Utopia Vs Dystopia

The day the Nisarga cyclone struck Maharashtra, a sombre contrast of sorts came up.

"The cyclone was barely anything." groaned the Mumbaikars.

"The winds of the cyclone broke the roof of my house in my hometown." wailed my domestic help.

And while it indeed is true that the cyclone struck the rural areas south of Mumbai, harder than Mumbai itself, it is the "if it does not affect me, it doesn't matter" attitude that, frankly speaking, is a shortcut to dystopia.

Lets take an example. One leaves the light and fan switched on in a room despite the room being unused by anyone. The person might think that doing so will result in a minimal increase in the electricity bill and nothing more, but at this point I have news for you.

The electricity used to power the unused light and fan, in India atleast, most likely came from non-renewable sources of energy like coal-fired power plants. These sources release toxic gases into the air. This increases carbon footprint, and the following ensues:

What you see today is just a harmless case of a light and fan being off. What you don't see is that the climate change will take a toll on someone vulnerable, in the most gruesome ways possible. For instance, parched landscapes and high temperatures causing heat-strokes, more frequent floods damaging their habitation altogether, extreme cold freezing those with no habitation and no thermal-wear to death.

And to think that there are thousands of such people making the same reckless mistake of leaving a fan and light switched on unnecessarily. The cumulative effect is the aggravation of the adverse environmental effects discussed above.

Essentially, every time one acts environmentally irresponsible, they are tightening an invisible noose around the neck of someone more vulnerable to climate change. Those of us who are privileged, can reduce the effect or climate change on us by just turning up AC or heater a notch, or by adjusting our clothing accordingly.

What about those who do not earn enough to protect themselves from climate change?

Do they deserve unspeakable levels of suffering because thousands of people around the world can't do the one-second job of flipping a switch?

Empathy is the key, people, empathy. If we put ourselves in the shoes of the vulnerable people and understand the pains they face because of climate change, we would be able to make informed choices even on the most "harmless" things like a switch for an appliance.

Next time you do something 'harmless', do think about this : is this worth some unrelated vulnerable person's pain? Or even more, the person's life?

Well, the question that you might have right now is, "what can I do to be more environmentally responsible?"

And the answer is : take a few minutes.

Yes, you read it right. A few minutes of your time can protect someone vulnerable from potentially a lifetime of suffering.

How?

Mindful choices.

Mindful choices need no more than a few minutes, or even a few seconds. Simple choices like switching off unused electrical appliances or taps to avoid electricity or water wastage. Avoiding unnecessary usage of petrol/diesel car travel so as to reduce harmful gas emissions. Discarding something only after careful consideration - something that can be recycled or reused, should be recycled and reused. These are just a few examples. We already know quite a bit about pollution and environmental sustainability to know the dos and don'ts. For example, following the 3Rs- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Let's take a few minutes of our time to implement them as well.

And always remember : sustainability does involve big investments like electric cars, rainwater harvesting and many more. But what is commonly overlooked about sustainability is that, our small, mindful choices have just as significant impact as our big choices. Big choices like the aforementioned ones involve factors like big sums of money, the attainment of which may not directly be in our control. But the miniscule things we do, that involve little to no money, are very much in our control, and doing those is our contribution to utopia .

The presence, or lack thereof, of empathy, marks whether we are moving towards utopia or dystopia. You decide what you want for yourself.