wise Man” and refers to species to which all the modern human beings belong, have explored the areas which they could not have even thought of or neither planned to discover. It is worth to mention here that humans first settled in Afro-Asian landmass, as venturing in open sea was a tedious task and as a result none of them reached Australia, America or some remote Islands e.g., Hawaii, New-Zealand etc. A visit to some unknown location gives us the feeling that we are the first to visit and conquer the place which most of the times is not true, as in most of cases there were travellers before us i.e., our forefathers who visited these places and discovered newer ways for us to make things look easier.
There are some interesting questions one can ponder upon, how could Vikings make a settlement in North America exactly centuries before Christopher Columbus arrived in America in around 1492, how could a Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama reach India via the Atlantic Ocean in 1498, how Neil Alden Armstrong an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer land on the Moon in 1969, in terms of availability of machinery at that junction of time, which was very negligible in comparison to latest tools and technologies available as on date.
This makes us to reach to the point that humans are best in terms of their capability and capacity among all other species. One more side of the story is that the major breakthrough, inventions and Scientific research have been realized so many years ago, as wheel was invented in 4th millennium BC, Scientific theories like Gravitational theory and Theory of Thermodynamics have already been proved many years ago. However, Science is rapidly evolving in areas like Infotech and Biotech. There are revolutionary concepts coming forward where machines are performing most of our tasks. As on date we can study Human Gene composition without actually physically making physical contact with human body by using advanced technology available.
The other part of the story related to this Homo Sapiens species may seem bitter but unfortunately is true as human has been labelled as an ecological serial killer. As is rightly said by inventor of Hydrogen bomb, John Wheeler that “As the island of knowledge grows, so does the shore of ignorance”. The nature of problems that world is facing are multifaceted and multidimensional and a world right now is in dire need of a sage, or a leader to bring peace on every front for true liberation. We have major problems in the form of Racism which is visible on roads, work places and playing grounds. Communal problems in the form of religious bigotry, be it mixing some harsh culture with religion which can be seen in countries like Afghanistan, Israel, Iran etc or believing in reviewal of a particular religion/culture that will act as a force in regaining of lost glory of a Nation.
Political problems which have sole motive in maintaining unipolarity and becoming power centre of the world, wherein a particular country may deem a privilege of being right be it by bombing and blasting of any country as USA did in Afghanistan and Iraq, Russia did in Ukraine and China thinking of conquering the whole world by what so ever means. This gloomy side of humans is the complete story to add fuel to fire. Humans of any Nation or Country are collectively responsible for causing damage, deterioration and disturbance of “Human- Environment” in the form of Air/Water/Soil and Noise pollution.
A report published by Stastica reveals that Humans have a devastating effect on the Environment with one million plants and animal species are now threatened for extinction, as a result of direct human activity.The report draws its conclusion on a three year study from 15000 reference materials. In J&K we also encounter such type of Environmental issues. Official data tells us that the area of the Dal Lake has reduced from 2547 hectares in 1971 to 1620 hectares in 2008. Less discussed is the vanishing of so many water bodies in big urban centres like Srinagar, due to construction boom, rising land values and encroachment. Naturally, endowed paddy land has faced similar fate at several places.
This approach of development at the cost of environmental degradation cannot sustain long and is not acceptable at all, as this approach is simple as if a machine is working in a particular direction with a specific type of utility software installed for a particular output in a particular direction. Countries, Nations and people at large should shun away from all such evil practices to make this planet a better place to live for generations to come.
(Author is Assistant-Professor, J&K Higher Education. Feedback: [email protected])
