Where do we go from here?
Hyderabad, Dec 2006

4 billion years of events and circumstances have abetted in enabling our existence today. Given the low probability of this confluence of favorable conditions, many of us consider this more than chance. It is as if God or some unknown, all-powerful entity has shaped events thus, having had a clear vision of today all along. Evidence corroborates this, for none of the events – celestial or terrestrial triggered – appears to have occurred with the actors’ fore-knowledge of the consequences, nor was it a result of their choice. It was not out of choice that an asteroid collided with earth 65 million years ago. Nor is it earth’s awareness of the effect of Milankovitch’s cycles that it obeys them (read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milankovich_cycle).

For the first time however, actors shaping the future have a choice. Not a choice to make it better or worse – which in the final assessment is complete irrelevant – but purely a choice to shape it, one way or another. We, the human beings inhabiting earth, are aware of the consequences of our actions, and in a position to choose. One could contend that our development thus far, our scientific achievements and social development, were in a broader sense pre-ordained and we are inexorably moving towards a future that we don’t have control over. Nevertheless, we are certainly cognizant of the nature of this future and its implications for us and planet earth. It is my sincere belief, however, that we DO HAVE a choice. Watching a game of cricket convinces me that we HAVE a choice. It takes talent, mental toughness and enormous discipline, but I am convinced these qualities abound in many individuals who can and will influence the affairs of the world.

We have had awareness of the consequences of our actions on our immediate environment for several hundreds of years – consider the opposition to coal burning in medieval England. However, it was only in the past few decades that this awareness has become a subject of active discussion, among scientific as well as non-scientific communities. It is only in the past few decades that the impact of our increasing population, green-house gas emissions, environmental plundering for petty commercial gain has become evident (read ‘The Weather Makers’, by Tim Flannery).

So, for the first time, actors shaping the future of planet earth have choice, and awareness of the consequences of these choices. Are we going to make a conscious choice, fully aware of the consequences, or are we going to continue our unthinking inexorable journey towards an unsustainable future and possible extinction?