Climate Change : Current Solutions

 GREEN INITIATIVE THAT WERE ADOPTED TO SAVE 

OUR PLANET

-Ishita Desai

Climate change is a global issue that affects not only humans but also every other living creature on earth. It is of great importance that we find a solution to these issues . Sometimes the answers to our questions have already been presented and we just have to innovate and improvise.Many individuals and organizations have taken various initiatives to save the environment , such acts inspire the masses and can be further improved upon. Some of them are:

• Disney's Fight Against Plastic Waste: The company has always had environmental projects. These include the Disney Conservation Fund in 1995 and its commitment to reduce green house emissions by 41 percent in 2017.This year, Disney announced that they will get rid of single-use plastic straws and stirrers in 2019.
• Eco-City Project: The port city of Hamburg, Germany , launched the Eco-City Project to serve as a new standard for green development. The Eco-City is made to be self-sustaining through the use of several green technologies. These include huge and smaller, vertical wind turbines to power the city .
•  Lilyfield Housing Development: In Sydney, Australia, a public housing project proved that sustainability and affordability can be in harmony. The Lilyfield Housing Development constructed 88 unit with the environment in mind. This green development was eventually certified with a Five star Green Star rating making it first ever social housing project to get recognition.

These examples make it clear that solutions are available all around us . All we have to do now is work hard to implement them . It is after all our responsibility to save our planet.

Sustainable Development the Gandhian Way

Sustainable Development 

The Gandhian Way

-Ishita Desai

Environmental sustainability is the most burning issue with which every one of us is related very closely. Environmental Sustainability means to sustain ability, both the ability of the environment to regenerate and the ability of people to retain control over their living conditions. Many people have speculated over the years on how to create a society that was self-sufficient , self-sustainable and would not harm mother nature . One of these people was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, alias Mahatma Gandhi . At the first glance Gandhi might not exactly seem like an environmentalist, neither did he ever refer to himself as one , but as we start reading his writings the scattered thoughts on environment in them paint a clear picture.

Gandhi considered the earth a living organism. His ideas were expressed in terms of two fundamental laws: Cosmic law and the Law of Species. Cosmic Law views the entire universe as a single entity. Nothing could malfunction outside the threshold limits built into the grand system that includes both living and non-living phenomena. He believed that the universe was structured and informed by the cosmic spirit, that all men, all life and indeed all creation were one. Regarding the law of species Gandhi believed that without the cooperation and sacrifice of both human and non-human beings evolution is not possible. Being rational human beings, we are the custodians of the rest of creation and should respect their rights and cherish the diversity. 

These were the reasons Gandhi saw taking up more resources than needed as theft. Gandhi’s ideas developed from his understanding about the ecological interdependence of the universe. Modern industrial civilization has had a huge impact on human kind as well as on the environment. It made a small part of the population wealthy at the cost of exploiting the world's natural resources. Gandhi believed that it propagates nothing other than the hunger for wealth and the greedy pursuit of worldly pleasures.

He was not against the technology, but the technologism which creates a hierarchical relationship among men as well as between men and nature.Modern civilization involved an egregious amount of violence against nature which was largely seen as man's property. 

Gandhi believed that villages would soon disappear due to the urbanization which is part of modern civilization, and of which environmental degradation is a product. While the western environmentalists spread the message of "going back to the nature" Gandhi spread the message of "going back to the villages". He believed that the "the blood of the village is the cement with which the edifice of the cities is built.”

Although we may not understand everything about the interdependence of mankind and nature , one thing is perfectly clear , if man’s rampant and unchecked exploitation of natural resources does not stop ,sooner rather than later , the survival of humanity itself is at risk .

The Tangled Tale of Two Worlds

 The Tangled Tale of Two Worlds

A brief history of the philosophy of history

We can easily define and differentiate between history and philosophy . On a surface level history is the branch of knowledge dealing with past events ,a continuous, systematic narrative of past events as relating to a particular people, country, period, person, etc., usually written as a chronological account, and philosophy is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline. 

Although definitions may help us understand the basic ideas behind the two subjects , they do not give a clear picture of what history and philosophy truly mean.The definitions are too rigid , reality is not set into neat boxes but is miscible . At first glance the two seem very different , but as we look closer the borders between them seem to blur and become more illegible .

An example of the two subjects being entwined with one another can be seen in the phrase “philosophy of history” . Not to be confused with the history of  philosophy , which follows the past journey of philosophy .

The concept of history plays a fundamental role in human thought. It invokes notions of human agency, change, the role of material circumstances in human affairs, and the putative meaning of historical events. It raises the possibility of “learning from history.” And it suggests the possibility of better understanding ourselves in the present, by understanding the forces, choices, and circumstances that brought us to our current situation. It is therefore unsurprising that philosophers have sometimes turned their attention to efforts to examine history itself and the nature of historical knowledge. These can be grouped together into the term “philosophy of history.” This work is heterogeneous, comprising analyses and arguments of idealists, positivists, logicians, theologians, and others.

While we today , in the modern world , believe that history progresses in a linear manner , many ancient cultures held mythical concepts of time that were not linear . Such societies saw history as cyclical , with alternating dark and golden ages. A four age count matches Vedic ages known as the Satya , Treta , Dwapara and Kali yugas . 

There is disagreement about the extent to which history is ultimately deterministic (historical determinism). Some argue that geography (geographic determinism), economic systems (economic determinism), or culture (cultural determinism) prescribe "the iron laws of history" that decide what is to happen. Others see history as a long line of acts and accidents, big and small, each playing out its consequences until that process gets interrupted by the next.

While this topic is far too vast to be covered within a single article , it gives us an idea of how deep , rich and truly entwined they are with each other.