Jonah Achumi
I was caught by the attention of a news item that read about 400 churches in the United Kingdom shifting their energy provider sources to renewable sources rather than the green house and carbon emitting fossil fuels. It is such a great initiative that the church being the main hub of religion can also play a major role in bringing a great change in the face of the numerous challenges faced today by all of us. Our Naga society is no exception to all these too. I couldn’t agree more with Uncle Niketu Iralu’s in his presentation ‘The Direction of the Church’ at DABA last November when I got invited by some friends and insisted that I attend it too. He said that ‘”We and our Christianity have reached a stage in our journey when our Christianity starts to get its energy and strength through addressing and answering the challenging issues confronting us. The Church urgently needs to fulfill this role for our society”……..there are other area of life where the Church urgently needs to be the initiator of creative leadership and path-breaking solutions.
Now coming back to the point, one of the areas the Church can be play is the role of a guide and mentor too in this age of climatic change caused by our thoughtless and wanton destructive human actions on this good old earth created by God which our actions is endangering and jeopardizing all His beautiful creations. Climate change affects everyone, but its effects are felt most by the poorest section. In a land besotted by myriad problems, chronic power disruption,i.e. power-cuts and load-shedding have become a regular phenomenon. The rich few can afford those generator sets and are not much bothered about all these but their indifference to the power-cuts and various greenhouse gases emitted from those giant-size gen-sets in the surroundings sure are contributing to the global climatic change and the global warming. Our hilly areas may be somewhat immune from the blistering heat of our peak but for Dimapurians who can ever escape it? I remember my childhood days whenever our parents take us to Kohima during the summer vacations, we use to be amused and smirk at our Kohimian cousins that they don’t have ceiling fans like us. And most of them didn’t even know what ceiling fan was. But if you go today one will feel how the Kohima heat too is catching up in spite of the extreme chilly winters. Running ACs in our cars and owning fans is now becoming a common thing. Thanks to the global warming. I happened to visit Mokokchung two years back during summer and man, the heat and the humidity really astonished me. I was lucky my relative had a long standing fan to relieve me from time to time. Hill station resorts all over India seem to be on buying spree of coolers, ACs and fans. Owing an inverter and a battery set in Dimapur is now no longer a thing of luxury like some years back but has become a thing of necessity. Who can sleep in this searing heat of Dimapur nights with constant load-shedding? It’s like been barbecued inside a grill. With the impact of global warming taking place much sooner than expected, it’s high time we must really be concerned the things happening here right infront of us like about our decreasing forest covers, our vanishing streams and rivers, our dwindling wild life population all by destroying nature at the behest of not only development but to earn more money, money and money. One Indian saying goes ‘Only when the last tree has been cut, only when the last river has been poisoned and only when the last fish has been caught then only men will realize that they cannot eat their money”.
It is said by scientists that as long as we human beings give nature the chance it has a capacity to replenish itself and renewable energy will always be available. And if applied correctly, they are non-polluting too. But the thing is, we humans never give that chance. To put it straightly, we aren’t thinking of our children. How can we say we love them? Buying them the latest electronic gadgets, expensive clothes, luxurious cars or letting them splurge your money won’t give them a better world and a cleaner world to live tomorrow or will it? But teaching them to live a healthy lifestyle or plant a tree, manure it, water it, nurture it is loving them so that they will inhabit a healthy environment to live it. Teaching them to love the environment will let them know the importance of life. Unless you teach them, how are they ever going to inherit it tomorrow?The way we meet our needs today is compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs – the very opposite of sustainable development.
Switching our energy provider to clean sources of power is a simple thing we can do to help the global transition to a low carbon world. Pope Francis, the leader of the 1.2 billion-member Catholic Church, has been outspoken about the need for reductions in carbon emissions to tackle climate change. The expansion on the usage of renewable resources will make a substantial contribution to reducing the environmental burdens associated with conventional energy supplies - it will reduce the use of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions associated with climate change. Changes to our ageing grid and storage infrastructure will come at a cost and will need bold political and private sector backing, but the benefits will far outweigh the cost of inaction. It will be worth it.
Governments need to subsidize those equipments and apparatus so it will be within the common man’s reach. Not only will it solve our shortage of supply-demand of power problem but will ease the common man’ burden of huge electricity bills and of course a more substantial approach in this age of global climatic changing patterns. To realize this huge potential, we need to further boost new programmes and ambitious support schemes from the government. Mankind is under severe threat than ever before. Now we face dangers that have been only just the talks of scientists, environmentalist and futurologist years ago. That years ago has become now and we Nagas being a part of the great human race, this threat is not an exception to us also and we can never escape from the threat that has already reached us silently and swiftly and now knocking hard right at our doors. Among the different dangers the world is facing today like terrorism, population explosion, pollution, epidemics new diseases, the rising global temperatures are the most serious currently active challenge facing humanity, comparable in scope of impact to global nuclear war, if such were to occur. Human beings are considered as the most intelligent creature on the earth, but our irresponsibility and stubborn proves otherwise. The implications and consequences deserve our urgent attention. Simple ways of making awareness and enlightening people on the careful usage of resources created by God can transform people lives.
Director General World Wildlife Fund, Marco Lambertini says “The upcoming generation must seize the opportunity to close this destructive chapter in our history, and build a future in which people live and prosper in harmony with nature. Our churches can surely lead the way. Protecting nature and using its resources responsibly are prerequisites for human development and well-being, and for building resilient, healthy communities. Last year’s CBCNEI Youth Fest hosted by NBCC at DABA too saw some speakers stressing on this point. It is a good initiative taken by our churches to start observing Green Sunday in the month of June when World Environment Day falls .The task is difficult, certainly, but not impossible – because it is in ourselves, who have caused the problem, that we can find the solution.
Climate change is hitting hard on our farmers too. Many of our farmers in the villages are facing difficulty due to changing monsoon patterns and droughts. In a world where so many people live in poverty, it may appear as though protecting nature is a luxury. But it is quite the opposite. For many of the world’s poorest people, nature is a lifeline. Importantly though, we are all in this together. We all need nutritious food, fresh water and clean air – wherever in the world we live.
The DABA youth department initiatives on the World Environment Day under their dynamic leadership of their Youth Director, Imnatoshi to conserve our energy and power saving methods last year is sure worth emulating by all of us.
