The tiger and its tale
Every time I am faced with a problem with something in life I know that some flattery, money or request or some form of bargain can solve my problem. There are agents and agencies that will get me a passport, a job or supply me with ground water to fill my sump. We get by everyday with compromise and bribery. I realized that we also get by with campaigns and petitions, awareness programs and articles about human responsibility to larger problems in our world.
When I was a teen I signed petitions for the project tiger and covered my room with posters that loudly proclaimed” save the tiger.” I see this scenario repeating today. Following reports of the tiger task force, the nation is in a frenzy of activity to protect the tiger. Children being interviewed on a popular T.V channel said, “The tiger is endangered we must save it.” How? Unfortunately Nature cannot read these articles or participate in campaigns.
Every conversation I listen to around me is bent on proving that development is important and how we can “manage” nature and create a world where the tribal and the tiger can live together. We want roads, infrastructure, tools, cars and machines and we also want the tigers in abundance. The question is not about the tribal or the tiger. It is also not about the poacher, or the hunter who is made into a villain in the whole discourse of the disappearing tiger. It is about the attitude of the human beings now who under the guise of being “Pro-development” believe that a signature absolves them of their responsibility to the tiger, while their urban lifestyles suck the life out of forests which are the tigers’ home and territory.
Companies and the government which engage in contradictory policies and eco-wash type of tokenism are as much to blame. While media attention is lead to focus on tigers being shot or killed by gangs of organized poachers, the forests are being thinned. The problem is not that there are not enough tigers, but the problem is that certain kinds of human beings are disappearing – those human beings that believed in being content and using minimal resources. The vanishing tiger is but a symptom of a larger malady – that of the modern human condition. “Don’t be content” says every advertisement that recommends we consume more and more.
Unfortunately the natural world cannot understand the grand vision and mission statements of the campaigns that support nature, nor can the tiger. We must realize that we cannot also bribe nature with action-less petitions and green-washed speeches. Nature in the form of forests, animals and water bodies is real and it needs real commitments. These commitments must start with individual and community responsibility to the environment. Start right with our lifestyles. Right now, today!
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