Global warming and Lankan chaos

An interesting email doing the rounds these days refers to the water crisis in the year 2070. It shows a man who has just turned 50 but looks more like 85 years. He says he suffers from serious kidney problems because he doesn’t drink water.

The next slide says people (in 2070) use towels with mineral oil to clean their skin. Women shave their heads not because its fashionable but to keep it clean without the use of water. Moving on the email refers to rivers, lakes, dams and underground water being either dry or contaminated. Wars are fought over water. Assaults and robberies are mostly to rob water. Without enough water, the average life expectancy is 35 years. Water becomes more precious than gold or diamonds. “We were warned to look after the environment but nobody cared,” the old man says.

Prof Mohan Munasinghe, a renowned expert on global warming, in an interview with The Sunday Times recently brought home a stark message: “The government and the LTTE are fighting over land (coastal areas of north and east) that is unlikely to exist in the future.”

There were many more critical points in Munasinghe’s message about dry areas getting drier and wet areas getting wetter due to global warming.

Without water one cannot survive unlike wars and conflicts where not all get affected while a few also make big bucks. Global warming is a major issue facing this country but while politicians bicker, ministers dispute each other and traffic chaos plagues the city, the bigger issues confronting society – which needs the support of all – are rarely put on the table. Thankfully one chamber group has realized the importance of this issue and is organising a seminar on the challenges of global warming.

This commentary however is not about global warming but using it as an example to illustrate the state of chaos in the country today. Peace is becoming an elusive dream and though the ‘silence’ of the business community is evident, there are many corporate heads who are extremely worried about the situation. This was clear in this week’s email poll by this newspaper where many corporate heads, who wished to remain anonymous, were critical of the spate of abductions and the lack of police action.

The fact that business leaders have chosen to stay away over the Lankan crisis was brought home by US ambassador Robert Blake when - in a recent speech - he quoted Colin Powell as saying, “Capital is a coward. It flees from conflict and unpredictability.” But the fact that business has a role in peace was seen overwhelmingly in The Sunday Times FT poll.

The bottled-up frustrations of the public also came out clearly in the survey while the traffic chaos to allow the free flow of VVIP convoys is needling bus travellers, motorists and pedestrians. On Friday when traffic as usual was stopped at the Greenpath junction near the Colombo Mayor’s official resident for a VVIP convoy, some people had the guts to voice their frustration in public to on-duty, armed policemen, who smiled without comment!

Isn’t it cheaper in terms of the loss to the economy by way of fuel costs to the public, wastage of time and loss of productivity for the Defence Secretary to travel by helicopter between his Stanmore Crescent residence and the Defence Ministry using the Police grounds and the army grounds for landing purposes? Abductions are rising by the day. The law of the jungle has taken over. Young professionals are leaving our shores for more ‘peaceful’ jobs overseas. “Many of our young people are leaving because they prefer working in a safer environment. The UK has a highly skilled migrants’ programme which fits the profile of our young staff,” one CEO said. Elsewhere quite a few businessmen are applying for the ‘Make Malaysia your second home’ investment programme.

There was an outflow of professionals during crises’ in 1983, 1989 and 2001 while some returned in 2002-03 as the peace process took root. Migration is happening once more and the country is again losing its talent base.

Back to the email on water, the old man says “I cannot help feeling guilty, because I belong to a generation who contributed to the destruction of the environment or simply didn’t take into account all the warning signs.” There is no better way to describe the country today.