CHAPTER l.

U
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT Ql MODERNISATION

The 19th century romantic poet Alexander Pope was

pained to see 'What man has made of man'. But what man has
made of his environment beggars description. Curses are
coming home to roost. The zeal for modernisation has re-
-
sulted in extensive and often disastrous environmental
degradation. Neither the developed nor the developing
countries have been able to escape the wages of greed. Not
a day passes without reports of fresh environmental disaster
in some part of the world.

Our ancients believed in the unity characteristic of

spaceship earth in its biospheric, geospheric and atmospher-
ic components. A belief that now modern sciences rein-
forces. Modern molecular genetics proves the concept of
unity of all living and non-living units of our planet. And
this unity is threatened by slow or swift poisoning of the ·
biosphere -- earth, air and water that mankind shares with
other living beings. Environmental pollution is followed by
the pollution of the mind. In the name of development
humankind the world over has been witness to reckless ram-
page and an indiscriminate waste of precious natural re-
sources. Human civilisation is at the crossroads. To
'develop' or 'not to develop' is the question. The cravings
for 'better standards of living' 'improved qualities of
human life' has pushed humanity to the brink, as the devel-
opment processes poses serious threat to the limits imposed
by the carrying capacity of the supporting ecosystems.

'Ecocide', the murder of the Environment, is the term

130
 which characterises the age we are living in. The environ-
mental crisis reached its present dimensions through the
centuries but the last five decades saw a tremendous quick-
ening of pace. The more advanced the technology more devas-
tating its impact on our environment. Since advanced
technology only helped in accelerating the pace of
destruction and depletion of the precious natural resources.
-
It increased the human capacity to exploit its environs.
With the result that both technology and limited resources
have reached the point of vertical explosion. Growing
energy crisis proves the point rather effectively. Succes-
sive improvement in technique has only resulted in disap-
, pearance of precious mineral and other natural resources.
In retrospect, however, one realises that what seemed like a
triumphal march of technology in great measure have been but
succession of human disasters. Be it the deadly smog in
London that took several lives, or a leak in the Union Oil's
Platform "A" in California which turned the picture postcard
beach of Santa Barbara into a seething swamp, a vile viscous
horror. The thought of Chernobyl is still fresh in our
memories. Nearer home Bhopal still sends shivers down one's
spine. The air we breath is polluted, so is the water we
drink. Our sacred rivers no longer give us the message of
life. Many of them are,no more than mere cess pits. The
deluge of chemical pollution from radioactive wastes to
industrial effluents to domestic wastes, wastes from hospi-
tal and wastes from laboratories have all combined to render
a vast tract of planet Earth unlivable.

Ironically, it is the processes of economic development

and the agents of protection combined with the universal
neglect of the Law of-consequence that is at the roots of

131
 the contemporary environmental crisis. But now nature is
retaliating in all its fury if only to force us to pause and
ponder over what we have done to our life support systems,
in our arrogance to reach out for the limitless ambition for
growth. Is there no limit to growth?

A comprehensive report of the World Environment pub-

lished by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
entitled, 'The World Environment 1972-1992, Two Decades of
Challenge' is .also "the most disturbing according to its
author Mustafa K. Tolba, UNEP Executive Director. The
report notes that none of the environmental concerns ad-
dressed by the Stockholm Conference of 1972 "have really
been solved." The key issues have in fact gone from bad to
worse. The 'green-house effect' or the 'global warming' is
posing serious threat to the climate of the Planet Earth.
The "greenhouse effect" is caused in large part by the build
up of emissions from automative exhausts and industrial
smoke stocks. The gases icnlude ozone, methane, nitrous
oxide and carbon dioxide. Besides these, is chlorofluoro-
carbons, (CFC), the substances used in spray cans andre-
frigerants that have been particularly linked with holes in
the protective ozoner layer. Accumulating in the upper
atmosphere, the gases trap energy from the sun and build up
heat. These heat-generating "greenhouse gases" (GHGS)
threaten to seriously alter the earth's climate. Conse-
quences of the 'greenhouse effect' could include harsher
droughts, dying forests and extinct species.

Global warming is being looked upon as one of the most

alarming environmental threats today. Global warming is in
the centre-stage of simmering controversies amongst the

132
 scientific community. The wanton and reckless plundering of
nature has upset the delicate harmony between man and na-
ture. The throw-away society has turned the atmosphere into
a dump for volatile wastes. The industrialisation that has
made life in much of the developed countries comfortable has
also sent gargantuan amounts of pollution into the atmos-
phere. Scientists ~.,a.rn us that the civilisation might be on
the threshold of a new glacial era. Even one degree of
warming is sufficient to cause major biological reverses in
the 21st century. Many scientists predict that if emission
continue to rise at their present rate the earth's tempera-
tures will on an average have increased by between 1.5°C and
4.5°C by the year 2030. Even this increase of 1.5° will be
greater than any temperature change felt during the last
10,000 years. These climatic changes may affect agriculture
severely and cause mass extinction of different species.
The scientific consensus is that we can expect significant
amounts of extra carbon dioxide to be released into the
atmosphere in future, as plants and micro-organisms change
their behaviour in reaction to warmer temperature.

As temperatures rise the oceans will warm and the

waters within them will expand. Additionally, glaciers --
and possibly the polar ice caps will melt increasing the
flow of water into the oceans. The global rise of sea
levels is already affecting the lowlying coastal areas in
Bangladesh, Netherlands, Maldives and Bahamas. In 1988
Bangladesh suffered the worst floods in a quarter century
causing extensive human and material losses. Scientists
predict a rise in the sea level over the next century of up
to 3 . 5 metres whi-ch would devastate coastal areas and flood

133
 coastal areas and ~ities. Coastal areas such as New Or-
leans,. Miami in U.S. and Shanghai in China, face grave risk.
An estimated one-third of the world's population .lives
within 60 km of a coastal line. Century's worst hot spells
have occurred during the eighties -- 1980, 1981, 1983 and
1988. Most of the 1980s ecological misery are believed to
have resulted from t~e "Greenhouse effect", caused by indus-
trial and other pollution that traps heat in the lower
atmosphere that affects the climate.

Another serious threat to life on earth comes from the

Ozone depletion. There is much to indicate that the dis-
, charge of CFC and a number of other organic compounds con-
stitutes a serious threat to the stratosphereic ozone layer
and consequently to life on Earth. Western Europe and North
America have so far been the major CFC users CFCs are used
in spray cans as coolants in the industrial structure in the
West. In the U.S.A. the most widespread use of the regulat-
ed CFCs is for car air conditioning while in Japan the main
consumer is the electronics industry. Worldwide spray cans,
refrigeration, and the production of plastic foam products
account for the largest CFC consumption.

Life on Earth is possible because of the composition of

an atmosphere. Ozone in the upper atmosphere protects us
from harmful ultraviolet radiation, yet lets through visible
light to support the production of plants that form the
ba~is of our food chains. Many of the compounds leading to
ozone destruction are also greenhouse gases and contribute
to global warming. There is thus a double reason to stop
their emissions into the atmosphere. Present models of the
atmospheric chemistry do not completely explain the extreme-

134
 ly rapid destruction of ozone that has been taking place
over Antarctica. Therefore, the future may be worse than
predicted. 1

Less Ozone -- What does it mean?

Most life forms have developed some way to protect

themselves from ultraviolet radiation exposure but the
changes in light spectrum and intensity that come from
decreased ozone might nevertheless be damaging. It may
cause sunburn, snow blindness, cataract, aging of the skin
and skin cancer. Ultraviolet-a radiation influences the
immune system and can suppress the immune defense against
tumors initiated in the skin. Exposure to ultraviolet
radiation may contribute to a variety of eye disorders. The
most serious form of damage is cataract, which in many
countries is a major cause of blindness. The genetic mate-
rial (DNA), contained in each cell, is sensitive to UV-light
Damage to DNA can kill the cell or turn it into a cancer
cell. 2

Though the impact on plant and animal life is less

understood than the impact on humans. But some of the
studies still provide a picture of what might be in store.
About half of the plants studied so far are negatively
affected by ultraviolet light, especially plants in the
legume, squash and cabbage families.

Marine life will also suffer with an increase in UV-

1. Saving ~ Ozone Layer: A Global ~, The Royal Swed-

ish Academy of Science, Stockholm, 1990, pp.3-12.
2. Ibid.

135
 radiation. Both pl.ant and animal plankton are damaged by
UV-radiation even at current levels. As plankton make up
the base of the marine food chain, changes in their number
and species composition wil influence fish and shellfish
production worldwide. _These kinds of losses will have a
direct impact on the food supply. 3

Increased UV-light at the surface of the Ba~th may

aggravate problems with phtochemical smog. The UV-light
interacts with emissions from traffic and industry creating
conditions for very reactive chemistry that leads to ozone
formation. At the surface of the Barth, ozone acts as a
· toxic gas, which is harmful to plants and humans. This,
ozone is not transported to the stratosphere and even if it
absorbs UV-light it cannot be considered a substitute for a
destroyed ozone layer.

Ultraviolet light degrades polymers used in buildings,

paints, packaging and numerous other places. The increased
damage will be more severe in areas with high-temperatures
and abundant sunshine,. making many developing countries
particularly vulnerable. 4

Another potentially significant bio-spheric reaction

will result from the expected death of any forests which do
not adapt rapidly enough to rising temperatures. In any
case, modernisation processes have already taken a great
toll of our life-giving forests. Termed as Barth's 'green
lungs' these forests have particularly been a special·target
of Man's 'need' but worse still his 'greed'. All through

3. ~-

4. Ibid.

136
 the ages. According to environmental experts the earth has,
on an average, irretrievably lost 12 millions hectares of
rain forests every year since 1980. The felling of trees
that yield rains at this terrific pace spells disaster for
biological survival and hence must be a matter of grave
concern for everyone.

Though only six per cent of the total global area is

estimated to be covered by tropical forests, still it con-
tains more t.han 50 per cent of the world's flora and fauna.
That means that the reckless destruction of tropical forests
not only deprives the animal's of their natural habitats but
also destroys a variety of plant species. This loss of bio-
diversity, ecologists warn us, is upsetting the balance in
nature which may have far reaching consequences for all
living-beings.

The problem of the ever shrinking tropical rain forests

is now recognised as one of the greatest environmental
threats and tragedies of all time. There is also a greater
understanding of the real causes of the unabated deforesta-
tion, though the will to halt this onslaught is unfortunate-
ly missing. As to the causes -- these are "commercial
logging, large road construction, dams and mining projects,
conversion of forests into cattle ranches and plantations
transmigration and colonisation schemes. 5 In short, it is
understood fairly well that it is "the twin prongs of moder-
nisation and commercial interests backed by the financial
resources of commercial and multilateral banks and aid money

5. S.M. Mohamed Idris and Martin Khorkak Peng, World

Rainforest Movement, Malaysia, June 1990, p·. 6.

137
 that are mainly responsible for the tragedy of rainforest
destruction."6

The immediate and long-term consequences of global

deforestation threaten the very survival of life as we know
it on earth. The scale of deforestation and its impact is
now being felt all over the globe. Deforestation, particu-
larly in the tropics~ is causing a loss of biological diver-
sity on an unprecedented scale. As a result of tropical
deforestation, at least one species is being condemned to
extinction everyday. 7 In all likelihood, the true figure is
even higher, amounting to several species a day. This view
is endorsed by such eminent biologists as Paul Ehrlich,
Edward 0. Wilson and Peter Raven.

It is not only the loss of bio-diversity but the de-

struction of forest that is causing untold misery and hard-
ship to the forest-based societies. "The displacement,
decimation and even extinction of tribal population on a
massive scale", 8 is another serious fallout of the disap-
pearing forests. Lands belonging to the traditional forest-
based tribal people is being gradually expropriated more
often than not forcibly in the 'national interest' and for
'development projects', by the Government and the builders
and constructors.

Of equal concern is the threac to tropical forests by

small farmers. For instance, Brazil's incredibly rich rrtin

6. IQig.

7. Ibid., pp.26-27.
8. Ibid., p.29.

138
 forests are threatened by large scale felling of trees by
small farmers and settlers. Conservationists are warning
that unless new agriculture and forestry techniques are
encouraged, the assault on the world's largest rainforest
could become even more serious.

In South and Central America, land cleared from forests

frequently ends up~eing used for cattle ranching. "In
Latin America as a whole, the cattle raiser is accounting
for at least 20,000 square kilometres of forest a year. In
Brazil, the government estimates that cat·tle ranching was
responsible for 38 per cent of all deforestation between
1966 and 1975 (some 3,865,271 hectares). Since 1950, two-
thirds of the lowland tropical forests in Central America
have been cleared, mostly for pasture. To date, more than
5,000 million trees have been cut down in Central America
alone. " 9

The expansion of cattle rearing has been promoted by

the major International development banks -- the Inter-
American Development Bank, the Work Bank and the United
Nations Development .Fund -- and through various local finan-
cial incentives. In Amazonia peasant farmers too, have been
encouraged to convert land to pasture by the laws governing
land title.

The ecological destruction caused by ranching pro-

grammes is }ong-term and often irreversible. The land is
rapidly depleted of nutrients and invaded by toxic weeds.
In a few years, it is so degraded that it must be abandoned
a fate that has befallen nearly all the cattle ranches

9. Ibid. I p. 44 .

139
 established in Amazonia before 1978. 10

For many tropical countries, the export of tropical

timber represents a major source of income. However, the
impact of commercial logging on tropical forests and their
peoples has been devastating.

Worldwide the tropical timber industry.is responsible

for degrading some 5 million hectares of primary rainforest
annually. Much of the wood is used to make cheap, throw
away goods. Eight out of every ten logs imported into Japan
are made into cheap plywood, much of which is used by the
, building industry to make frames and scafolding which are
burned when the building is finished. Tropical hardwood
chips are also used to make throw away chop-sticks and
paper.

The damage caused by logging is extensive. Current

logging practices in Sarawak, Malaysia leave 33 trees dam-
aged for every 26 trees removed as timber: in. some areas up
to 70 per cent of the remaining trees died out from their
injuries: ... The loss of biodiversity in logged areas has
been severe .... The extensive network of roads and skid
trails needed to get the logged timber out of the forest and
onto the international market are a major source of soil
erosion, as are the denuded slopes of the forest itself. 11

In Nepal, forests once considered prime national wealth

has lost hundreds of thousands of hectares of forests to
illegal settlers and logging. This massive destruction

10. Ibid., p.46.

11. Ibid., pp.53-54.

140
 . river Columbia in the United States. Salmon cannot spawn in
the river any longer as the lower portion of the river has
been dammed.

Like the Aswan Dam -- now the sorrow of Egypt -- a sad

fate awaits many third world countries. Behind the pride
and the confidence-of the victory of technology over nature
.-
is lurking serious threat to life. Many of our own proposed
big Dams particularly, Narmada Sagar in Madhya Pradesh and
Sardar Sarovar in Madhya Pradesh in Gujarat, Tehri dam in
Garhwal Hills is being opposed by conservationist for eco-
logical reasons. As big land-slides, mud-flow, siltation,
' choked river mouths, dwindling water supply, flash floods
due to Dam burst are becoming realities and not mere night-
mares. Developmental projects like road construction and
forest based industries and the defence installations in the
Himalayan region, are identified as the four major problems
leading to degradation. Tourism in India, by and large,
equated with five-star culture is also extremely degrading
under the best of conditions. This has led to further
degradation and pollution of the rivers as there is no
facility for treating sewage which is let into the river
directly. The Himalayan belt has witnessed an accelerated
programme of rqad construction over the last three decades,
thereby opening up the hitherto well preserved and inacces-
sible forest areas. The end .result of road construction and
some other development projects has been a high incidence of
flash fl,oods, landslide~ debris flow, acute scarcity of fuel
and fodder.

Deforestation is an important source of the greenhouse

gas build-up·. But this is not the only source of global

142
 warming. It is a by-product of the technologies developed
in the wake of Industrial Revolution. Continued industrial
development further aggravated the problem. Greenhouse
effects is clearly the legacy inherited from accumulated
impact of reckless industrialisation and a race towards more
and better creature comforts.

In highly industrialised countries like America, Brit-

ain and Japan the atmopshere is so heavily laden with smog
that people working close to industrial centres need to wear
gas masks. Because the industrial techniques involved the
use of acids and corrosive alkalies, which tend to escape
into the earth or into the rivers or oceans along the cool-
ants and other industrial effluents three is emission of
noxious Fume. With the progress of industrialisation in-
creased the quantum of industrial effluents and release of
poisonous gases into the earth's subsystem. New technolo-
gies made possible new processes of manufacture and produc-
tion of new synthetic materials. A number of these products
are hie-nondegradable and therefore, remain suspended in the
environment for long periods of time posing serious threat
to the ecosystems.

Britain where industrialisation, in the modern sense of

the word, first saw its dawn has been called "the dirty old
man of Europe", a lable stemming from the accusation that it
is Europe's worst polluter. though hotly contested by the
Government sources. Britain holds sewage dumping rights i.n
mainland European rivers is responsible for the pollution of
the North Sea, "which is described as the.'cesspit of Eu-
rope'." The Rhine and Meuse from West Germany share the
blame with Britain, followed closely by the Scheldt and Elbe

143
 and Weser. "Some are said to be 'biologically dead'. The
pollutants chiefly are foul 'cocktail' of raw human sewage,
dangerous chemical effluents, coal spoil and ash from power
stations they do not behave in neatly-contained ways. Toxic
metals such as mercury and lead are still being put there.
This threatenes to create problems for food chains and for
animals for years t~ come. They do not 'break-down' and
disperse' as was once fondly supposed. Many remain in sus-
pension. They clog the little ocean shared by eight coun-
tries to an extent which scientists be~ieve has already
exceeded its capacity for absorption." 12

The phenomenal industrial advancement made by Japan

within a span of just over four decades has resulted in
turning its atmosphere into a vast storehouse of toxic
substances, pollutants, poisonous gases so much so that in
several cities of Japan, life giving oxygen is fast deplet-
ing and people are finding it difficult to breathe. Today,
Hiroshima, Nagasaki, technological wonder and pollution have
become synonymous with Japan and are powerfully exposing the
abyss of Japanese culture. Allen V. Kheese in his, 'Econom-
ics and Environment', writes, "Japan, regarded as one of the
most developed countries has poisoned its land and water
surrounding, major cities and industrial establishments at a
rate not, heretofore, seen in the world. Mercury, Cadmium,
polycholrinated biphenyls (PCBS) and probably many other
substances ~ot yet identified persist in the land and in the

12. Nicholas Cole, "North Sea: The European Cesspit",

Business and Political Observer, Delhi, 6.3.91.

144
 water, and make their way through food chains." 13

Located on the shores of the Shiranui Sea, the pictur-

esque town called Minamata on the southern island of Kyushu
in Japan, has added a new name to the long lists of fatal
diseases afflicting mankind - 'Minamata disease'. The
people of the locality are still suffering from the after
effects of the dump1ng of methyl mercury chloride in the
Minamata bay more than three decades ago by a local industry
called the New Japan Chisso Fertiliser Company. The un-
treated waste from the factory was dumped in the bay which
poisoned the fish and seafood, so integral to the Japanese
diet, with heavy-metal poisoning. Minamata became a living
memorial of corporate callousness. But what should have
been a warning to other industrial countries it merely
became an industrial accident best forgotten in the race for
more, more and more.

Subtly and even somewhat mysteriously significant

levels of mercury have shown up in numerous lakes and rivers
waterways in the north-eastern and north central United
States, Eastern Canada and Scandinavia. What is really
alarming about these discoveries is the fact that many of
these lakes are remote from industry and have been called
pristine. Yet contamination of the food chain in some lakes
is severe enough that public health officials have issued
warnings against eating the large predatory fish caught in
these lakes which accumulate the high levels of mercury. 14

13. Allen V. Kneese, Economics and Environment (New York,

1977) I p.101.

14 . "Mercury in the Human Food Chain" in the EPRL Journal,

published in the Hindu, Madras, March 25, 1992.

145
 in Seattle smog blights a crystal-clear skyline, in Phoenix
traffic jams are becoming a way of life, in Tucson gangs
have taken over the streets and in San Diego overdevelopment
invades the desert.

Mexico is today known as the smog city. What was once

thought that economic development would radiate outwards
from the capital, is suddenly asked to pay the price for an
industrialisation drive that began decades before pollution
became a political issue. Mexico is a city, today, with 20
m. People 16,000 factories, producing half the country's
non-oil manufacturing output, 19,000 other business and 3 m.
vehicles -- all crammed into a valley, 7,400 feet above sea
level and hemmed in by mountains. For lack of oxygen,
engines burn fuel inefficiently releasing unburnt hydrocar-
bons. Slabs of cold air clamped above the city trap the
warmer polluted air at street level for hours, particularly
in winter. 16

Delhi has earned the notoriety of being the most pol-

luted city inindia and the fourth most polluted in the
world. Direct fall out of an unhealthy lifestyle as the
roads of Delhi keep getting overwhelmed with vehicular
traffic and their emissions, more gas, more coal and oil are
burnt. Tonnes of toxic smokes is spewed out of the bowels
of the industries, is all making the air we breathe loose
its natural ability to cleanse itself of all the toxics that
are d~mped into it daily. Although the vehicular pollution
has affected almost all the metropolitan cities of India, in
Delhi the pollution level is already more than the human

16. "The Urban Crisis", Time, USA, June 10, 1991, pp.31-33.

147
 The subject of pollution was taboo under the communist
governments. Heavy industries and enormous factory farms
operated to meet five year production plans with scant
regard for the pollution control laws of the countries.
Statistics oh environmental pollution were regarded as state
secrets. But with t~e fall of the communist regimes in the
East European countries alarming facts about the havoc
caused to ecology and environment caused by rapid industri-
alisation are .coming to light.

A special report on the State of Ecology and Environ-

ment in East Europe has been prepared by the International
Confederation of Free Trade Union [ICFTU] .

According to the Report the roughly triangular area

where Czechoslovakia, East Germany and Poland meet is one of
the most polluted in Europe largely as a result of heavy
concentration of sulphur dioxide emissions from the power
stations.

The erstwhile East Germany has been a heavy polluter of

the atmosphere largely because of the brown coal for energy.
Its main concentration had been in and around Coltbus, Halle
and Leipzig. Over half the pollutants produced were carried
by the wind to other countries. The river Elbe served as an
open sewer for East German population. Many communities on
the Elbe simply pumped raw sewage into the river. In Czech-
oslovakia where the river begins, an estimated 22.5 tons of
mercury 12.7 tons of cadmium and 124 tons of lead were
discharged annually into the Elbe.

Referring to the Warsaw's Institute of Environmental

Protection, the Report notes that more than half the trees

149
pressure group -- 'Ecoglasnost'. There is pollution of the
atmosphere in the main cities, of rivers and sea caused by
industrial and agricultural waste. One third of her forests
are believed to have been damaged by acid rain.

And Hungary is a country which is an environmental

hazard to other neighbouring countries. Almost half of
Hungary's sulphur dioxide emissions are transported to other
countries. About 30 per cent of her forest is damaged by
acid rain and air pollution is recognised as a major health
hazard. In Budapest, lead levels have reached 30 times the
maximum level under international standards. 18

Poisoned water smog filled air, contaminated land,

dying forests, or horrifying toll of cancers and respiratory
diseases and a lower life expectancy for its people is the
legacy left behind by years of heavy industrial production
in the Eastern European countries forming the erstwhile
Conununist Bloc.

The world famous American sociologist, Lewis Mumford in

his classic work, 'The CUlture of Cities' has demonstrated
that the ultimate stage in the growth and decay of a modern
industrial city is the 'Neckropolis' where War and Famine
and disease roc~ both city and countryside.

The huge quantities of pollutants -- solids, liquids

and gaseous which are being let into the water systems are
investing the relationship between man and nature with new
. .
complexities life-support systems in-built in the eco-
systems are being strained almost to the point of no return.

18. Excerpts of the Report of the [ICFTU], National Herald,

Delhi, December 31, 1990.

151
 In India alone it is reported that nearly 70 per cent of the
available potable water is polluted. Over 73 million work
days are lost annually due to water borne diseases. With
the refuse of urbanisation and industrialisation the nations
poison their rivers. The threat of water famine looms
large. Washington based Worldwalch Institute, warns that
'water scarcity may be to the nineties what the oil price
shocks were to the seventies' -- a source of international-
conflict and major shifts in national economies. The study
further said, "Water scarcity will affect everything from
prospects of peace in West Asia to global food security, the
growth of cities and the dislocation of industries." 1 9

Almost all the ancient civilisation grew on the banks

of life sustaining rivers. The rivers gave distinct mark to
the culture, learning, agriculture and commerce. For long
the riverways took care of the transportation. These life
sustaining streams are chocking with silts, sediments indus-
trial and domestic wastes, residues of chemical fertilisers
and oil spills from ship. Almost all of our holy rivers
have turned into the rivers of filth. The river Yamuna has
been termed as the most polluted river in India. The major
cause of pollution is the practice of allowing storm drains
to empty themselves into the river, says a Voluntary Health'
Association of India [VHAI] report, "During the Yamuna's 48
km. course through the city, it picks up nearly 200 million
litres of untreated sewage. Ten per cent of this comes from
industrial effluents. The VHAI notes that Yamuna's proximi-
ty to industrial or other polluting centres is a major

19. "Water shock ahead study",. Business Standard, Calcutt.a,

December 7, 1992.

152
 resource but few seem to agree on how to sustainably utilise
it.

The n~merous industries that have mushroomed on the

banks of the Damodar have polluted the river. There are
more than SO major and medium industries along the 563 km
long river in Bihar. Industrialisation along the Damodar
has rendered it a river of slurry. The river is the final
repository of all the pollutants resulting from massive
industrialisation. Minerals, mine, rejects and toxic efflu-
ents are washed into the Damodar and its tributaries. Not
surprisingly, today both its water and its sand are infested
by coal dust and waste from the myriad industries that have
sprung up in its basin. 2 0 Dams and poaching is drastically
reducing once teeming river dolphins in the Ganga, Brahmapu-
tra, Mahanadi and Karnaphuli rivers. Other hazards to the
Dolphins are caused by the diversion of rivers for irriga-
tion, river traffic, increased fishing, not to speak of the
growing pollution. 21

Kuttanad the once prosperous rice bowl of Kerala is

facing the grim prospects of being reduced to a 'begging
bowl' as a result of the unscientific implementation of
development projects, causing serious human and environmen-
ta.l problems in recent years. This low-lying region forming ·
the delta of four rivers covers an area of 900 sq. km. in
Alappuzha, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts. It was

20. "Damodar' s Industrial Burden", Down to Earth, Delhi,

{CSE), July 31, 1993, pp.
21. "Dams and Poaching down river Dolphins", Down to Earth,
{CSE), Delhi, Aug. 15, 1992, p.l4.

154
 once a unique ecosystem supporting a wide variety of estuar-
ian animal life. A vast tract of the wetlands in Kuttanad
were reclaimed for paddy. The region is an intricate network
of rivers, canals and lakes with extensive polders and
thickly populated villages. But today the region is in deep
trouble because of severe degradation of the acquatic envi-
•
ronment due to human interference, the consequent depletion
in fisheries resources, health hazards due to unscientific
use of agrochemicals. About 20,000 tonnes of fertilizers
and 500 tonnes of highly toxic pesticides are used in the
region's 55,000 hectares of paddy fields. A considerable
portion of th~s enters the water bodies when the fields are
dewatered at the time of the launching of each crop.

Such stories of environmental degradation due to the

modernising processes is not just confined to India, it is
an all pervading story of disasters. Starved of fresh water
and no longer able to withstand the encroaching Arabian Sea,
the Indus is dying a slow death. The destruction of the
historic Indus delta is a direct consequence of the dams and
barrages that have been built higher up on the river. These
have diverted the river's water into areas that were earlier
rainfed, drastically reducing the quantity of water flowing
into the deltaic channels leading and, thereby increasing
salinity, reports Arif Hasan from Karachi. 22

From refuse strewn beaches of the United States to the

floods that ravaged Bangladesh it is a familiar tale of
ecological disaster. Effluents and sewage have considerably
poisoned the Bay of Bengal's coastal waters. In the former

22. "Death of the Indus delta", Down to Earth, (CSE},

Delhi, June 30, 1992.

155
 International Water Tribunal calls this "one of the most
serious cases of pollution in all of South America". 23

Around the world today it is becoming well neigh impos-

sible to find natural sea-shores unaffected by human intru-
sion. In Cyprus the battered coastline are the consequence
of an ambitious project to promote tourism industry. With
the result the coastline is dotted with tourist resorts,
hotels, etc. The construction work has washed down large
quantities of the fine debris, of mud and cement on to the
sand and choked the sand and killed the shore and foreshore
fauna and flora.24

Down the beach front from Chavara to Alapuzha inKerala,

cases of mongolism and cancer are becoming rampant due to
the heavy deposits of the lethal radioactive monazite ore.

This is the sad tale of death and destruction, the

price of development, progress and modernisation that
humanity is paying throughout the world today. There is
widespread degradation of acquatic habitats, the ecosystems
of the coral reefs being most vulnerable. To the list of
Oil spills, toxic chemicals, sewage, sub-marine mining
industr~al effluents, marine navigation is added the con-
structio~ debris.

'Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink'

looms up today with new and ominous m~aning for mankind. It

23. "The Killing Waters", ~Hindu, Madras, November 29,

1992.
24. "Rugged Coastline Battered", The Hindu, Madras, July
26·, 1992.

157
 has estimated that by the year 2000 a fourth of the world's
water supply could be unsafe for drinking. The Environmen-
tal Protection Agency estimates that in the United States
alone 1.5 trillion gallons of hazardous waste leak into the
underground water system each year. A third of the water in
China's major rivers is polluted beyond safe limits for
human consumption says Worldwatch Institute. 70 per cent of
India's drinking water is polluted and is the cause of much
of the country's illness. Similar is the story of other
countries of the Third World. A fate that is even shared by
the countries of the erstwhile.Soviet Bloc where the demand
for water is far more than can be supplied. South America
faces a similar crisis. New York Times reports that the
ground water and its contaminants represent a potential time
bomb, slowly ticking away. 25 And so it goes. Poisoned
waters percolating through the earth, rushing through its
rivers, meandering down its streams cascading over its
falls, while a great portion of mankind inevitably drinks to
its death. Truly, a time bomb of man's own making.

Nuclear projects are another, in fact the most serious

threat to environment. What large nuclear explosion would
mean was seen in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Since then nuclear
science has further "progressed" a~d so have the threat to
humanity. A large body of scientific literature addresses
itself to the issue of long-term effects from ionizing
radiation. There has been an intensive study Dver the years
of the health-of the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Genetic effects and cancer rate has been found to be high
among them.

25. New York Times, November 22, 1992.

158
 disaster gives the town an eerie look. 27

World has still not forgotten the shocks caused by the

reactor explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear power plant in
Ukraine in 1986, spewing radiation across Europe, killing as
many as 10,000 people. And now comes the news of the Nucle-
ar waste tankexplosion, in the city of Tomsk-7, Siberia.
The environmental group, ~reenpeace, said that several
villages were threatened by the fallout. In some neighbour-
ing village radiation levels were more than seventeen times
higher than the level considered safe for nuclear workers.
The accident is also a grim reminder of the hazards involved
in nuclear waste disposal.

The major problem with nuclear power, held out by the

scientist community as the Energy source of the future, is
the nuclear waste disposal. The basic problem of nuclear
waste is that it becomes harmless only after millions of
years. A number of unscrupulous companies in developed
countries are always on the look out for places to dump
their nuclear waste. Usually taking advantage of the
poverty, chaos, famine and destitution of.the underdeveloped
countries.

Recently there were reports that Western mutli-national

companies are dumping their nuclear waste in Somalia reeling
under unprecedented famine. The nuclear wastes dumped off
the coasts have serious impact on the marine ecology. The
toxic wastes dcmping is bound to affect the whole Red Sea,
the Arabian Sea basin, Eastern Africa and Arabian peninsula.

27. State of the World, Worldwatch Institute Report, 1991

(Washington, USA), pp. 98-99·.

160
a breeder reactor, generating more energy while producing
even more plutonium.

The breeder technology promised not only a virtually

inexhaustible supply of energy but also a method for con-
verting the large toxic dumps of nuclear waste into an
energy source. At the same time the plethora of energy
would permit realisation of the wildest dreams of science
fiction buffs. In short, the ancient quest for a perpetual
motion machine was at hand.

But the scientists also recognised the awesome threat

residing in this element. Alvin Weinberg, former director
of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA warned against this
'Faustian bargain'. In return for limitless supply of
energy, humankind was condemning itself to live permanently
on the edge of extinction. A far greater threat than health
hazard or its contribution to the further despoiling the
fragile environment is the related danger of the ubiquity of
plutonium, which would serve as a stimulus for proliferation
of atomic weapons.

Japanese argument that it is the only industrial power

dependent on importing 80 per cent of energy needs and its
insistence that in view of environmental concerns and limit-·
ed natural resources, recycling and radioactive waste
management is critical, does not hold water with the anxious
scientific community. The Japanese justification for stock-
piling plutonium to satisfy energy needs makes little sense.
There is uranium much cheaper and safer and far less toxic
than plutonium, fifteen times less costly for generating
electricity than the_complex and hazardous plutonium breeder

162
 technology. 28

The irony is just when the nuclear powers are beginning

to wind down their arms race, Japan a victim of nuclear
explosion is now acquiring plutonium on a massive scale.
The breeder reactor facility built at the cost of $ 5 bil-
lion has been named "Monju" after the Buddhist divinity of
wisdom. Will 'Monjut instill good sense into Japanese mind?
Seems a distant possibility. Accumulation of plutonium
anywhere on our beleagured planet is a threat to all. Even
if Japan abandons this insane venture, the world will remain
awash with plutonium. One thousand future generations will
have to contend with the health and environmental conse-
quences of a dangerous legacy.

Adding to the critical issues of atmospheric pollution

from industrial activities and changing lifestyle-global
warming and ozone depletion is the Acid rain which has found
a high place in the category of major problems confronting
planet Earth. According to the World Resources Report 1987
Acid rain spares nothing. What has taken humankind decades
to build and nature millenia to evolve is being impverished
and destroyed in a matter of a few years -- a mere blink in
geological time. Acid rain is a direct fallout of industri-
al pollutants. A versatile destroyer wi,th planetary impli-
cations. In the last 30 years much of the land of the
northern hemisphere has been laid barren by the acid rain
and with the pace of industrialisation accelerating in the
South the threat is spreading in the region. Vast tract of
forests have been laid waste, trees, plants and crops have

28. Bernard Lown, "Japan, Plutonium and a Faustian

Bargain", The Pioneer, Delhi, March 4, 1992.

163
 been damaged, fresh water, lakes, reservoirs, rivers
springs, wells, sub-soils, and sea shores have been acid-
fied. It has resulted in respiratory problems in humans and
poisoning of wildlife. Many architectural heritage in the
world are threatened by the corrosive impact of the acid
rains.

Callous exploitation of earth's fertility is now

turning a vast tract of arable land into desert sands.
According to a UN Report prepared by abody called the
~Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Change' (JPCC), Green
peace Report and several environmental activists, intensive
agriculture is not only expensive but also contributes 14
per cent emission of potent gases that cause global warming
from enhanced greenhouse gas emissions among which are
methyl and nitrous oxide. It is a disturbing scenario of a
world dependent on industrialised agriculture. Excessive
use of modern agro-technology, which, with its excessive use
of chemical fertilisers and pesticides is leaching the soil
and poisoning all living things. The myth of the Green
Revolution was built on the edifice of modern canal irriga-
tion facilities, chemical fertilisers and the resultant high
yielding variety of crops. The growing cost of the chemical
fertilisers and pesticides led many farmers, the ones who
could afford expensive chemical fertilisers, quietly switch
from growing nutritious food crop to whatever cash crop that
fetched a price for a passing moment. But this is only the
economic fallout of modern agro-technology. The environmen-
tal and ecological impact of the Green Revolution is fraught
with serious consequences for the future. Wherever one
looks at, it is a familiar tale of agricultural drug addic-

164
 ously, the traditional know-how about native species and
appropriate agricultural practices is rapidly dying with the
old farmers, a generation on its way out. 30

The irony of the modernisation processes is that the

intricate irrigation and water-harvesting systems instead of
providing the life~sustaining nectar have turned waters of
life into waters of-death. n~ought and water-logging co-
exist. Salinity and dangerous levels of agro-chemicals
toxins is all pervading. Wherever there was reckless indus-
trialisation it was accompanied by the worsening crisis of
deforestation. The combination of the two has been seen as
having harrendous potentialities for future. In many parts
of India nitrate pollution from chemical fertilisers in both
soil and water is among the highest in the world. But
unfortunately, such ecological and human costs cannot be
seen by our blinkered agro-economists.

The consequences of the overuse of chemical fertilizers

and pesticides made modern farming so productive is now
facing the grave possibilities of diminishing return in
those areas where the use of inorganic manure was high.

Japan, which is a small country spread over a cluster

of islands, land is scarce, hence to meet their food re-
quirements dependence on excessive use of fertilizers to
boost the productivity of the soil is a common feature.
Since, it is a country in great haste to achievP
technological wonders it is greatly depended on others to
meet its energy needs for its ever expanding industries

30. Ibid.

166
 electronics and steel amongst them. Food being used as
diplomatic weapon against the countries of the third world
by the West is too well known. To avoid being caught in
this situation increasing the level of food production
became a matter of great concern for the Japanese Govern-
ment. With the result that "Cultivation, use of chemicals,
weeding by tillage or herbicides have caused the farmers
nightmares for countless generations"3 1 not to speak of the
harmful impact of several of these pesticides finding their
way into the food chain and other farm products rendering
them unfit for human and animal consumption.

The consequences of excessive exposure to chemicals and

pesticides has caused high incidence of cancer among farmers
in California.

Ravages in the erstwhile Soviet Union too are coming to

light through Western media. But what has surprised people
most is that the sad commentaries are now even being provid-
ed by the Soviet scientists and people themselves. All over
the Soviet land "agricultural productivity is declining in
response to land degradation and pollution, forests are
ravaged by both air pollution and acid rain, and biodiversi-
ty is threatened. In essence,
the natural resource base
that underlies the economy is dangerously depleted." 32

In Soviet Union, an estimated 1.5 billion tons of top

soil erode away annually. Roughly two-thirds of arable

31. Fukuka, Masanobu, The One Straw Revolution, Friends

Rural Centre, Rasulia, India, 1988, p.35.
32. State of the World. 1991, Worldwatch Institute Report,
Washington, p.100.

167
 Today's environmental trends are a consequence of the
20th century exponential rate coupled with reckless
industrialisation. The world's population is estimated to
be growing at the rate of 3 per cent per second. The
increasing numbers are eating away at the earth itself.
"Small wonder tha~ pollution and waste generation are
occurring on a vast and unprecedented s-cale and that human
demands on biological systems now consume an estimated 40
p~r cent of the world's total terrestrial photosynthetic
productivity. For the first time, human impacts have
reached a magnitude that approximate that of the natural
processes that control the global life support systems." 35

In this scenario feeding more people becomes an ever

bigger challenge. There is today a wide acceptance of the
direct link between 'greenhouse effect' and industrial
pollution, and between greenhouse and growing famine. The
FAO reckons that soil erosion, salinity, overgrazing and
water shortages could take as much as 175 million hectares
of rain-fed and 70 million hectares of irrigated land out of
farming by 2025. Already 500 million people are undernour-
ished.36 Most of the third world countries, which are now
joined by the countries of the erstwhile Communist Bloc led
by th~ states of the former Soviet Union, are importing food
and the major part of southern Africa is facing severe
drought conditions and starvation. A hungry, starving
Ethiopia and Somalia is a blot on humanity.

35. James Gustave Speth, "Environmental SEcurity for the

1990s", Development 1990. JH Journal of SID, p.lO.
36. The Economist, April 27, 1991 (London).

169