On the day of World Water Day, I thought to share the cartoon that I made for the Cartoon Contest: Climate Change in Asia Pacific, A People's Perspective (Please have a look at the link provided to other cartoons on climate change). But most importantly to share the message I had in mind while making the cartoon which is deeply connected to depleting groundwater with changing climate.
Cartoon by R. Thomas © 2012
“The wealth of the nation is its air, water, soil, forests, minerals, rivers, lakes, oceans, scenic beauty, wildlife habitats and biodiversity… that’s all there is. That’s the whole economy. That’s where all the economic activity and jobs come from. These biological systems are the sustaining wealth of the world.” - Gaylord Nelson
Economy of any nation depends on the resources that come from its nature and this is what we need to value and preserve rather than destruction our environment. Nature services are taken for granted and ignored, the present economy believes that the nature is resilient to any anthropogenic activity. I strongly feel that the message through the cartoon should make people think & move more people to actively participate in the restoration of the ecosystem which is threatened by us - the Humans. Man has entered an era where he is changing Earth and things in it so dramatically than any living being to ever exist on the face of the Earth and for most people this ability to change things is the climax of human ingenuity and development. People who set up industries and other polluting firms have hardly understood the functions and importance of every organism in the functioning of the ecosystem. We all should be aware that the water which makes the Earth a living planet, the air we breathe and the land where we live is not an unlimited pool were we can continue to dump our waste but rather a very precious resource on which we are completely dependent, one that we unfortunately continuing to pollute. It is our home, if we do not take care then we will be writing our own death sentences. Climate change is a serious threat and the answer to the problem is conservation and preservation of Biodiversity in the Nature.
A series of chain events kick starts when the focus of the economy is industrialization rather than conservation of natural resources - which has indeed taken millions of years to evolve. Farmers either cut down the old trees or burn grasses to expand the agriculture field, and today’s farming is focused on getting more yield from the land by drugging the land with chemicals and pesticides rather than being content from what we have. This greed has resulted in increase in number of wells – the outcome is decrease in water table. We are pumping more harmful gases into the atmosphere and changing the very composition of it and changing the global rainfall distribution. It has initiated a number of chain reactions and this is what I have tried to portray through the cartoon. I believe that the situation can be reversed if we limit our wants and be content with what we have. Conservation means adopting a new lifestyle and it starts with 'me'.
