English (Core) · Ch 7 — The Ailing Planet: the Green Movement's Role
Summary
Summary
- Text & author: A persuasive essay by Nani Palkhivala, published in The Indian Express on 24 November 1994; still relevant today.
- Central image: The earth is an ailing patient — a living organism whose vital signs show declining health.
- The Green Movement: Began about 25 years ago (first Green party in New Zealand, 1972); shifted us from a mechanistic to a holistic, ecological view of the world.
- Key ideas: Sustainable development (defined 1987) — meeting present needs without harming future generations; humans as trustees, not owners, of the earth.
- Evidence of sickness: The four biological systems (fisheries, forests, grasslands, croplands) are over-used; tropical forests vanish at 40-50 million acres a year; India loses forests far faster than official data admit; the Lusaka-zoo mirror shows man as the most dangerous animal. …