Gandhi and Environment
Mahatma Gandhi was socialized in the Indian cultural tradition and he had taken quite advanced education in England. He, therefore, could claim to have comparative views of the living life-style and progress of both India and the West. As early as in 1909 ‘Hind Swaraj’, Gandhi stated, that the civilization of the West than being welcome in India in the name of modernity is a ‘Bhasmasur’ (destructive monster). It is a civilization, which equates consumerist lifestyles and abundance with development. It cannot be civilization in real sense of the term.
There is no end to the desire of the man, indiscriminate satisfaction of which has led the West to have mastery over nature, Hind Swaraj, he had given his critique of modern civilization and he had shown the limits of the Western world and criticized the extent of technology use and evils of higher standard of living.
Gandhi said that if imitating the West India tried to reach the living standard of England the resources of the Earth will not to enough. He also cautioned against what was later on to be known as the consumerist culture and a waste centric society. His celebrated and often quoted statement that; ‘the Earth has enough to satisfy the need of all people, but not for satisfying the greed of some’ has become astonishingly relevant in 1990’s. He distinguished between need and want of the human being. Gandhi also emphasized to keep in view, the future generations before using up natural resources by the present generation. In the modern civilizations he said that it seeks to increases physical comforts of the people. We should keep the patience to see that such a civilizations will invites its own destructions.
Gandhi creates the three principles, Sarvodaya, Swadeshi, and Satyagraha, which have such importance for sustainable development. Sarvodaya was a philosophical position that Gandhi maintains. He believed that morality must underpin all human actions. Society must strive for the economic, social, spiritual, and physical well being of all, not just the majority. He favored a holistic approach to well being and a total approach to the community. For him the well being of every individual was an important concern.
He advocates that the locus of power must be situated in the village or neighborhood unit. He believed that there should be equitable distribution of resources and that communities must become self-sustaining through reliance on local producers instead of large-scale imports from outside. In this way each individual would be able to market his or her goods in the neighbor hoods. People would then make goods for local consumption and become interdependence within each locality.
Gandhi was opposed to large-scale industrializations, and favored small local industries instead. In this way there would be certainty that each individual would be gainfully employed and able to live a self-sufficient fulfilled life. This local self-sufficiency he called Swadeshi. It means buy local, be proud of local, support local, uphold and live local. It was based on the theory of decentralized local interdependence and universal employment. When we buy or sell something outside our area then we are depriving a local person of his or her livelihood.
When we looks at the pollution and the environmental degradation, the climate changes and the possible effects of these of the survival of life, caused by the large scale industrializations and so-called development, it becomes clear that one needs to call for a suspension of industrializations. One needs to review carefully what is to the advantage of all people and the environment and what is not. We are on a collision course, and if we do not heed the warning signs, it will be at our own peril.
Gandhi’s best-known theory of Styagrha or non-violent direct actions is in fact a way of life, not just an absence of violence. He believed that to carry out non-violent action one needed to be disciplined entailed the important element of self-restraint in respect of all beings regardless of religion beliefs, caste, race or creed, and a devotion to the values of truth, love and responsibility.
Mahatma Gandhi was socialized in the Indian cultural tradition and he had taken quite advanced education in England. He, therefore, could claim to have comparative views of the living life-style and progress of both India and the West. As early as in 1909 ‘Hind Swaraj’, Gandhi stated, that the civilization of the West than being welcome in India in the name of modernity is a ‘Bhasmasur’ (destructive monster). It is a civilization, which equates consumerist lifestyles and abundance with development. It cannot be civilization in real sense of the term.
There is no end to the desire of the man, indiscriminate satisfaction of which has led the West to have mastery over nature, Hind Swaraj, he had given his critique of modern civilization and he had shown the limits of the Western world and criticized the extent of technology use and evils of higher standard of living.
Gandhi said that if imitating the West India tried to reach the living standard of England the resources of the Earth will not to enough. He also cautioned against what was later on to be known as the consumerist culture and a waste centric society. His celebrated and often quoted statement that; ‘the Earth has enough to satisfy the need of all people, but not for satisfying the greed of some’ has become astonishingly relevant in 1990’s. He distinguished between need and want of the human being. Gandhi also emphasized to keep in view, the future generations before using up natural resources by the present generation. In the modern civilizations he said that it seeks to increases physical comforts of the people. We should keep the patience to see that such a civilizations will invites its own destructions.
Gandhi creates the three principles, Sarvodaya, Swadeshi, and Satyagraha, which have such importance for sustainable development. Sarvodaya was a philosophical position that Gandhi maintains. He believed that morality must underpin all human actions. Society must strive for the economic, social, spiritual, and physical well being of all, not just the majority. He favored a holistic approach to well being and a total approach to the community. For him the well being of every individual was an important concern.
He advocates that the locus of power must be situated in the village or neighborhood unit. He believed that there should be equitable distribution of resources and that communities must become self-sustaining through reliance on local producers instead of large-scale imports from outside. In this way each individual would be able to market his or her goods in the neighbor hoods. People would then make goods for local consumption and become interdependence within each locality.
Gandhi was opposed to large-scale industrializations, and favored small local industries instead. In this way there would be certainty that each individual would be gainfully employed and able to live a self-sufficient fulfilled life. This local self-sufficiency he called Swadeshi. It means buy local, be proud of local, support local, uphold and live local. It was based on the theory of decentralized local interdependence and universal employment. When we buy or sell something outside our area then we are depriving a local person of his or her livelihood.
When we looks at the pollution and the environmental degradation, the climate changes and the possible effects of these of the survival of life, caused by the large scale industrializations and so-called development, it becomes clear that one needs to call for a suspension of industrializations. One needs to review carefully what is to the advantage of all people and the environment and what is not. We are on a collision course, and if we do not heed the warning signs, it will be at our own peril.
Gandhi’s best-known theory of Styagrha or non-violent direct actions is in fact a way of life, not just an absence of violence. He believed that to carry out non-violent action one needed to be disciplined entailed the important element of self-restraint in respect of all beings regardless of religion beliefs, caste, race or creed, and a devotion to the values of truth, love and responsibility.
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