Tomorrow, June 5, is World Environmental Day.  This Day is commemorated worldwide under the auspices of the United Nations.  Every year, a new theme is given to the Day and Environmentalists and Governments are expected to keep that theme in focus.  The theme for Environmental Day and Year 2017 is “Connecting people to Nature”.

This theme is all-encompassing.  In Guyana, environmental action and concern tend to be focused mainly on land, flora, fauna and to a lesser extent, air.  The question is often asked as to why so much emphasis and concern is placed on the environment. The answer is that the environment is closely intertwined with the existence and survival of man as well as his general welfare.

One example of how the misuse of the environment could negatively affect man can be seen in the misuse of land in the case of uncontrolled mining. Deep craters are created, entrapping little lakes of water in which dangerous insects such as malaria-bearing mosquitoes and snakes breed.  The upheaval of huge quantities of earth and rocks blocks waterways such as rivers and creeks affecting the livelihood and welfare of populations which depend on them for travel and drainage and irrigation of farming land.  Food shortages are often the result of such destructive mining.

Destruction of the Flora including the forests results in economic and social deprivation of human beings.  Many of the plants destroyed may have medicinal uses or are awaiting research into their uses and many rare forest flowers such as certain orchids would have been destroyed.  The destruction of the Forests – deforestation – for short-term economic gains permanently impoverishes a country and has been the subject of much public debate in Guyana.

Last year, the theme of World Environmental Day focused on the preservation and protection of wildlife and their export.  This theme is of great relevance to Africa but is also in reference to Guyana’s rare birds such as the Cock-of-the- rock and certain parrots and macaws as well as endangered species such as the jaguar.  The symbiotic relationship between man and animal and man’s dependence upon the animal kingdom for his welfare and even existence is well-known.  Air pollution, though fortunately not as great a problem to us as against the developed world, still exists in a few pockets such as the bauxite industry.

One of Guyana’s potentially profitable industries is the Tourist Industry.  Tourism saved the Caribbean islands from economic and social ruin on the demise of their sugar industry.  Guyana’s Tourist Industry would be a non-starter if the land, the forests and the fauna are diminished or destroyed.

The terms “nature” and “environment” could be synonymous and so the theme “Connecting People to Nature” could be interpreted as indicating the need of educating people on important aspects of the environment and how it is intertwined with man’s welfare and existence.

Respect for and protection of the environment is a comparatively new concept in Western civilization and the depths and realities of its philosophical and spiritual aspects are now being slowly unfolded to Western intellectuals and people.  In the ancient civilizations and cultures, most of which are now extinct, there was always respect for and protection of the environment.  The two ancient civilizations which have survived and continued from primeval times are the Hindu-Buddhists and the Taoist-Confucianists and in both, the environment is respected and protected reflecting man’s experience over the millennia of the practical ways in which the fate and destiny of man and environment were inextricably bound.

Indeed, the environment in its various aspects was deified and worshiped.  For example, Mother Earth was one of the most ubiquitous and popular of deities.  Animals were accorded divine respect.  It was recognised that all life, whether it be of man or animal, was the same.  The metaphor of the flame of one candle lighting a thousand candles with the flame of them all being the same is sometimes used to illustrate the concept of all living beings sharing the same life.
An example of this respect and protection of the animal kingdom could be seen in all Hindu ceremonies in Guyana.  In the Shraad ceremonies, for instance, food is ceremonially offered to the deities.  At the end of the ceremony, the Purohit (priest) divides the food into three portions.  One portion is for the beasts and animals of the field; the second is for things which fly like birds and bats and the third portion is for fish life.  Though the actual distribution is done in a small area around the home, it serves as a reminder of man’s duty to the animal kingdom.

Accordingly, this year’s environmental theme -“Connecting people to Nature”- opens a door for the philosophical and spiritual to be included and subsumed into environmental studies and action.  If this could be achieved, environmental studies would be enriched and environmental action would be more meaningful and impacting.