Significance of the Title

The title "The Ailing Planet: the Green Movement's Role" has two halves that mirror the essay's structure. "The Ailing Planet" presents the earth as a sick patient — the very image Palkhivala uses when he writes that "the earth's vital signs reveal a patient in declining health." Words like ailing, declining, depletion and catastrophic keep this medical picture alive and make the crisis feel real and urgent, as though the earth were a living body needing treatment. …