Don’t you ever wonder what would happen if the oxygen we breathe  in were to vanish from the air? We would suffocate and cease to be. The pollution pumped into our atmosphere is constant and vast in amount. Soon the ozone layer above us is going to be so full of holes we will no longer be protected from carcinogenic UV light. The ice caps are melting quicker than ever and because of this the sea levels are rising, destroying habitats and settlements. The sheer amount of plastic and chemical waste has destroyed much of our marine ecosystems. With the advent of technology, we are more connected and informed of the world than ever before and yet we are unable to organise and stop this morbid march into destruction while we still can. We have been prisoners to our own greed and the current economic system—and the unequal prosperity it reaps—has come at huge cost; it is literally destroying the earth.

The environment has become so degraded in some places that they have become virtual wastelands. What were rich pastures not so long ago have become arid deserts. Entire seas have dried up—just look at the Aral sea or rather, don’t bother, because it does not even exist anymore. Environmental degradation and climatic change have taken a great toll. There are many statistics as evidence. For instance, a child dies every eight seconds from contaminated water; five to 10 percent of tropical forest species will become extinct every decade at the current rate of deforestation; 27 percent of coral reefs have already been destroyed and if these conditions persist, all those reefs will vanish within the next 30 years. Aren’t these representative of the fact that we are doomed—I am scared and we should be. If the foremost scientist Stephen Hawking thinks humanity will not survive another thousand years on Earth, I am inclined to believe him. To quote Kurt Vonnegut, “Make war not on terrorism but on ignorance or sickness and on environmental degradation.” Isn’t it high time we truly woke up to the destruction and dealt with these bitter facts to ensure a stable future for humankind?

Currently, we use 50 percent more natural resources than the Earth can continue to replenish. This means that we are leaving behind a depleted earth with scarce resources and impending strife. Future generations, if they do come, will look back on us and curse our greed and the lack of urgency it has created. Gandhi had once said that the Earth provides enough to satisfy every person’s needs, but not every person’s greed. Nature is like that, benign and nurturing, and we have exploited her gifts. At this point, we have two alternatives, one a path of destruction and greed and the other a path of preservation and justice. It is clear which one we should be urgently taking.

Sharma is a student at the Agriculture and Forestry University