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PRABUDDH JEEVAN
DECEMBER 2016
VEGETARIANISM, ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN AND WORLD PEACE ENLIGHTEN YOURSELF BY SELF STUDY OF JAINOLOGY
LESSON - FOURTEEN
O Dr. Kamini Gogri [CONTINUED FROM LAST MONTH] as well carnivores (animals which eat herbivorous Man's relationship to Nature: Environmental Ethics animals). Thus in nature there is no wastage at all as
Man is in continuous relation with its surrounding. through biodegradation (decomposing the complex Humans get a lot of things from the nature. But is it a material into its basic ingredient) everything returns one sided relationship? Do humans also provide back to nature. anything to nature?
Moreover nature works on the principle of survival Since last two hundred years, because of of fittest. For example the animal will keep away the industrialisation and consumerism the balance of nature young one, which is weak, and will take care of only is disturbed. Because of over extraction, destruction that which is fit for survival. This is not considered of plants and animals on one side and over production cruelty in nature. Nature functions with least effort. of industrial goods, different types of wastes; we are Functioning here means taking care of life as well as facing the problems, which need to be addressed death. immediately. If we do not pay any attention to these Everything in nature is for others. Rivers don't flow problems now, not only the survival for other species for themselves. Plants don't grow for themselves. They but also human beings would be in danger.
offer everything to others. Each and every species by Let us understand the problems in detail.
its activities supports the environment it is surviving Harmony, the law of nature:
in. The harmony is the basic rule of nature. We know that living as well non-living organisms The interference of human causes pollution: surrounds us. These together constitute ecosystem. But this is not the case when human beings enter The non-living things are air, water, soil etc., which also this well-established system. When acting in contribute a lot to the ecosystem. The living beings accordance to the natural laws, actually everything include plants, animals and human beings. The living must go back to the nature. But because of their and non-living organisms are in continuous interaction. activities, humans release different wastes, (which do Non-living things provide with the minerals and not belong to nature and which can't be decomposed important ingredients to the living organisms. We can at the same rate at which other natural materials can call these as belonging to the Mineral Kingdom (though be decomposed) which cause pollution. The recent according to Jainism, even Mineral Kingdom is living). phenomenon of the age is much more dangerous. On Higher than Mineral Kingdom is plant kingdom in which one side natural resources are depleted and on the we see the growth, development and reproduction other hand industrial goods are produced in excess. characteristic to all living beings. Higher than Plant This causes different types of pollution such as Air Kingdom is the Animal Kingdom, which is characterised Pollution. Water Pollution. Surface Pollution. Noise by locomotion. (Higher than this is Human Kingdom Pollution and Nuclear Pollution. The main causes for characterised by 'Rationality', which we will not take pollution are deforestation, industrialisation and urban into consideration for the time being).
lifestyle. As we know that all these organisms are in the effects of pollution: continuous interaction with each other. Minerals The pollution is causing the effects, which in turn provide with the basic ingredients, which are can be the cause of further pollution. The toxins that assimilated by plants and carried further by animals. are released in air, water and soil can enter the food When plants or animals die, these basic minerals are chain and can be hazardous. Because of deforestation, again released back to nature. Thus in nature there is land is converted to desert, which again can be neither depletion nor excess. Moreover, the solar dangerous, as man will lose the basic resources. energy is converted to consumable food by the plant Because of pollution, Ozone layer gets depleted and which in turn, is available for all the animals-herbivores which causes green house effect. The temperature of
