The Universities and their
Commitment to the Good of the Planet
Rev.Fr. George Madathiparampil Ph.D.
Secretary Higher Education, Syro-Malabar Church
Former President, St. Berchmans’ College
Kerala, India
In this
paper, I am going to deal with the green house effect in India and especially
in the State of Kerala and the remedial measures that could be taken by
Catholic colleges in the State.
Role of Universities in the
Transformation of the Society
As the
universities are the intellectual hubs of a society, it would be a great
tragedy if the students and the faculty exhibit a severe lack of understanding
of the importance of the preservation of the environment. If the university education
does not enable the students and the faculty in preserving the planet, the
billions of dollars spent in higher education become a waste of resources.
Referring to this wastage of human potential in higher education, David Orr remarks:
“The problem of education as opposed to the problem in education can be
attributed in large part to the fact that all too often schools, colleges and
universities have been uncritically accepting of and sometimes beholden to larger economic and
political forces.” He further points out that the “imperative is that we must
pay full and close attention to the ecological conditions and prerequisites by
which we live.”According to Orr, “we seldom know how human actions affect
ecosystems or the biosphere gives us every reason to act with informed
precaution.”(Earth in Mind: On
Education, Environment and the Human
Prospect, Island Press,Washington,P.3)
The need of
the hour is to change the perspectives of the people in their relationship with
the environment. Instead of trying to dominate the planet, we have to enable
the educated to build up relationships with all levels of existence. Fritjof
Capra offers a new world view from his
study of modern physics that emphasizes “interconnectedness, relationship, dynamic
patterns, continual change and transformation.”(Uncommon Wisdom,Flamingo,London, p.225)Capra wants a new
perspective with regard to the Universe: “To change this situation is now
absolutely vital for our well-being and survival, and change will only be
possible, as a society, to shift to a new holistic and ecological vision of
reality.”(Uncommon Wisdom, p.190).
Pope
Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
Pope Francis comes out strongly in favor of protecting the environments
through his various address, talks and encyclical letters. Some of his
statements are given below:
“There is a moment in which man goes too far in this task of subduing the
earth; he gets overly zealous and loses respect for nature.Then ecological
problems arise, like global warming, which are new forms of non-culture” (On Heaven and Earth: Pope Francis on Faith,
Family, and the Church in the Twenty-First Century, p. 5).
In his address to the president of Ecuador, the Holy Father further
elaborates this aspect again: “Take good care of creation. St. Francis wanted
that. People occasionally forgive but nature never does. If we don’t take care
of the environment, there is no way of getting around it.” (Meeting with the President of Ecuador,
April 22, 2013)
Pope Francis
highlights the importance that should be given to the preservation of the
environment in his Encyclical letter, Laudato
Si ,in the following words: “What kind of world do we want to leave to
those who come after us, to the children
who are now growing up? What is the purpose of our world? Why are we here? What
is the goal of our work and all our efforts…we need to see that what is at
stake is our own dignity.”( No.160).He warns against the modern habit of “
leaving an inhabitable planet to future generations.” This issue is connected
with “the ultimate meaning of our earthly sojourn.”In Laudato Si, the Holy Father speaks of the destruction and disintegration
that are taking place in the modern society because of the indifference we show
to other human beings and eco-systems .He explains the fact further: “Men and
women of our post modern world run the risk of rampant individualism….and self-centered
culture of instant gratification.” He sees the reflection of this fragmentation
in family relationships and other social ties. According to him, “parents can
be prone to impulsive and wasteful consumption which then affects their
children who find it increasingly difficult to acquire a home of their own and
build a family”. He wants us to “keep the poor of the future in mind “ as well as
“ today’s poor whose life on earth is brief and who cannot keep on waiting.”
In such a
context of bewilderment and confusion, the role of the universities in
conveying healthy, wholesome and morally right values assumes great importance.
Pope Benedict XVI in his address to the university teachers during his visit to
Washington D.C. ,emphasizes the need to become aware of this important role of
universities in transferring moral values to the young. “Catholic identity is
not dependent on statistics. Neither can it be equated simply with orthodoxy of
course content. It demands and inspires much more: namely, that each and every
aspect of your learning communities reverberates with the ecclesiastical life
of faith. Our institutions…become places in which God’s active presence in
human affairs is recognized and in which every young person discovers the joy
of entering into Christ’s being for others. ” He points out further in that
landmark address on university education that the “dignity of education lies in
fostering the true perfection and happiness of those to be educated.”
In Caritas
Veritate (No.50), he speaks about the need for safeguarding the environment:
“”The problem of the environment and the safeguarding of resources and of the
climate, oblige all leaders to act jointly , respecting the law and promoting
solidarity with the weakest regions of the world.”
The meaning of “Subdue the earth “in the Biblical account of
creation:
Greenhouse gas emissions
The performance of India in preserving the environment is dismal. According to Parkash Nelliyat(Centre for Bio-Diversity Policy and Law, Chennai), “ India’s developmental activities are affecting the environment to a considerable extent through overexploitation of natural resources and indiscriminate discharge of waste. This has been interpreted by the environmental Kuznets curve(EKC)…India is on the upward part of the EKC.”(The Hindu, May 1,2018,p.9)
“India
was the third
largest emitter of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse
gas, in 2009 at 1.65 Gt
per year, after China and the United States. With 17 percent of world
population, India contributed some 5 percent of human-sourced carbon dioxide
emission; compared to China's 24 percent share. On per capita basis, India
emitted about 1.4 tons of carbon dioxide per person, in comparison to the
United States’ 17 tons per person, and a world average of 5.3 tons per person.”
The landscape of Kerala
Disposal of waste materials
“Trash and garbage disposal services,
responsibility of local government workers in India, are ineffective. Solid
waste is routinely seen along India's streets and shopping plazas.
Trash and garbage is a common sight
in urban and rural areas of India. It is a major source of pollution. Indian
cities alone generate more than 100 million tons of solid waste a year. Street
corners are piled with trash. Public places and sidewalks are despoiled with
filth and litter, rivers and canals act as garbage dumps. In part, India's
garbage crisis is from rising consumption. India's waste problem also points to
a stunning failure of governance.The
tourism regions in the country mainly hill stations are also facing this issue
in the recent years.
In 2000, India's Supreme Court
directed all Indian cities to implement a comprehensive waste-management
programme that would include household collection of segregated waste,
recycling and composting. These directions have simply been ignored. No major
city runs a comprehensive programme of the kind envisioned by the Supreme
Court.
Indeed, forget waste segregation and
recycling directive of the India's Supreme Court, the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development estimates that up to 40 percent of municipal waste
in India remains simply uncollected. Even medical waste,
theoretically controlled by stringent rules that require hospitals to operate
incinerators, is routinely dumped with regular municipal garbage. A recent
study found that about half of India's medical waste is improperly disposed
of.”
Deforestation
“In the
beginning of the 18th c, forests covered almost the entire land area
of Kerala. But then more settlements of people and through cultivation, the
area of forests began to dwindle. From the beginning of the 19th c,
the forest area began to diminish to a great extent. The present century
witnessed a large scale of cultivation of various crops in the low lands,
middle lands and high lands of the State. Kerala has 44 rivers and more dams
were built across the rivers with the pace of industrialization accelerating.
It is estimated that between 1956 and 1973, 4187 sq KMs of forest area were
delineated for various purposes. From 1960 to 1980, Kerala has been annually
losing an average of forest area of about 6290 hectares.”
New Vision
Capra: “ The
new paradigm may be called a holistic world view, seeing the world as an
integrated whole rather than a dissociated collection of parts. It may also be
called an ecological view, if the term “ecological” is used in a much broader
and deeper sense than usual. Deep ecological awareness recognizes the
fundamental interdependence of all phenomena and the fact that, as individuals
and societies we are all embedded in (and ultimately dependent on) the cyclical
process of nature.”
Steps that can be taken by catholic
colleges and Institutions of Higher education for the preservation and protection
of the environment in Kerala, India:
