Associate Professor

Dept. of English

Raja Mohan Girls P. G. College

 Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India 

Environment and human life is inseparable from each other. In fact, no life is possible without environment. It is an armour which covers us from all sides and protects us from every kind of harm and danger. It provides a shelter, food and clothing. All our needs are fulfilled by our environment. But what an irony it is that today we have forgotten the importance of it and are devastating it without any remorse. Actually, we, the so called educated people are quiet insensitive to our surroundings. There is a great need of environmental ideology to be followed by everyone on this earth. Man has become so materialistic that he is polluting and damaging the environment without any concern.

To define environmental awareness we must first understand the environmentalist movement. Environmentalism is an ideology that evokes the necessity and responsibility of humans to respect, protect and preserve the natural world from its anthropogenic afflictions. Environmental awareness is an integral part of the movement's success. By teaching our friends and family that the physical environment is fragile and indispensable we can figure out the problems that threaten it. Before we start promoting environment awareness in our community, we must make sure that we have a thorough understanding of environmental issues. We should stay updated on environmental news, read books and other sources and learn about the issues affecting our community.

 Wordsworth, a great romantic poet of English Literature is known as a great lover of nature. All the romantic poets loved nature but Wordsworth is different from them. P. B. Shelley saw a beautiful girl in nature while John Keats saw a benign mother. But for Wordsworth Nature is a Deity. It it is not an object but a living being which has its separate soul and personality. Wordsworth found it full of beauty, knowledge, morality and education. He suggest human beings to develop a bond with Nature. But this bond between man and nature is broken because man is always preoccupied with material pursuits. He is running after money. Everytime whether it is late at night or early in the morning we are thinking about money that is how to earn money and how to spend it. Thus we are completely ignoring nature. Wordsworth writes:

The world is too much with us;

Late and soon, getting and spending,

We lay waste our powers;

Litttle we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon![1]

Hear the poet curses human being for ignoring Nature and wasting his energies on material things. Money, which we think to be a boon, it is a curse of course. We are destroying our environment vehmently just for to fulfill our greed which should be stopped.

Nature is not only full of beauty and pleasure it is full of knowledge and is always ready to bless our mind and soul with that treasure of knowledge. William Wordsworth suggests us to be in touch with nature. He writes:

And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!

He, too, is no mean preacher:

Come forth into the light of things,

Let Nature be your teacher.[2]

We are damaging this Earth which is like our mother. It nurtures us, fosters us and blesses our mind and soul with her beauty, knowledge and wealth. Again to quote Wordsworth:

One impulse from a vernal wood

May teach you more of man,

Of moral evil and of good,

Than all the sages can.[3]

Such is the power and bounty of nature. So we should stop destroying it. It provides various plants and trees from which we get oxygen. We obtain flowers, fruits, different kind of herbs and medicines from our environment. It fills us with joy. To quote some lines from a poem 'Daffodils':

For oft when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood.

They flash upon that inward eye,

Which is the bliss of solitude;

and then my heart with pleasure fills

and dances with the daffodils.[4]

Such is the importance of Nature in our life. When a person is depressed or feeling low if he spends some time in the sweet company of nature he forgets all his sorrow and becomes cheerful. But as we are getting materialistic day by day we have started destroying our Earth and the consequences are terrible. Natural calamities are the result of the exploitation of this earth. When we try to overuse Nature to fulfill our greed it gets furious and reminds us of our limitations. We should remember that we are only the custodian of the earth and not the controller. Major challenges for environment are:

1- Increasing population- Population in our country is increasing very fast and it is very difficult to control environmental pollution. We should minimise our needs to control damage to our environment.

2- Materialistic Approach- Our materialistic approach towards life is also responsible for environmental pollution. If we can do with one vehicle in a family then what is the requirement of more than one. But we are using multiple vehicles in a single family which is causing too much heat that results in global warming. A person can be seen using three or four cell phones at a time which should be curbed.

3- Insensitivity in Temperament- Actually man is going devoid of emotions whether in terms of environment or in terms of human relationships. This loss of emotions and sympathy forces him to be cruel to nature and destroy our environment.

4- Lack of Education- Lack of proper Environmental education is also responsible for environmental pollution. Environment-education should be made compulsory from basic level to higher education.

5- Improve Garbage Disposal- People dump their garbage in the open which rots and causes air pollution. If we burn it, even then it harms the environment. We should dispose the garbage in a proper way to save our environment. We can dispose it in a compost pit. In this way we can save the environment.

6- Washing clothes in the river and Ponds- washing clothes in the river and Ponds causes water pollution. We may make people aware of its harm and sensitize them how it pollutes the water and consequently it is spreads so many diseases.

7- Luxurious lifestyle-  Today, people are leading luxurious life. They have become extremist and making excessive use of everything. We should promote simple living by curbing our needs and desires.

8- Use of polythene- Polythene is used in various forms which causes environment-pollution. There should be complete ban on the use of polythene. In place of polythene we should use cloth bags.

9- Deforestation- On the name of development we are cutting down trees which increases the temperature and minimizes the chances of rainfall. It is our moral duty to keep our surrounding green. For this we should plant more and more trees and try to preserve and protect them also. We should promote others also for planting trees. Plants and flowers affect our physical and mental health. They play very important role in soothing our mind and keeping us fit and healthy.

By curbing increasing population, controlling our materialistic approach to life we may save our environment. There is a need to sensitize everyone about environment and its importance. We should remember that nature has everything to fulfill our need but not our greed. If we accept Nature as our mother we will start loving and respecting it and the day will come soon when we will succeed in saving our environment from every kind of affliction. We are always aware of our rights but unfortunately we forget our duty. So we have forgotten that it is our moral duty to respect, protect and preserve our environment from every kind of harm and damage. It has given us a lot. Now it is our turn to do something for our environment by spreading environmental awareness among the people. Doing good is contageous so if we make efforts to save our environment others will follow us and will do the same and undoubtedly we will be successful in saving our environment.

References

1. William Wordsworth: The World is Too Much With Us, P.1

2. William Wordsworth: The Tables Turned, P.1

3. Ibid.

4. William Wordsworth: The Daffodils, P.1