Nurture our nature

I love nature. I would any day go out for a walk in fresh air than sit at home. Every weekend morning we used to go for small treks to the hills behind our society spotting birds and lakes and different shapes of rocks.

Rocks in Hyderabad form beautiful formations.We used to name the rocks according to how it looked. There is a very special rock which became a very important landmark for us. we called it the Guardian rock. It looked as though it is looking over the hills and the lake and guarding it.

I absolutely hated it when they used to break the rocks for building purposes. I have a sticker on my door that says Rocks take 2,500 million years to form and 2 seconds to blast. I got that sticker from ‘Rockathon’ which is an event which works towards protecting our rocks.

It is organised by the society to save rocks and The Great Hyderabad Adventure Club. I took part in that event twice and had a lot of fun both the times and it also helped me appreciate our rocks even more.

Also This would be the time when I would have been back from my week-long Himalayan trek where I would have trekked in the alpine meadows at 9500 feet and been writing about my amazing experience there and what all I did. The normal teen flex right ? But life doesn't always go according to plan,now does it ?

So my dad has been going for week long treks to Himalayas every year and I finally got a chance to go there in 2017 when I was 12 and eligible for this. I won't tell you about the trek or the visuals as there are many things that can’t be expressed in words and that is one of them. You need to see it for yourself.The beauty of the mountains can be seen and captured by the mind only, not the camera. The beauty can’t be expressed in words. I will still put a few pictures. Just for the feels.

So why am I telling you all this and hyping you about this beautiful part of our world. I am telling you this as people are ready to destroy them for their own greed.

We go for the trek through AAGAAS Federation. We came across multiple villages and even a few people staying in tents near a small pond or patch of grass with their cattle or herds. So the AAGAAS Federation has been working for the promotion of Biotourism/Ecotourism based activities in the Central Himalayan region since the last 13 years. They work on Building upon the indigenous systems of community towards successful ecologically and economically viable livelihood systems. They are also helping in the revival of traditional crafts and heritage and also educate the locals schools and communities on their environment and how they can conserve it. People go to these places and leave their chips packets behind. I mean come on guys ! There is a beautiful saying that I think we should always follow when we visit somewhere else “ Leave nothing behind but footprints, take nothing away but memories.” We should not leave behind our trash and take away anything from there that might as it deserves to be there.

During the trek to ensure we don't leave anything behind we made a rule.

Everyday we used to carry toffees to eat throughout the day and we used to collect the wrappers making sure we don’t leave it behind and the next day exchange it for more toffees. So if you didn't have the wrappers you couldn't get more toffees. A lot of people would be like one or two toffee wrapper won't affect the environment. What we forget is that if everyone thinks the same way we would be leaving behind so much trash. And remind yourself the number of times you said that to yourself and leave behind the trash thinking "Just this once". More than you should right ? So small things like this make a big difference to our environment.

We crossed a lot of villages on the way and the hospitality is incredible. If it coincided with lunch we would get delicious local food and we would obviously leave money for the food. So it very struck me that if we had this kind of ecotourism on a big scale these villages would progress. These villages hardly have access but we could bring them closer to the rest of India with these kinds of educational trips. In villages like these, women and children are left behind as the men leave in search of a better livelihood. We could provide them with a livelihood in their village while maintaining the environment. Sustainable development is very important for us to progress and protect at the same time .

Back to the present.I was recently informed by my cousin,Disha Bhatt about the coal mining in Dehing Patkai (Assam).Recently, the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has agreed to the proposal recommending the usage of 98.59 hectares of land belonging to the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Reserve, for extraction of coal by Coal India Limited. There are about 293 species of birds, 30 species of butterflies, 47 species of reptiles, 24 species of amphibians, and more than 100 species of orchids found there. Due to the less forest cover the man and elephant conflict are increasing due to which both humans and elephants are losing their lives. Much more decrease in the forest cover will get the elephants and humans face to face and because humans have much more advanced tools , elephants will be the ones killed. A lot of people are arguing on the fact that we need coal for progressing and energy. But at what cost ? At the cost of other living beings ? This Earth is for all of us to share. And coal is a nonrenewable resource so after the coal in that area is run out ,the land will be left barren causing soil pollution, soil erosion, leaching and the soil will become useless. We already have scarce fertile top soil and this project will not help in the coming future.

I was doing some research and in one of the reasons why we should oppose this project ,a point was given that should be able to convince most of the people why we shouldn't be doing it.

There is a clear consensus amongst the scientists and environmentalists that the rise in zoonotic diseases is directly linked to biodiversity and forest destruction. Zoonoses like Ebola, Bird Flu, MERS, Zika Virus and now the Coronavirus. Man-made environmental changes modify wildlife population structure; disrupt biodiversity, resulting in environmental conditions that favour particular pathogens. The current pandemic can be considered as nature’s last warning.

Whenever I ask people to pick up the garbage they have thrown down or go home and throw it in the dustbin they always ask me whether I am working for Swachh Bharat. No, I am working so that our future is safe. Wear masks (preferably homemade) and stay safe !