Our world is moving ahead with the progress of human civilization, modernization, advancement of technology etc. But the crude reality is that we are still at least hundred years away from creating a planet which understands and encourages ecology friendly methods of living. We ignorantly use raw sources of energy and perform chemical processes which have the power to wipe out our entire civilization. In terms of technological development we are still in our infanthood.

What the world needs today urgently is an ecological development. Ecological development means an all round advancement of the people to construct an environment where progress is done keeping in mind the society, its economy as well as nature as all three should be interdependent. Unfortunately ecological development has been neglected from a long time and its consequences can be felt in the form of ‘Global warming’ which is gradually spreading to engulf the entire planet. ‘Global warming’ is also a result of deforestation, burning of fossil fuels which produce carbon dioxide of such a vast amount that even if we stop blazing them right now still the harmful gas will be present in the atmosphere for several years. This rise in global temperature will result in melting of glaciers, permafrost, sea ice, rise in sea levels causing floods which can wipe away many regions from the face of the earth, drastic change in temperature affecting agriculture, extinction of forests and many species.

Researches reveal that industrial revolution also has a big role to play in augmenting the amount of green house gases present in the atmosphere which caused in the rise of radioactive forcing from CO2, methane, tropospheric ozone, CFCs, and nitrous oxide. Other factors responsible for ecological crisis are air pollution, the key culprits being industrial gases, transports emitting poisonous gases, and the breakdown of certain consumer products discharges a large mixture of toxic wastes into the air we breathe. No wonder now-a-days people suffer so much from respiratory diseases such as asthma, bronchitis and lung cancer. Asbestos is another material causing cancer to many of the shipyard and building workers. Per year the death rate is rising higher such that in France alone more than 100,000 people died because of asbestos. Severe objections have been raised against its usage in richer nations but as its alternatives are expensive hence under developed countries are still using asbestos in a large amount.

Other key ecological problems arise from water pollution and soil degradation. We are just bothered to keep our home clean but have we ever given a thought as to where do all the industrial, household and agricultural wastes go from these massive drains? All these unwanted materials are disposed easily into the world’s waters transforming them into large cesspit. Rivers and lakes carry these wastes and throw them into the sea causing accretion of heavy metals, mercury, cadmium, and extremely lethal untreated compound; these get deposited on the ocean floor, riverbeds and lakebeds. Some fertilizers consisting of nitrates and phosphates have led to the uncontrollable growth of algae and water plants. All these situations have resulted in continuous exhaustion of oxygen which is dissolved in the water, needless to say that a large number of marine lives are getting extinguished every year. Abandoning of chemicals and radioactive wastes, petroleum leakage are some of the heinous crime man is committing everyday. Soil degradation is another source of ecological crisis and this is caused by over cultivation of land, monoculture, crops which will reap huge profits are grown regardless of their harmful effects on the ecosystem and weather.

With the heightening of ecological crisis the countries worldwide are becoming aware of the immediate necessity to take some serious measures for controlling the situation before it is too late. In 1992 the United Nations held a conference in Rio dealing with Environment and Development. Its main focal point was to attract attention on subjects such as environmental degradation, poverty, development and their relations. Ecological movements are held throughout the world which is bringing a deep rooted transformation in public awareness towards our environment. People are raising their voices against even the most powerful nations who are achieving economic gains while deteriorating the entire ecosystem. It is not the question of one nation’s malpractices which can be easily ignored since the consequences of the constant depletion and worsening of ecology will be felt by the entire planet. During a world war one can immediately see the disastrous result of massive destruction but here the obliteration of the environment cannot be felt or seen instantly but its end result is far more dangerous than a nuclear war.

Via Campesina is an international peasant movement supported by members from countries like Latin America, Asia and Africa, their main motto is to attract attention to the relation between climate change and crop failure, and the link between food sovereignty and climate justice. This movement raises its voice against the production of junk food which is harmful to the fertility of the land, removal of industrialized agriculture, it encourages solar and biogas as energy sources to be used in farms. Oilwatch is another international network located in Ecuador, Nigeria, Thailand and Costa Rica which insists to stop the usage of crude oil by promoting renewable forms of energy like the wind and the solar. The GAIA (Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance) is a global organization which focuses on the diminution of production of crude wastes like the dioxins. They promote the concept of “zero waste” which means that by bringing certain changes in the production process both the solid waste and the noxious wastes can be brought down to zero level.

Ecological development unlike any other development does not relate to urbanization and industrialization, instead it refers and strongly recommends the eco-friendly path which points towards going back to nature. Nature has made everything so perfect but it is a plight that we greedy humans in order to satiate our desires have exhausted mother earth of all her natural resources. It is an irony that only when something becomes unachievable to us then we realize its true worth.