NCERT English Class 11 | Chapter 5 | The Ailing Planet: the Green Movement’s Role | Summary

Nearly twenty-five years ago, the Green Movement began. In 1972, New Zealand became the first country in the world to establish a national Green party. The movement hasn't looked back since then. In fact, no other campaign in history has enthralled the human race as the Green Movement has. For the first time, people are beginning to realise that the world is a living entity. It has its own metabolic requirements and processes that are vital to its survival.

The indications of the Earth's life suggest a patient who is deteriorating. People have finally realised their moral obligation to be decent stewards of the world and responsible stewards of future generations' legacy. The notion of sustainable development was popularized in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development. It described the concept as progress that meets current needs without jeopardising future generations' ability to meet their own.

The most hazardous animal on the planet is the man. Now he sees the sense of moving away from a dominance-based society and toward one based on collaboration. Apart from humans, scientists have compiled a list of 1.4 million living species on the planet. Approximately three to one hundred million other live species remain unidentified and in shameful obscurity.

The Brandt Commission was the first international commission to address environmental and ecological issues. The first Brandt report posed the question of whether we were going to leave our children and grandchildren parched earth with growing deserts, impoverished landscapes, and a deteriorating ecosystem. Mr Lester R. Brown has outlined the four major biological systems on the planet. Fisheries, woods, grasslands, and croplands are all examples. They are the foundation of the global economic system. They provide us with food and industrial raw materials. These systems are becoming unsustainable in huge parts of the world. Their efficiency is being harmed. Whenever this happens, fisheries suffer, woods vanish, grasslands become barren wastelands, and croplands deteriorate.

Overfishing is a typical occurrence in today's protein-hungry globe. Local forests are destroyed in poor countries to obtain cooking fuel. Tropical forests are disappearing at a rate of 40 to 50 million acres per year. The rising use of dung for burning depletes the soil's natural fertiliser supply. 'India's woods have achieved catastrophic exhaustion during the previous four decades. India's forests are disappearing at a rate of 3.7 million acres per year. Large swaths of officially designated forest land are nearly devoid of trees. According to a UN report, the environment has worsened significantly in several of the eighty-eight countries studied.

One of the most powerful elements altering the future of human society is population expansion. For the first time in over a million years, humanity has surpassed the billion-person mark. In the year 1800, the world's population was at that level. By 1900, a second billion had been added. Another 3.7 billion people were added throughout the twentieth century. The current global population is projected to be 5.7 billion people. Every four days, the world's population grows by a million people.

As income rises, education spreads and health improves fertility declines. The best contraception is development. However, if population growth continues at this rate, progress may be impossible. In 1994, India's population was expected to be 920 million people. It is more than the combined populations of Africa and South America. People's hopes would perish in their famished hutments unless family planning is given primary priority. Without some form of coercion, there is no viable alternative to voluntary family planning. The decision is actually between population control and poverty perpetuation.

We observe a level of apprehension that is unmistakable. People are concerned not only for their own existence but also for the survival of the world. People have come to adopt a broad view of life's fundamentals. Our passport to the future is an environmental issue. A new perspective on the world has developed. The Era of Responsibility has arrived. It's a holistic, ecological viewpoint. Rather than seeing the world as a collection of disparate components, we now see it as a totality.

In this new Era of Responsibility, industry plays a critical role. Environmental performance should be a priority for top executives. They can then continue to operate as market leaders. Margaret Thatcher's statements are frequently quoted. She stated, "No generation has an unrestricted hold on this planet." Only a life tenancy with a full repairing lease is available to us.' "We have not inherited this world from our parents, we have borrowed it from our offspring," writes Mr Lester Brown, author of "The Global Economic Prospect."

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5. The Ailing Planet : the Green Movement ' s Role summary	6. The Browning Version summary
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