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APARIGRAHA - THE HUMANE SOLUTION
countless things or forms of life which inhabit the land, air and waters of the world. In the broadest sense, it also means the culture, ethos and the customs and traditions and all other related factors for human beings which range from the tribals to little known communities with unique life styles of their own. “Apart from the phenomenal, physical or real environment'there is operational environment which constitutes of many things as political, technological, cultural, social, ethical and economic aspects or institutions and the behavioural or virtual environment. This is the outcome of perceptions and preferences of men and human groups.” Social, ethical and economic environments are becoming even more powerful and influential than the physical environment. In fact it is to these latter kinds that attention needs to be drawn. It is of greater interest for the present study to see how the latter types of environment need to be changed to preserve the former. This is really messing up the physical environment, which is simply trying to tolerate the forces of the latter kinds passively on itself.
Broadly speaking, there are two types of environment (1) man's external environment (2) man's internal environment. It is the internal environment that has the capacity to survive with the changing external environment, and it is only the internal environment which can change the external environment. This, however, is a vicious circle, one influencing the other and then the other influencing the first. The influencer and the influenced are complicatedly intertwined. It is a healthy situation if there is a balance between the two but if the balance is disturbed the situation causes concern.
Regarding the physical environment, we should have a broad outline of what needs to be preserved. The areas of disturbed or polluted environment need immediate attention, these are air pollution, water pollution, vehicular pollution, atomic pollution and sound pollution. In addition, there is social and moral pollution in different walks of life. The sources of these pollutions are well-known - rapid industrialisation,
1. As quoted in Environmental Degradation and Global Awakening. -
B. P. Chaurasia p.37
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