We humans have been hunting birds and animals since time immemorial. In the primeval forests they were found in larger number than homo sapiens but now their number seems to have quite dwindled.

Increased human population, advances in technology and socioeconomic system based the notion of consume more triggered a process of destruction of nature sanctioned my religious, metaphysical and legal superstructure. A visible result is that our current world with its remaining species of birds and animals is like the unknown soldier described by poet Brecht: “But when we had killed him / We handled him in such a way that he lost his face under the marks of our fists / This was how we made him unrecognizable…”.

Like the battered unknown soldier our earth has become unrecognisable. But by eliminating other species from the face of earth, we risk life and limb. The planet isn’t meant for our comfort alone as we erroneously tend to think under some ill-conceived ideological constructs. It’s a hugely complex and delicately intricate network of interconnections that sustains life in all its forms. Man is not nature’s preferred creature. It’s indifferent to his destiny. It is concerned to protect or destroy what it creates and surely punishes those who upset its balance by interfering in it for their exclusive advantage.

When we weren’t too many we understood better the organic links that existed between things, animate and inanimate. We were less powerful but more humane. Remember Valmiki? He is highly venerated as Adi Kavi (the first poet/ the immortal poet). He is the author of one of the most revered poetic compositions known as Ramayana.

Valmiki went to have a dip in the river and saw a pair of mating cranes singing by the river. A Nishada hunter came and killed the male. The hen cried in pain when she saw her mate wreathing on the ground in agony. Valmiki was overwhelmed by his feelings of compassion. He thought that it was against Dharma to kill a bird without rhyme or reason. He muttered imprecations and said that the hunter would never have peace since he had killed the male crane at the height of his desire. We kill, for example, thousands of Siberian cranes every year with no fear of being cursed. So anthropocentric we are in our ignorance. Cranes land here at the start of winter and get shot down but now we have summer with its scorching sun and sizzling air. The landscape is bone dry, the colour of white heat. Rivers and streams have nearly gone dry. Small ponds and lakes have a look of ugly mud after losing stored water to relentless evaporation. One can see birds falling; dehydrated and exhausted. The heat is so intense, in the words of a village elder, that man and wife prefer to behave like siblings.

The worst hit are arid regions and rainless deserts such as Cholistan and Thal in Punjab, Thar in Sindh and vast swathes of countryside in Balochistan. In Cholistan, the traditional ponds (Toba) which offer a lifeline for the water scarce sprawling desert have gone completely dry as if hit by a terrible drought. The herds are disoriented due to the impact of searing heat. Some animals simply collapse and die while others are rattled by diseases. The sand dunes appear like graves, mouths agape. The administration which consumes a huge chunk of public money is horribly ill-prepared to face the crisis and bring succour to the people as it has neither the will nor the skill to be up to par. It would do what it’s best at; covering up its failures. It’s not just the deserts, the canal-irrigated areas are more or less equally hit as the water channels and canals have been closed due to low level of water in the dams adversely affecting the sowing season and crops. If you sow less you shall reap less. It’s as simple as that. And yet things are not as simple as they look. The present water crisis is not something natural. It’s a man-made disaster. Exponential population growth, denuding of soil, deforestation, destruction of animal sanctuaries, horizontal urban expansion and above all injudicious use of water resources have created a situation that would have dire consequences.

The rich love to build golf courses. Most of the upper, middle and lower class houses are partially washed daily. New SUVs and old bangers are generously washed with clean tabbed water every morning. Ground water is fast depleting. The situation forces all and sundry to buy an automobile since there isn’t even a semblance of efficient public transport. This adds to air pollution and raises temperature. None of above is a product of nature. It’s on the contrary actions against nature or gross interference in the working of nature. Nature is only reacting against what we do to it. We in our supreme wisdom, which is thinly concealed hubris, think that we do all this for the sake of development forgetting that in our interconnected world exclusive development is counterproductive. And if it takes place at the expense of others, it becomes disastrously self-defeating. Just look around and see the fallout of what we have been doing.

Rapid glacial melting in our northern areas as a result of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions has started taking its toll. Ablation causes freakish weather and erratic seasonal cycles that turn into routine phenomena with far-reaching impact on myriad forms of life. The real question is; one, whether we can develop in isolation, two, whether we can have exclusive privileges from nature. The answer is no. The planet is meant for all it has. Hence it’s a shared asset. We cannot claim it exclusively for ourselves. If do so in our stupidity and greed, the cost is going to be unimaginably high; extinction of human species.

In not a distant future we shall be confronted with a situation forcing us to make a crucial decision about our future as a species. Nature has one simple principle; all or none. Now it’s up to us to decide whether we want all dead or to be living together with all. — soofi01@hotmail.com

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2022