The initial schools of thought suggested that Human being is superior to all life forms and people like us believed the same. Scientific research over years has claimed that we are just animals who got ahead in the evolutionary game. In contemporary world, evidence based scientific theories have got the upper hand but somewhere in our minds we still hold on to that belief of being superior. We don’t even realize how our actions directly or indirectly are a result of this hidden ‘burden’ of Human Superiority.
An exchange of texts in a Science WhatsApp group got me thinking about this. A person shared few photographs of newly acquired pet birds and appeared to be quite happy and excited about it. The caption, “Meet our new family members” was met by a critique by another person saying, “Do we keep our family members in a cage?” The new pet bird owner retorted “At least they are alive and not cut into pieces by the ceiling fan.”
Now a question arises that why do we have to put those little birds in a cage when we can simply switch off the fan?
All the global conservation movements are the need of the hour and absolute necessity to save our planet and all life forms along with it. But sometimes I feel the different modes of conservation for example., developing protected natural environments, national parks, sanctuaries, extended breeding efforts, and a lot more have an undertone of this arrogance of being Human, of being superior to all. The idea that we can control or direct how nature is saved without controlling or directing our actions is blasphemy at its best. Are we willing to stop using fossil fuels? Are we willing to give up mass produced stuff? Are we willing to live without electricity like our ancestors did? Are we willing to abandon the ever-growing cities and move to rural areas? Are we willing to give up social media and the internet?
The answers to these questions are nowhere to be found because our dependence on these has reached such heights that the idea of climbing down seems impossible and scary. But the guilt of it all or the notion that Nature requires our efforts makes us go forth with the idea of conserving and replenishing Nature.
We keep forgetting that Nature is the all-powerful or mighty force which do not need us to thrive. Leave it on its own and the cycle of life will continue. Our observations of nature claiming what was its own during the global lock-down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, gives a testimony for the same.
I am not negating the importance of global conservation efforts. Such efforts are the only thing keeping us from reaching doomsday earlier than expected! Along with such efforts what we need to do first is to rectify our own actions. Nature’s own pace of healing brings out magnanimous reforms than our years of conservation efforts. Let’s aid into Nature’s methods and relieve ourselves from this burden of being superior.