A bison roaming around in broad daylight in Dhavali, Ponda, brings to the fore the growing man-animal conflict, a problem created by human indifference, and one that’s taking us slowly down the narrow road from which there can be no reverse.
The sad reality is that the bison may be trying to tell us something, but we humans certainly will have nothing better to offer the animal. For a moment, leave aside the animal, we do not even understand the pain and needs of our very own ilk.
We live in a world where human hegemony rules over all things created by nature when it should be the other way round. There is a sense of disconnection in understanding where we come from and how much we need for our existence.
The sighting of the bison, which is Goa's state animal, more than once in the busy areas of Ponda, is a warning sign that the balance of the forest ecosystem has been changed by our transgressions and arrogance. But, do we care?
In our relentless drive for progress, we have forgotten that there is another world that is actually important for our existence and the one we are stubbornly out to destroy. It is clear that we cannot continue to prioritise human needs at the cost of the natural world.
In our relentless drive for progress, we have forgotten that there is another world that is actually important for our existence and the one we are stubbornly out to destroy. It is clear that we cannot continue to prioritise human needs at the cost of the natural world.
It is time, and it is very urgent and important, that we understand we are not bigger than the natural world around us; we are just a small part of it. If we keep on devaluing our natural world, we will be as vulnerable as the smallest creatures in the wild.
In Goa, every MLA recognises the need for progress, but this can't come at the cost of our low-lying fields and verdant plateaus. It’s time to stop unnecessary projects born out of personal egos and ones which are shoved down our throats in the name of progress.
There is no denying progress is a necessity, but it cannot come at a cost where our daily lives are disrupted, like we saw in Guirim in the monsoon season, courtesy of flooding caused due to the highway work. Progress should enhance our lives, not hinder it.
There is no denying progress is a necessity, but it cannot come at a cost where our daily lives are disrupted, like we saw in Guirim in the monsoon season, courtesy of flooding caused due to the highway work.
Goa is blessed abundantly with nature—the rolling hills of the Western Ghats, the meandering rivers, plateaus, low-lying fields and the sandy beaches, a great attraction for tourists. So, let's not try to make Goa into something which it is not.
However, there seems to be a rush to make the State into a mini-Singapore with tall buildings and other infrastructure, which will not resonate with its identity. Goa cannot be a carbon copy of any other city, Goa has to remain Goa.
While the narrative in Goa is about progress, there is one fundamental issue that we haven't been able to address, and that is climate change. In the race to achieve our economic goals, we are forgetting that our world is heating up.
This issue has to be a discourse in our daily lives as it affects us all. Climate change cannot be left in the hands of scientists and conferences, it has to be dealt with at the ground level by changing the way we live our lives.
As the world is heating up, we are destroying our forests for resorts, in the process also depleting our freshwater sources and polluting our rivers.
In Goa, we fail to realise the gift of this bounty called nature. As the world is heating up, we are destroying our forests for resorts, in the process also depleting our freshwater sources and polluting our rivers. At the rate we are moving ahead, nature will never be kind to us.
The challenges facing Goa are pressing and more immediate as the spectre of climate change looms. Amidst this crisis, the only hope for us is to make peace with our natural environment—live and let live!