Save Energy Save Future
Our ancient Indian scriptures have elaborated arrangements on the environment. The deities mentioned in the Rig Veda like Mitra, Varuna, Marut, Indra, and Aditya are responsible for the balanced functioning of the environment. People during ancient times were cautious to perform such actions that could cause harm to nature. Even today, many tribes in India worship forest & nature and conserve it. But it seems, this ancient wisdom to maintain a balance between human activities and nature, has faded away with time. The testimony of this statement can be found that humans have come to this stage, where the future of their own and his coming generation, is at stake. Problems like global warming which causes climate change is the biggest threat humanity can face. And the biggest contributor to climate change is carbon dioxide, which is generated from the indiscriminate use of fossil fuels like coal, petrol diesel, etc. We have a limited amount of energy resources at our disposal. Indiscriminate use of finite energy resources has not only made climate change imminent but also there is a big question mark about what we are going to leave for our future generation.
Worldwide, the governments and private sector are coming together to find solutions to conserve the energy resources and form strategies to use clean & continuous energy resources so that the threat of global warming can be minimized and we can use our energy resources in a sustainable way. Governments around the world are now focusing more on using renewable energy resources rather than fossil fuels to conserve energy. European Union aims to make carbon-neutral by 2050. Similarly, the Indian government also launched the National Solar Mission, under which the target is to achieve around 100GW of solar energy by 2022.
Towards this Global and national objective, Vishwa Jagriti Mission under the vision and guidance of his holiness Shri Sudhanshu ji maharaj, has installed Solar Panels in most of its Ashrams. For example, Anand Dham ashram in New Delhi has installed a solar energy capacity of 286 KW. This has not only benefited in monetary terms but more importantly, carbon footprints generation also minimized contributing in the nation-building process. Apart from this, many tree plantation drives have organized to increase the tree cover.
However, energy conservation efforts can’t be said to be completed without individual efforts. If as an individual, we start taking the small steps like those who can ride bicycles if they are going a small distance, using energy-efficient equipment and appliances or even for that matter if we start developing a habit to maintain the green spaces near us like parks, switching off electrical and electronic equipment when in no use, etc. This has positive effects in terms of a clean atmosphere but the greater benefit is, we will start building a bridge between human and nature, where both can exist.
Towards the end, As already mentioned above, some of the resources that we use are finite. According to the report by UNEP’s International Resource Panel, by 2050, human beings could devour an estimated 140 billion tons of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass per year and in the same report warned out that the world was already running out of cheap and sources of some essential materials such as oil, copper and gold. We have to use our resources judiciously so that we can leave enough resources for future generations. As Mahatma Gandhi ji said
“The Earth has enough resources for our needs but not for our greed.”
– M.K. Gandhi
