Man is an integral part of the environment, yet he is the arch-enemy of it. For centuries man has been thriving on its generosity. But in his quest to make life very simpler and more luxurious,, he has turned a blind eye to the damage caused to the environment. Our greed to get the most out of everything has made us contemptuously neglect the environment, although we all know that our very existence depends on it. A careful analysis of why there are imbalances in the environment will highlight numerous mistakes and aberrations on our parts. After doing so, I reason that there are certain traits in us that have led to the present situation.
The first is the innate tendency to discriminate. After divining the world into geographical entities by drawing imaginary lines called 'borders', man has divided societies on the basic of color, creed, religion etc. The immediate effect of such division is bias. Primarily our world has been divided into major categories based on the qualities of life- developed and developing. Although the word 'developed' seems to have comforting implications, the problematic aspect is that these countries have not attained this status without damaging the environment. In fact, they have tampered with it to a great extent. Every element of the environment, be it land or water, has been exploited. The other category, the developing nations, is like a teenager who has just turned adult. He wants to enjoy every bit of comfort and freedom that was till now the prerogative of the developed nations. Lately both the developed and the developing nations woken up to the ramifications of damaging the environment.
Various conference and summits have been held to find solutions to the problem. But the outcome of all these has been the same; no consensus has been reached on how to preserve the environment. The prime reason of the discord is the question of responsibility. Both the parties