We will begin
with a little social experiment to explain the beginning of what came to be
known as the environmental field. Go ask a Kenyan to briefly describe the state
of their environment. To make this a little easier, choose someone who has a
diploma or a degree or is up-to-date with what goes on in Kenya. Then come back
to read the rest of the post. Did they ask you to specify what aspect of the
environment you are interested in? Well, that is the exact mindset that existed
in the world before 1970. That the air, water, soil, forestry, wildlife and
human bodies are separate entities that by no means correlate. They were all
governed by different rules as the governments deemed fit. Until the following
separate incidents happened and the world started questioning if its mode of
operation was favorable to the survival of humans.
Ever heard
of a river on fire? Well, there is one river in the world that has been on
fire, not once but 13 thirteen times. Thirteen! Cuyahoga River in Cleveland,
USA. The most serious fires happened in 1952 and 1969. The Times magazine
described Cuyahoga as the river that a “person does not drown but decays”. Well
Cuyahoga River has always been among the ten most polluted in the world but don’t
you think a river on fire is on the extreme? And to make matters worse, photos of the 1969
fire do not exist because the local media did not pay much attention to it. For
them, that wasn’t much of a newspaper worthy item. The Times magazine had to
use photos of the 1952 fire to report the incident.
Photo courtesy
of Time Magazine: CUYAHOGA RIVER ON FIRE IN 1952
Ever heard
of an author not excited about their book being published? Well, this specific
one was not. In fact, she was not only afraid that the book would be criticized
but would also be stopped from being further marketed. And to make matters, she
was undergoing radiotherapy for cancer at the same time, which made her
skeptical as to whether she would survive the scathing that would come with her
book being published. While every author is usually sending their newly
published books to book reviewers and magazines for a review, she sent hers to
the courts and parliament even before the book went out officially. And to
ensure authenticity, she called in the acclaimed scientist of then to test and
see if her claims were true. Her claims were simple, that DDT, a pesticide that
was being heavily used in USA, led to the loss and inevitably the extinction of
birds together with other insects. And her fears were true, her publishers were
sued while the newspapers that went ahead to review her book were extensively
threatened. Some scientist came in even attacking her personally for being
physically attractive yet unmarried. The woman who dared go against the grain
was Rachel Carson with Silent Spring in 1962.
Photo courtesy
of Wikipedia: RACHEL CARSON’S BOOK-SILENT SPRING
It was
supposed to be the “Year for Africa”. No, that term was not coined by a pastor
or reverend for spiritual reasons. Africans were tired; the wise ones perceived
that and came up with that term. And true to the slogan, 17 countries got
independence that year. But it was also the beginning of the decade that
50million Africans were hit by the worst drought of that century. Over 100, 000
people lost their lives. Cattle and livestock died in extreme numbers. It came
to be known as the Sahelian drought. Most countries have never experienced
drought worse than that since then. The year for Africa was the beginning of
the arguably the best and the worst decade of most African nations, the decade
was 1960s.
What would
you do if your cat started convulsing and doing erratic things? What if the cat
actually became mad? And finally jumped into the sea by itself or rather
committed suicide? Well, residents of a Japan township decided to call it the “cat
dancing disease”. And if you think that was strange to them, think again; crows
started falling from the sky, seaweed, which had been around since time in
memorial stopped growing, while fish floated dead on the surface of the sea. Before
they could get over the shock, they themselves started experiencing strange
symptoms. Two girls went to the hospital with the following symptoms, difficulties
in walking, in speech and convulsions. The doctors had never seen such strange
things. Upon further investigations, it was revealed that 8 people had the
exact symptoms. This alerted the government which formed the “Strange Disease
Countermeasure Committee” to look into the cause and solution of this disease. At
first they thought it was contagious and thus isolated the patients and
fumigated their houses. Later, after countless law suits and denial by the
government, it came to be known as the Minamata disease. Or simply put, mercury
poisoning. The period between discovery of the strange symptoms and the winning
of the lawsuit filed against Chisso corp., the company that deposited mercury
waste into nearby rivers and the government of Japan was 1956-1972.
The world
was waking up to strange new realities that baffled them. Were they related? And
were the various separate solutions being taken to curb these disasters enough?
And even before that, what was causing these incidents? Was man turning against
his own provider? And what was the assurance that it wouldn’t happen again? Was
it possible for developed nations and developing nations to find a common
solution to the different environmental disasters they were facing? And assuming
a common ground was reached wouldn’t putting restriction on the use of
environmental resources affect trade? How would developed nations maintain
their economies? And how would developing nations grow theirs?
The whole
world acknowledged that there was a problem. But no one wanted to be the rat
that put the bell on the cat’s neck.
So what
happened next?
TO BE
CONTINUED….
