Badhta Pradushan Evam Paryavaraniya Shiksha

Here's a comprehensive summary of the provided Jain text, "Badhta Pradushan evam Paryavaraniya Shiksha" (Increasing Pollution and Environmental Education), by Hemlata Talsera:

The text emphasizes the critical connection between a pure environment and the well-being of all living beings. It argues that environmental pollution is a growing global concern, affecting air, water, and food, and posing a significant challenge to humanity. This pollution is attributed to several factors:

• Increasing Population: A larger population consumes more resources and generates more waste, straining the environment.
• Industrialization and Urbanization: These processes lead to increased resource depletion, waste generation, and the release of harmful pollutants into the air and water.
• Exploitation of Natural Resources: The unchecked use of natural resources, including deforestation, contributes to environmental degradation. The cutting down of forests, in particular, is highlighted as a cause of many problems, as vegetation plays a vital role in maintaining air purity.
• Nuclear Energy Development and Testing: This leads to increased radioactivity, which has genetic effects that could potentially threaten human civilization.

The text points out that the pollution of air and water is severe. Air pollution is estimated to cause significant economic losses, such as the destruction of crops in the US. Major Indian cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Kanpur are facing high levels of air pollution. Industrial wastewater contaminates rivers, spreading diseases like cholera and diphtheria. The Ganga River is cited as an example of severely polluted water.

The burning of fuels like coal and oil in industries releases toxic gases and nitrogen oxides, which combine with hydrocarbons to form photochemical oxides. These, along with atmospheric particles, create smog, impeding sunlight.

The author stresses the need for environmental education to combat this crisis. Key arguments include:

• Integrating Environmental Education into the Curriculum: Environmental education should be made a mandatory subject in schools to educate students about pollution and its prevention.
• Role of Religious and Spiritual Leaders: Religious and spiritual figures can play a significant role in raising public awareness about environmental issues.
• Holistic Approach to Environmental Education: Environmental education should encompass all aspects of the environment, including the physical (water, air, land), biological (plants, animals), utilitarian (agriculture, industry, forests, water supply, energy, recreation), and human-value (lifestyle, religion, economy, society, health, tourism, population) dimensions. It should also integrate natural and social sciences.
• Lifelong Learning: Environmental education is a continuous process that should start from primary school and continue throughout life, empowering people to actively participate in preventing and solving environmental problems.

The text also discusses the impact of human-made environments, particularly in the context of slums and congested urban areas. It highlights:

• Deterioration of Living Conditions: Rapid population growth and industrialization disrupt ecological balance, leading to polluted water, air, and land.
• Health Hazards: Living in polluted environments contributes to various health problems, including respiratory illnesses, skin diseases, and mental stress. Congested living spaces can lead to irritability, anger, and social conflict.
• Impact on Children: Children are particularly vulnerable in such environments, often lacking clean air and suffering from nutritional deficiencies. This can lead to physical, mental, and social imbalances.
• Spread of Communicable Diseases: Crowded and unhygienic conditions facilitate the spread of infectious diseases.
• Soil Degradation: Deforestation and unsustainable agricultural practices lead to soil erosion and the depletion of fertile land.

The text concludes by emphasizing the shared responsibility of every individual, child, woman, and elder to keep the environment clean and healthy. It calls for creating awareness through simple language, explaining the impact of pollution on human life, and promoting practices like planting trees to purify the air. The importance of clean water and proper waste management is also highlighted. Ultimately, the goal is to empower people to protect their health, their families, their neighbors, and society as a whole, leading to a healthier and prosperous life.