Surviving the Environmental Crisis

A few days ago I was woken up at about 5 in the morning with a power cut. The fan stopped circulating the air and the room got really hot. As I could not sleep anymore, I got out of bed and went to the lounge. Then I thought how dependent we have become on electricity, fans and air conditioning to keep us comfortable and how spoild we have become not being able to put up with the inconvenience of a power cut.

Then I pondered on the millions of people who have no electricity at all, but have a good night’s sleep anyway without fans and air conditioning in a warm climate. I also thought how difficult it would be for the likes of us who live in first world conditions even in a developing country if and when things go awry with the environment and our comforts are taken away. Imagine how people in the industrialized west would survive if the comforts of electricity, artificial heating and cooling are taken away. An environmental crisis could do just that.

Yet, there is a notion that the environmental crisis will impact poor people more, whether it is in the developed or the developing world. Certainly, the poor are more immediately affected with an environmental disaster such as a flood or a hurricane. They may have no choice but to live in a flood prone area, for instance. Yet, the poor are much more robust having to survive in a harsher world as a whole. This robustness is what will help them to survive a disaster more than myself, who is spoild by the softer life I lead. As such, poor are much more adaptable to situations by being constantly pushed to the limit, whether its harsh weather conditions, lack of resources or money and they find creative ways of surviving.

Certainly, there is suffering amongst the poor. For instance, in Bangladesh - when the Bay of Bengal floods, it displaces a few million people. People die and many get sick from diseases such as cholera. At the same time, as the water recedes they come back to the same land that was immersed and go about their lives again. I see this just outside Dhaka too in the flood plains where people live, cultivate, have brick kilns and run small businesses. There is a season when the entire area goes underwater and people move away for that time and get back to business as the water recedes. There is a certain resilience to the people.

These hardships are no different to what western countries experience with changing seasons. Before technology made people’s lives easier in the 20th century onward, people were robust and could handle much more hardship. Technology and the comforts that have resulted have made people soft and less resilient today.

So, when and if an environmental disaster hits, it will be poor people that may end up surviving merely by the fact that they maybe able to better adapt to survive in harsher conditions.

Who knows, nature may play its role in being the great leveler of life between the “haves” and the “have nots” after all.

So, the “haves” have to lead to change the way we live to protect the environment and preserve nature, so we will not have to fight to survive in the first place.

Lalith Gunaratne
Colombo
Sri Lanka