The root cause of the environmental crisis is the falsely acquired notion that nature/environment is meant to provide unlimited

services (in the economic sense) and man has the right to unilaterally exploit them in an unbridled manner. So, he assumes the role of the economic man who is consistently intensifying his purely greed based activities. He, in the process, also contemplates, in a certain sense, buying or selling the sky, the warmth of the sun, the fragrance of the soil after rain....do we own these? If we do not own them how can one buy/sell them? For that matter, do we "own" anything on the earth or are we "owned" by the earth? This subtle non-commutativity is an offshoot of the incorrect sense of "belonging" projected by the "economic man". In contrast, look at the human body and its functioning. This is what Alexis Carrel writes in "Man, The Unknown": "Glands, such as the thyroid, suprarenal (or adrenal), the pancreas, synthesize new compounds-thyroxin, adrenalin and insulin. They are the true chemical transformers. In this way, substances indispensable for the nutrition of cells and organs, and for physiological and mental activities, are produced. Such a phenomenon is as strange as if certain parts of a motor should create the oil used by other parts of the machine, the substances accelerating the combustion of the fuel, and even the thoughts of the engineer. To these glands is due the existence of the body with its manifold activities. Man is, first of all, a nutritive process. He consists of a ceaseless motion of chemical substances. Matter perpetually flows through all the cells of the body, yielding to tissues the energy they need, and also the chemicals which build the temporary and fragile structure of our organs and humours. Functions of the body are much less precisely located than organs. The skeleton, for example is not merely the framework of the body. It also constitutes a part of the circulatory, respiratory and nutritive systems, since, with the aid of the bone marrow, it manufactures leucocytes and red cells. The liver secretes bile, destroys poisons and microbes, stores glycogen and regulates sugar metabolism in the entire organism. In a like manner, the pancreas, the suprarenals and the spleen do not confine themselves to one function. Each possesses multiple activities and takes part in almost all the events of the body. An organ is not limited by its surface. It reaches out as far as the substance it secretes. Each gland extends, by means of its secretions, over the whole organism. An organ builds itself by techniques foreign to the human mind. It is not made of extraneous material, like a house. Neither is it a cellular construction, a mere assemblage of cells. It is, of course composed of cells, as a house is of bricks. But it is born from a cell that would set about manufacturing other bricks. Those bricks, without waiting for the architect's drawings or the coming of the bricklayers, would assemble themselves and form the walls. They would also metamorphose into window-panes, roofing-slates, coal for heating and water for the kitchen and bathroom. An organ develops by means such as those attributed to fairies in tales told to children. It is engendered by cells which, to all appearances, have knowledge of the future edifice, and synthesize from substances contained in blood plasma the building material and even the workers. When half of the thyroid gland is removed, the remaining half increases in volume. The extirpation of a kidney is followed by the enlargement of the other one. If the secretion of a gland is insufficient, other glands augment their activity to supplement its work. Each element of the body adjusts itself to the others and the others to it through a correlation of the organic fluids and the nervous system. Each part seems to know the present and future needs of the WHOLE, and acts accordingly".

This is how all things are connected. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it and the earth does not belong to the man; man belongs to the earth. The "economic man," in contrast, is fit agile, able-bodied, and unencumbered by domestic or other responsibilities. The goods that he consumes appear to him as finished products or services and disappear from his view on disposal or dismissal. He has no responsibility for the life-cycle of those goods or services any more than he questions the source of the air he breathes or the disposal of his excreta...Like Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray, the economic man appears to exist in a smoothly functioning world, while his real social, biological and ecological condition is out of reach in a desolate attic. He is a machine striving and fighting to own and conquer. In the process he is constantly contaminating his own bed and ultimately suffocates himself in his own waste. He is constantly striving to add feathers in his cap and trying to prove his worthiness by pulling appropriate ones. He is also consistently demanding certification of his abilities by way of fabricated evidences which in reality has no significance. He, therefore, exemplifies, represents and intensifies those processes which breed unsustainability. On the other hand, the aware are those people, who are not merely literate and clever (with a bouquet of feathers for mere display and who have the ability to crank out only short term and highly localized solutions which for the most of time do no work when seen on the relevant global scale). The aware are those people, who have acquired wisdom and not merely intelligence and cleverness. The aware are those people who incessantly remind themselves that they are a functional part of this majestic web of life and are highly sensitized to this awareness. They are those people whose every action is backed by and in tune with this awareness. It is this heightened sense of awareness and extreme sensitivity which is the source of their wisdom. Whereas the "aware" also perish but in the process they shine, fired by the strength of the web of which they are a part and by the strength of the processes which brought them to this land. In this context I urge everybody to read the quotation incorporated in the case of Sachidanand Pande v. State of West Bengal (AIR 1987 SC 1109). The reply was considered by the Judges to be profound, beautiful, timeless, and containing wisdom of the ages, and the first ever and most understanding statement on environment. The quotation is a letter from the Wise Indian Chief of Seattle to the offer of Great Wise Chief in Washington to buy their land.

A part is reproduced here: How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land. The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? Every part of the earth is sacred to my people, every shining needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man. The perfumed flowers are our sisters: the horse, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony and man-all belong to the same family. So when the Great Chief in Washington sends words and he wishes to buy our land, he asks much of us. The Great Chief sends words he will reserve us a place so that we can live comfortably to ourselves. He will be our father and we will be his children. So we will consider your offer to buy our land. But it will not be easy. For this land is sacred to us. We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother but his enemy and when he has conquered it, he moves on. He leaves his fathers graves behind and he does not care. He kidnaps the earth from his children. His fathers grave and his childrens birthright are forgotten. He treats his mother, the earth, and his brother, the sky as things to be bought, plundered, sold like sheep or bright beads. His appetite will devour the earth and leave only a desert. The air is precious to the red man, for all things share the same breath-the beast, the tree, the man; they all share the same breath. The white man does not seem to notice the air he breathes. Like a man lying for many days, he is numb to the stench. But if we sell you our land, you must remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirits with all life it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives the last sigh. And if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred as a place where even the white man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadows flowers. This shining water moves in the stream and rivers is not just water but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you most remember that it is sacred and you must teach your children that it is sacred and that each ghostly reflection in the clear water of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people and murmur in the voice of my fathers father. I do not know. Our ways are different from your ways. The sight of your cities pains the eyes of the red man. But perhaps it is because the red man is savage and does not understand. There is no quite place in the white mans cities. No place to hear the unfurling of leaves in spring or the rustle of an insects wings But perhaps I am a savage and do not understand. The clatter only seems to insult the ears. And what is there in life if a man cannot here the lonely cry of the whippoorwill or the arguments of the frogs around a pond at night? I am a red man and do not understand. The Indian prefers soft sound of the wind darting over the face of a pond and the smell of the wind itself, cleansed by a mid-day rain or scented with pinion tree. So we will consider your offer to buy our land. If we decide to accept, I will make one condition. The white man must treat the beasts of this land as his brothers.

What is man without beasts? If all beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts soon happens to man. All things are connected. We need people who are aware and wise in this precise sense. Is the existing normative system of education capable of instilling such an awareness and wisdom? Is the existing command-and-control system for control/abatement of environmental pollution capable of achieving its objective? Can we, without any consideration of ethical principles even think of complete and wholesome existence? Such questions have to be addressed with extreme degree of seriousness. In reality, the current system functions like an input-output machine which, in essence, is equivalent to the old-time window-ticket operator in cinema halls who was always busy stamping a fat book of tickets in a rapid machine-gun like fashion and then passing them onto the prospective customers in exchange of money. The value of this piece of paper being equivalent to the momentary impulse of emotions created during the audio-visual session after which its life/function/utility ended unceremoniously. This analogy is particularly representative of the disciplines which involve utilization/exploitation/creation of natural/artificial gradients with the objective to improve the quality of human life. This is indeed a noble objective if the phrase quality of human life is perceived and comprehended correctly. Ancient scriptures provide the correct perspective. This is based on principles which have been abstracted by individuals who observed nature, theorized and postulated causeeffect relationships and created models to represent the natural phenomena. Their extreme passion for observation and rational explanation empowered them with extreme sensitivity to and awareness of the daily happenings and therefore, they were able to understand the complex web of interrelationships, and the functionality of all animates and in-animates in general and humans in particular. These observations/postulates/relationships/theories were most of the times written in a context free manner so as to avoid localization and on this basis they enunciated the code of conduct which would ensure, if followed strictly, continual improvement in the quality of human life in the proper way. The current policy trends, be it for education, conservation of natural resources, ecology and environment, automotive fuels, etc, are solely based on extremely narrow perspectives and premises leading ultimately to inequitable distribution of welfare. Be assured, the distribution of welfare, this way, is by design, highly localized thereby causing the problems of sustainability and lack of wholesome existence in the sense as perceived by the the Wise Indian Chief of Seattle.