Filled an Omani qahwah cup with flowers from the garden and it filled the room with a gentle fragrance. Wanted to take a picture to capture the moment of beauty and as different angles were explored the thought dawned on me. We can change our reality. It is how we look at things. Have a variety and choose the best perception.
Choosing the best perception is the trickiest part because in order to do this we need to know what is best for us and others. Here too what matters is the collection of values one has
inherited, learnt, observed, trained and practices.
We have learnt the hard way that what was considered good for us today stares at us as a crisis. Take plastic for example. When they came up with plastic people must have thought trees can take it easy because we do not need to use them as much to make paper bags. It took decades for us to realise we are not just choking the marine animals but even microorganisms. Meanwhile ever since the use of fossil fuel led to automobile boom and not to forget the consumption of coal for energy we have been busy choking the planet.
We basically interfered with water, air, earth and leading up to climate. But changes have happened before such as the continental drifting but all that took time. But the changes we see today are very much like our nature today — the love for fast food to fast cars. We want everything instantly and the planet decided to give us in the same speed. So glaciers are melting and water level is increasing and weather is moody and temperamental. Just like us.
We have even brought in light pollution that nights are not dark anymore, but thankfully we are also aware of our flaws to an extent. But can we make changes that can have an impact. Some countries have stopped deforestation and others have stopped plastic bags totally.
If the popular character Pinocchio and his father, as the story goes, were to be stuck in a whale’s stomach in this era it would be a different story all together. In the original story the father is stuck in the whale’s stomach with his boat and pets. As he starves he waits with his pet cat for the whale to gobble up water with fish in them so they can catch them to fight hunger.
In today’s reality when so many whales come washed to the shore dead only to find kilos of plastic in various forms in their stomach surely Pinocchio’s father would have had to struggle with plastic.
How easy we thought it was to dump all waste into the rivers and oceans without even thinking we are damaging our own food chain and ecosystem. It took us to put into practice that all living things are related and linked to each other on earth from the bee in
the garden to the bear in the polar region. One mistake and everyone suffers together.
The momentum is gaining to change matters but are we on an instant rush again? Last week the European Investment Bank has proposed to end loans for fossil fuel projects next year going along with the European Union’s steps taken to curb climate change.
The report stated that ‘the EIB, owned by EU’s 28 members, published a draft policy document that includes a proposal to phase out support to energy projects reliant on fossil fuels.”
The plan is expected to be put to the EIB governors in September, according to the news report, which stated that it is envisaged to end loans to “oil and gas production, infrastructure primarily dedicated to natural gas, power generation or heat based on fossil fuels” by the end of 2020.
That is just around the corner. Is that the trend that is going to be seen? Can all countries depend on renewable energy quickly? But what is to be for the economies that are based on fossil fuels. On one side it is the environment and consequences and on the other hand it is livelihoods and economy.
But nothing is impossible and maybe this time the focus would be more on planet and life than war and destruction. It all goes back to values. May it be the best gift given to children — future of tomorrow.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
