Garbage gimmicks

Individual actors pursuing their rational self-interests:

by Samangie Wettimuny

"Well... it is mid night. The time is half past twelve. The entire neighbourhood is in deep slumber. Surely they are all having 'sweet' dreams ,you think. (You of course suddenly got up as your 'visiting' cat started scratching your door as it wanted to come in!) Alas! You are mistaken. One of your 'favourite' neighbours have not retired to bed.

What sleep for her! This is the ideal time for her to dispose her garbage! In a few minutes time you hear 'strange' noises from your back yard and amidst that noise you fall asleep. But the next morning you go to the garden to see a whole lot of empty plastic bottles etc..

Everything is connected

Another fellow may dig a 'secret' drain in the direction of your garden while you are not at home. Others may dump piles of garbage at your door step when you have gone on a trip. But the ones who are 'too smart' may throw a bag of garbage on your garden as they pass-by, in open daylight, ignorant they are being watched, through your sharp 'lens'! Such incidents have become normal events today.

Anyway your neighbour thinks that her love for the environment is more than enough as she is the owner of a well-cared for home garden. Plastic never decomposes, she is well aware of that. But she is least bothered as they are no longer at her place!

Never blame your poor neighbour. She is neither an environmentalist nor a person who reads the writings of the environmentalists. So she is not aware of the words of the environmentalist, Barry Commoner who stated that 'everything is connected to everything else' several years ago!

She does not know that each part of the environment does co-exist or rather they are inter connected. Instead she believes in 'walls' and 'fences'! But the rain gods show no mercy. Plastic bottles then get stuck inside the 'secret' drain and the whole neighbourhood gets flooded!

Thus knowingly or unknowingly everyone contributes to the destruction of the environment at varying levels. 'Socially created environmental problems', we can call them. From domestic level to national level, from there to international level it takes place on a massive scale.

Normally people talk of environmental 'destruction' as if it is done by some other group, just as your (may be 'my' or 'our') neighbour who blames the Municipal Council for not cleaning the drains properly. (Secret drains are not supposed to be known to the public, I assure you.) "Lankawe koyi wadath ohomai" they would say.

As biologist, Garret Hardin mentions in his 'The Tragedy of the Commons', the story has another side as well. Environment is considered a common resource which could be utilized by everyone. Three examples given in the article are traffic, pollution and overfishing.

'The lake is too big, and it can handle a little bit of pollution' people may think.' But what if everyone on the lake did the same thing?' Hardin asks. Though Hardin's argument is far from perfect (Michael Bell in his 'An Invitation to sociology' says that Hardin's allegory is better characterized as the tragedy of individualism as it is not the collective ownership, itself but rather the inability of the people to take a view wider than their own narrowly conceived self-interests.), we often witness how people (mis) use common resources exactly the way he has explained.

They would lunch on a river bank and would throw away the remainder to the river along with the polythene wrapping. If this process is being continued, its pollution is unavoidable.

Such types of problems could be averted only if people learn to use resources with a common feeling. Then common use won't be a problem. Individual use (with a selfish motive) of common resources can be problematic.

Everyone should think of the social responsibility towards the environment. Environmental consciousness should be there.

Ironically environmental destruction and modern development are interminably linked with each other. The level of development is increased in order to create a better (material) society. But by doing that if we are digging our own grave, such type of development becomes meaningless.

Natural disasters

Natural disasters are unavoidable. But now there are conflicting ideas among the environmentalists as to how far these natural disasters are 'natural'. Environmentalists say that human beings have used nature in such a destructive and short sighted manner, to the extent of changing its natural pattern!

In one of the lectures that I attended I remember how Dr. Subhangi Herath of the University of Colombo recalled the words of her Grade 3 class teacher. 'You are lucky to be born in Sri Lanka as you will never face major natural disasters.' But "now we can no longer rely on geographical boundaries earlier given by the environmentalists about the natural disaster prone areas." Dr. Herath explains the current situation to us.

Though famous sociologist, Emile Durkheim once stated that 'social facts can be adequately explained with reference to social facts alone', as Indian environmentalist Ramachandra Guha quite rightly says social facts can only be properly understood with reference to the natural environment. Ecological infrastructure which includes soil, water, flora, fauna, climate etc. plays as the base of all-culture, polity, social structure, and economy.

Environmental consciousness should begin at home. If 'your neighbour' ever thought of recycling garbage, by now she could have experienced amazing results. There won't be much need then to buy artificial fertilizers.

A small piece of land will serve that purpose. It is better to collect plastic bags and polythene separately and give them to the garbage van. By doing that you can make everyone happy-a peaceful neighbourhood means a 'lot'. (no strange noises, no secret drains, etc...etc..) Surely you may like the words of Michael Bell just as I do. .."Individual actors pursuing their rational self-interest often lead us to irrational collective outcomes that in fact undermine the interests of those who entact them.

The result is a striking paradox of social life. We often do not act in our own interests when we act in our own interests, or to put it in another way, when we all do what we want, it often leads to outcomes nobody wants." ('An Invitation to Environmental Sociology'.)

Why not ponder on these lines?.... and make your neighbour too do the same... (It may be difficult, but do your best!)

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