Climate Summits: Making Of A Modern Ritual
Ata session discussing "the A modern Indian's search for spirituality" athe Times Lit Fest Delhi, a member of the audience sked why young people today are averse performing religious rituals. A panel ember in her 20s responded that so ng as the ritual's relevance to contemporary living can be rationally and gically explained, her generation had issues. It is only when a ritual seems chic, meaningless and a waste of time nd effort, that there was a problem. We do live at a time when-despite a confusion of time-saving sci-tech halers we cut short or even avoid ng-winded, ritualistic engagements at apparently entail little or no meaning. Extending this logic beyond conventional religious ritual, could one say e same for modern rituals that, though ey don't stem from a religious custom, e nevertheless laborious, long-winding, repetitive, and according to some, a colossal waste of time and energy? The COP 21 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change begins today in Paris with 195 participating countries; some 140 heads of state are expected to attend, in addition to representatives of business and commerce, civil society organisations, religious orders, the scientific community and political parties besides spokespersons of indigenous people and those who live on islands under threat of potential inundation due to sea level rise. Climate change induced migration of large groups of people from vulnerable regions is worrying, too. Conference concerns, climate change jargon, promises and negotiations-and protests, boycotts-are an integral part of the infinite debate and discussion on the environment that includes sharing information on human interface with nature, species survival, polluting emissions, forest degradation, tontewasis nuiarandtstiriageoe ddina.Thevorn gical potable drinking water, to list a few. Are the Paris Summit and all global meets that took place before since the first 1972 UN Stockholm Summit nothing more than urban legend, or a kind of modern ritual that is meaningless? Nothing can befurtherfrom the truth. Despite the fact that climate summits do resemble an annual ritual that yield little or no results, the issues discussed and the efforts made towards thrashing out ways to save ourselves from our own excesses-even if the efforts so made do not lead to one hundred per centfruitionare vital to broadening our understanding of the issue a creating public awareness. It is not enough if individuals succeed in raising their consciousness level to gain a more macro perspective of life and living. Collective consciousness needs to rise, too, to comprehend both local and global coimed for precisely this reason, to indicate that all life is interconnected what happens in one geographical location or even in the mind space of oor few people is bound to impact those living in another location or culture.The downside of interconnectedness that negative happenings tend to haaripple effect as can be seen inthe effectuate terrorism has over the global community. On the other hand, the upside is that any positive movementtowards overcoming crisis-be it dealing with terrorism, climate change aglobal warming, health scare or finanal disaster-also has far-reaching implications that help ease difficultieacross borders and cultures. It is in this spirit of faith and hopethat we need to look forward to any kiof attempt to arrive at a worldwide consensus on dealing with disaster whether it is to do with the physical environment or the metaphysical.
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are Narayani Ganesh kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it.
Courtesy : Narayani Ganesh Speaking Tree ,Times of India
Climate Summits: Making Of A Modern Ritual
Ata session discussing "the A modern Indian's search for spirituality" athe Times Lit Fest Delhi, a member of the audience sked why young people today are averse performing religious rituals. A panel ember in her 20s responded that so ng as the ritual's relevance to contemporary living can be rationally and gically explained, her generation had issues. It is only when a ritual seems chic, meaningless and a waste of time nd effort, that there was a problem. We do live at a time when-despite a confusion of time-saving sci-tech halers we cut short or even avoid ng-winded, ritualistic engagements at apparently entail little or no meaning. Extending this logic beyond conventional religious ritual, could one say e same for modern rituals that, though ey don't stem from a religious custom, e nevertheless laborious, long-winding, repetitive, and according to some, a colossal waste of time and energy? The COP 21 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change begins today in Paris with 195 participating countries; some 140 heads of state are expected to attend, in addition to representatives of business and commerce, civil society organisations, religious orders, the scientific community and political parties besides spokespersons of indigenous people and those who live on islands under threat of potential inundation due to sea level rise. Climate change induced migration of large groups of people from vulnerable regions is worrying, too. Conference concerns, climate change jargon, promises and negotiations-and protests, boycotts-are an integral part of the infinite debate and discussion on the environment that includes sharing information on human interface with nature, species survival, polluting emissions, forest degradation, tontewasis nuiarandtstiriageoe ddina.Thevorn gical potable drinking water, to list a few. Are the Paris Summit and all global meets that took place before since the first 1972 UN Stockholm Summit nothing more than urban legend, or a kind of modern ritual that is meaningless? Nothing can befurtherfrom the truth. Despite the fact that climate summits do resemble an annual ritual that yield little or no results, the issues discussed and the efforts made towards thrashing out ways to save ourselves from our own excesses-even if the efforts so made do not lead to one hundred per centfruitionare vital to broadening our understanding of the issue a creating public awareness. It is not enough if individuals succeed in raising their consciousness level to gain a more macro perspective of life and living. Collective consciousness needs to rise, too, to comprehend both local and global coimed for precisely this reason, to indicate that all life is interconnected what happens in one geographical location or even in the mind space of oor few people is bound to impact those living in another location or culture.The downside of interconnectedness that negative happenings tend to haaripple effect as can be seen inthe effectuate terrorism has over the global community. On the other hand, the upside is that any positive movementtowards overcoming crisis-be it dealing with terrorism, climate change aglobal warming, health scare or finanal disaster-also has far-reaching implications that help ease difficultieacross borders and cultures. It is in this spirit of faith and hopethat we need to look forward to any kiof attempt to arrive at a worldwide consensus on dealing with disaster whether it is to do with the physical environment or the metaphysical.
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are Narayani Ganesh kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it.
Courtesy : Narayani Ganesh Speaking Tree ,Times of India