Nature : Ignorance is bliss … or fatal?

I was hanging out laundry when I heard this heart wrenching cry ….  The cry of the jackhammer slicing into a sturdy old tree. I watched workers cut the perfectly healthy rows of trees as the atoms of the tree screamed out. At first I tried to ignore it and carry on with my work but the cries were just too much. One reason I chose the condo unit I am living in is because it overlooked a lovely row of tree tops …. Now here I am watching them cut it down.

Rows of trees being cut down 

I walked down to the Management Office downstairs and enquired why they are cutting down the perfectly healthy trees and managed to call the manager in charge. She informs me that it was a decision approved at the owners meeting. The owners have long been requesting to cut the rows of trees down. I was flabbergasted. I asked her why? She answered that they were concerned that the tree branches might fall on the cars below and the tree roots might damage the condo units, so they are cutting down the trees. I fell silent.

I remembered a few years ago we had a nice beautiful shade tree in front of our house in Kota Kemuning. The tree roots were beginning to crack the entrance. This brought fear to my dad that the tree roots will soon destroy the house and he got the tree cut down. I bought this reason then and watched the beautiful shade tree being cut down thinking it was necessary to protect my house.

Here I am in a similar situation again, watching beautiful shade trees being cut down because a collective group of owners of the Condo units think it is necessary to protect their property. This time though, I felt this burning question : is it really necessary? Are we overreacting? There must be a way to keep the trees and protect our property. Cutting down trees is the easy solution but we have no idea of the spiral effect it has on nature, the eco system and the climate. It starts with the mindset of every individual in the society. It starts with every little thought … every little action which leads to the global catastrophe we are facing now with the melting of the ice and impending rise in water levels.

Just from my micro experience of the trees being cut was that some of my potted plants on the balcony dried up because now the direct sunlight was too strong. The wind blows stronger and the clothes on the hanger gets wet if it rains. The condo is hotter and dustier. This is just a little impact from one tiny incident. What happens when all the little things we humans do out of fear and greed is pooled together?

Scientific research indicates sea levels worldwide have been rising at a rate of 0.14 inches (3.5 millimeters) per year since the early 1990s. This is a significantly larger rate than the sea-level rise averaged over the last several thousand years. Studies published in 2015 state that even if we manage to limit global warming to 2C  (the target number for current climate negotiations), sea levels may still rise at least 6 meters (20 ft) above their current heights, radically reshaping the world’s coastline and affecting millions in the process.

By 2050, 26 major US cities will face an “emerging flooding crisis.” Globally, storm damage could cost cities from Hong Kong to Dhaka to New York trillions annually unless adaptation measures are taken. According to Climate Central estimates, 150 million or more people are currently living on land that will either be submerged or exposed to chronic flooding by 2100. Malaysia, being a little peninsular sure looks doomed. In the past years we have seen the unprecedented rise in natural disasters, Chennai flooding being the latest. The facts and evidences are trust upon us yet we live in ignorant bliss that we have a future living the way we do now. Thinking the way we do now.

Recent floods in Chennai

So this begged the question, what can I do? I realised doing what my heart has bidded me to do …  awareness programs on nature’s laws and listening to the heart, connects people back to the bigger picture of life…. of their real purpose of life besides the routine maintenance of living imposed by society. This creates awareness in Gen X and Gen Y. Awareness before change. It is too late for my Generation, Gen X to change but the awareness will enable them to provide the platform and provide the support required by Gen Y and Gen Z to perform the task they came here to perform. Saving us, humans, from our own greed and fear and appeasing nature’s fury at our follies.

Looking at Gen Y and Gen Z, I see hope and am excited to see the future unfold with them, while doing my little part to create the awareness required for change to take place from within.