HOME, is a one and a half hour, five star documentary on the evolution of planet earth and how we humans have managed to disrupt its whole system in just 200,000 years. I personally think that every human being on this planet should watch this documentary to understand how this planet we are living in, is a miracle in itself. It starts by painting a beautiful picture of when the earth was formed in a way that it was not too near or too far from the sun, which provided just the right amount of energy that living organisms needed.
Agriculture was the first great revolution and it resulted in the first surplus. It produced cities and civilizations and wiped out the idea of food scarcity. Humans experienced another great revolution when oil was discovered and machines were created to replace the human hand. Automobiles have become a symbol of comfort and progress as development takes place and this caused our planet to have over 900 million vehicles. Commercial fishing catches have increased 5 times since 1950 from 18mil – 100mil metric tonnes per year.
Today, 1/10 major rivers around the world no longer flow to the sea for several months of the year. The Jordan River and the Colorado River are examples of such phenomena. Much of the water goes to the commercial mass production of fruits and vegetables. In India, over 21million wells have been dug over the last 50 years to curb the lack of water. But in western India, 30% of the wells are abandoned because groundwater is drying out quickly. Local women have to dig for water with their bare hands.
In less than 40 years, the Amazon forest was reduced by 20% for cattle ranches and soy bean farms. A startling 95% of soy beans produced was used as livestock and poultry feed. Deforestation in Borneo was carried out to produce palm oil and eucalyptus trees. At the current rate of deforestation, the forest would be gone in 10 years. Deforestation will eventually lead to global warming. The arctic icecap has already lost 40% of its thickness in the last 40 years and could even disappear by summer of 2030.
I was disturbed at the fact that we humans have actually made our lives more comfortable at the expense of the environment. We do not see the big picture of reality until some big catastrophe hits us, but by then, it will be too late to recover. Even at this point of time, natural disasters are happening everywhere at a higher frequency. This might be a way of nature telling us that we have taken it too far. But the question still comes back to us. Are we willing to change our way of living in order for the earth to heal? Changing the way we live could mean that certain comforts in life have to go. Are we willing to live less comfortably now for the sake of our children? Do we give our future generation the best or do we give them our leftovers? I believe each of us have to start to play our role one way or another. It is definitely hard to make a sudden change in our lifestyle, but even small changes do make a difference. Imagine if everyone used only recycled paper, brought their own grocery bags, or used public transport. Even if it’s just for a few days in a week, it would really help to reduce our impact on the environment.
Astounding statistics were also revealed in this documentary. It states that 1/6 human lives in unhealthy, over-populated environment without water, sanitation and electricity. Up to 5000 people die everyday because of dirty drinking water and over a billion people still do not have excess to safe drinking water. While over a billion people are going hungry, 50 % of the grain traded around the world is for animal feed or biofuel.
Part of the problem definitely lies in the political arena of these countries. To me it is ironic that half of the world’s poor are living in resource rich countries and half of the world’s wealth is in the 2% of the world’s rich. Nigeria for example is the biggest oil exporter in Africa and yet 70% of its population still lives below the poverty line. Well it seems that development in certain countries did not fulfill its promise to improve living standards. Multi-national companies are just investing in poor countries to exploit its natural resources without having any sense of social responsibility. Or maybe politicians just took up the wealth from the investments for themselves. How is it possible that people are swimming in Olympic size swimming pools while others dig for water with their bare hands?
HOME has really opened my eyes to see the beauty of planet earth and how much it has suffered because of the development we all desire. Is it too late to save the earth from destruction? Well it is better late than never. Countries around the world have started to place priority in conserving the environment. Denmark, Sweden, Spain and many more have pioneered the revolution of renewable energy. South Korea managed to save 65% of their forest through their National Reforestation Program. Costa Rica has shifted their military expenditures to education, conservation of primary forest and eco-tourism. Germany has started an eco-friendly district where residential houses are able to generate their own energy. I believe that all these effort will not go to waste and will definitely pay out in the distant future. Therefore, we should constantly ask ourselves: What are we doing to conserve planet earth? A place we call HOME.
