We must begin a new year on a note of hope. No doubt there will be a lot of routine celebration of the new year this time too, but the hearts of those closely involved with the welfare and safety of the world are heavy because they realize that the most crucial objectives of justice-based peace and safety, protection of environment and of all forms of life are steadily being pushed back while even the basic life-nurturing conditions of the planet are being threatened by man-made factors as never before. People who realise the seriousness of all this find it difficult to celebrate in a festive mood. Yet they should not make the mistake of getting the trap of pessimism and of losing hope, no matter how serious the problems. Hope must remain alive with its inspirational and motivational role and we must all seek to contribute to this hope even if we are able to do so only in very small ways. If we can light only a small lamp on a dark night, let’s do so. Who knows it may enlighten the path of someone with much higher capabilities of bringing the kind of changes and reforms we need.
A teacher in a small village may not be exactly in a world-changing position, but who knows that the ideas given by her to her students may one day inspire one of them to contribute something great to peace or justice or protection of environment. So, no matter how small the contributions we can make to create a world based on peace, justice and protection of environment, we must continue to make our best efforts even in the middle of disappointments and obstructions.
There is a famous Hindi song sung by Manna Dey on the theme of the lamp and the storm—nirbal se larai balwan ki, ye kahani hai diye ki or toofan ki (translated as ‘the struggle of the weak against the strong, this is the story of the earthen lamp and the storm). In this song a lonely lamp struggles to keep lighting a dark night as a raging storm attacks to extinguish it, ultimately prevailing.
There are at least two specific ways in which, despite all the disturbing realities and difficulties, hope can still increase for a safer and more just world.
Firstly, in our daily life in immediate surroundings, if more and more people can start making efforts for increasing justice and peace and advancing the cause of protection of the environment, then millions of such small efforts can make a big difference. These can be very small efforts for ensuring that the poorest get justice in everyday life, that domestic violence in neighbouring areas is reduced, that bullying in the local school must stop, that any harassment of girls and women on the streets is opposed, that the proposed felling of trees near our locality can be stopped and instead more trees can be planted if possible.
In a hundred small ways the cause of peace, justice, protection of environment and all forms of life can be advanced in daily life, not the least by making lifestyle changes. However, an even bigger achievement is possible if these efforts are accompanied by educational, campaign and mobilisation efforts to advance the objectives of peace, justice and protection of environment in a wider context. If advancing these precepts in our own life and in the life just around us brings us happiness and satisfaction and helps to improve things, why should not these precepts to taken to wider levels? Why cannot governance of countries, regions and the world be based on these precepts?
Once more and more people start thinking along these lines, the task of most essential changes and reforms in the world is being advanced. Essential to this process is the very creative and involving work of re-imagining the world to be created on the precepts of justice, environment protection and peace. This must be the most exciting challenge, the most involving task ever taken up.
Such highly creative and useful work creates great hope, but this by itself would not be adequate, keeping in view the fact that the world-level threats to peace and environment protection have already acquired the dimensions of disrupting life-nurturing conditions. Therefore, while the efforts of people and their social and ecological movements are very important, it is also very important that persons who have held very senior positions and/or are recognised and respected for their expertise and learning in areas of crucial importance to world should come forward in a bigger or more effective way, on their own or by forming small or big groups, to clearly warn against the ‘business-as-usual’ ways and present various alternative paths for creating a world based on justice, peace and environment protection and for saving the basic life- nurturing conditions of earth.
These two initiatives, at the grassroots involving most people and at the top level some of the most accomplished persons, should be supportive of each other in various ways and their combined strength and actions can succeed in giving much-needed hope to our deeply troubled and threatened world.
Everyday millions of people –placed in very difficult conditions –take courageous actions to protect themselves and their near and dear ones, sending a clear message that humanity is capable of a much better and protective role, and the potential for channelizing this energy and capability for creating a better and safer world for the people living today and for the generations to come needs to be taken up in much better ways to create hope.
As I am writing this, it is around 5 am in a city of Punjab (India) known for its high levels of pollution, I look out of a high-rise window to see that all nearby areas including a highway are engulfed in fog overlaid with pollution particles. Even the bright lights on the highway are not visible at all. The situation today appears to be much worse than a normal foggy morning. Yet soon enough sun will arise and will seek to bring light and cheer to people. Soon after, we will gather to welcome the New Year, 2026. And so, life will go on. However, it is best to realise that in coming years life will not be the same as before as the basic life-nurturing conditions are being threatened. If more and more of us can be united in checking these threats within a framework of peace, justice, equality, inter-faith harmony and democracy, then we can create a lot of hope. Let’s light a lamp with this hope.
(The writer is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include A Day in 2071, Protecting Earth for Children, Planet in Peril, Earth without Borders, Man over Machine and When the Two Streams Met.)
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